LV college & pro sports: My question

[Sonny44]

Getting it off my chest. I've been on this board ever since Bobby Hauck came from MT to coach at UNLV. Altho I settled in Henderson not because of only that, as a sports fan, I've followed the Rebels, and have decided that football, at least, is not valued by Las Vegans. And yet, I have the suspicion that maybe LV is not a good sports town, despite the gambling interest located, here.

OK, here it goes. I will not be surprised if the Golden Knights never make the playoffs. I will not be surprised, when the Raiders come here, that they will not be the team of the past. I know it's simplistic, but to me, it's ironical that teams in "the gambling capital of the world" will not perform. I base all this on the UNLV football experience.

The problem w/ LV is that it's all hype. LV is not a national sports town at the college/pro level. It has never been and never will be. Still, I have hopes for the Knights, the Raiders, and the Rebs, as well. I still support building the Raiders Stadium. Yet, at 80, I'm sure the agony will go long past my demise.

 

[j. spilotro]

Getting it off my chest. I've been on this board ever since Bobby Hauck came from MT to coach at UNLV. Altho I settled in Henderson not because of only that, as a sports fan, I've followed the Rebels, and have decided that football, at least, is not valued by Las Vegans. And yet, I have the suspicion that maybe LV is not a good sports town, despite the gambling interest located, here.

OK, here it goes. I will not be surprised if the Golden Knights never make the playoffs. I will not be surprised, when the Raiders come here, that they will not be the team of the past. I know it's simplistic, but to me, it's ironical that teams in "the gambling capital of the world" will not perform. I base all this on the UNLV football experience.

The problem w/ LV is that it's all hype. LV is not a national sports town at the college/pro level. It has never been and never will be. Still, I have hopes for the Knights, the Raiders, and the Rebs, as well. I still support building the Raiders Stadium. Yet, at 80, I'm sure the agony will go long past my demise.

I agree somewhat. I mean, I don't agree the teams will fade... but agree that Las Vegas isn't a great town for sports teams. People say "people love a winner". Of course they do. When it's easy to support, we'd pack the joints and we'd all be "lifelong dedicated fans" who have been waiting for this moment all our lives. A crock of crap, obviously. The measure of fandom isn't when a team is winning at a high level. All championship parades are huge. But what does it look like when there is struggle? That's how you measure a fanbase and we are just a notch or two above San Diego with that.

Vegas is hype, it's fantastic for mega-spectacles. But down on the day to day grind? Not so good.

 

[Sam-I-am]

Getting it off my chest. I've been on this board ever since Bobby Hauck came from MT to coach at UNLV. Altho I settled in Henderson not because of only that, as a sports fan, I've followed the Rebels, and have decided that football, at least, is not valued by Las Vegans. And yet, I have the suspicion that maybe LV is not a good sports town, despite the gambling interest located, here.

OK, here it goes. I will not be surprised if the Golden Knights never make the playoffs. I will not be surprised, when the Raiders come here, that they will not be the team of the past. I know it's simplistic, but to me, it's ironical that teams in "the gambling capital of the world" will not perform. I base all this on the UNLV football experience.

The problem w/ LV is that it's all hype. LV is not a national sports town at the college/pro level. It has never been and never will be. Still, I have hopes for the Knights, the Raiders, and the Rebs, as well. I still support building the Raiders Stadium. Yet, at 80, I'm sure the agony will go long past my demise.

Were you here during the Rebels' glory years? Sure there was plenty of hype but there was also a lot of substance behind it.
Yes it died but it died mainly due to internal strife within the university and the community causing an implosion that we have yet to recover. The more Las Vegas gets back to being a community, the more we will see this becoming a sports city. It "can" happen again. Just need to make the right moves and have a little good luck.

 

[mvvsmith]

I think the Raiders will be a resounding success and UNLV football grows with that success. It may be with a different coach or maybe Tony pulls in higher ranked recruits with the new facility and stadium and starts a winning tradition. Who really knows, but I fervently believed we would get the stadium and the Raiders too and people questioned my sanity, but it happened, so there is hope. DRF just made a statement today with the approval of the loan for the facility and that is football is important for the success of UNLV athletics. She will put her stamp on UNLV athletics. Not an ounce of TKM in that lady.

 

[Sam-I-am]

I think the Raiders will be a resounding success and UNLV football grows with that success. It may be with a different coach or maybe Tony pulls in higher ranked recruits with the new facility and stadium and starts a winning tradition. Who really knows, but I fervently believed we would get the stadium and the Raiders too and people questioned my sanity, but it happened, so there is hope. DRF just made a statement today with the approval of the loan for the facility and that is football is important for the success of UNLV athletics. She will put her stamp on UNLV athletics. Not an ounce of TKM in that lady.

You were crazy...like a fox

 

[j. spilotro]

Were you here during the Rebels' glory years? Sure there was plenty of hype but there was also a lot of substance behind it.
Yes it died but it died mainly due to internal strife within the university and the community causing an implosion that we have yet to recover. The more Las Vegas gets back to being a community, the more we will see this becoming a sports city. It "can" happen again. Just need to make the right moves and have a little good luck.

But Vegas in itself is becoming less and less of a community. Back then we were tiny and more homey and granted, there were a lot of transplants and they gravitated towards the winning. The winning didn't happen because of a huge community backing. The huge community backing came because of successful basketball.

But Vegas lost the personality and charm of small community long ago once the city became so corporate heavy.

That doesn't mean we can't win. And that doesn't mean they won't back things IF we do win - they will. But you aren't going to see the community back through tough times, with their presence or dollars. We have more bodies and money than ever and very little is heading towards UNLV and the financial crunch at the university is significant.

I'm just saying, we are becoming bigger but we aren't moving towards being more of a community.

 

[Sam-I-am]

But Vegas in itself is becoming less and less of a community. Back then we were tiny and more homey and granted, there were a lot of transplants and they gravitated towards the winning. The winning didn't happen because of a huge community backing. The huge community backing came because of successful basketball.

But Vegas lost the personality and charm of small community long ago once the city became so corporate heavy.

That doesn't mean we can't win. And that doesn't mean they won't back things IF we do win - they will. But you aren't going to see the community back through tough times, with their presence or dollars. We have more bodies and money than ever and very little is heading towards UNLV and the financial crunch at the university is significant.

I'm just saying, we are becoming bigger but we aren't moving towards being more of a community.

I disagree. As a city grows, it definitely can become more of a sports community. We are just getting to that population point for it to happen just like it did for Phoenix and Seattle. Put the teams in the right locations with the right access, market them properly, go first class with the facilities, get the Casinos on board, win and watch it grow.

 

[j. spilotro]

I disagree. As a city grows, it definitely can become more of a sports community. We are just getting to that population point for it to happen just like it did for Phoenix and Seattle. Put the teams in the right locations with the right access, market them properly, go first class with the facilities, get the Casinos on board, win and watch it grow.

But when you add pro sports to the mix, it can really dilute the significance of the local college. I'm one that thinks while pro sports CAN help UNLV (football stadium can be huge), it can also be the final nail in the coffin if the university doesn't step up. And if we take a snapshot in time, been awhile since above .500 and we just lost as a 45 point favorite and we set about two dozen "worst ever" records in basketball.

Nothing is written in stone but it's clear that it is the most critical point in UNLV athletics history when it comes to long term survival (P-5). Even though I'm one of the few that thinks for P-5, wins and losses aren't the primary factors that make you a candidate. I think everything else is more important. And I do think UNLV is moving towards that, thanks to the coat tails of the Raiders, the medical school, population, TV market, ease of travel/tourism/accommodations, etc.

But I think we need to see both sides of the potential of pro sports.

 

[Sam-I-am]

But when you add pro sports to the mix, it can really dilute the significance of the local college. I'm one that thinks while pro sports CAN help UNLV (football stadium can be huge), it can also be the final nail in the coffin if the university doesn't step up. And if we take a snapshot in time, been awhile since above .500 and we just lost as a 45 point favorite and we set about two dozen "worst ever" records in basketball.

Nothing is written in stone but it's clear that it is the most critical point in UNLV athletics history when it comes to long term survival (P-5). Even though I'm one of the few that thinks for P-5, wins and losses aren't the primary factors that make you a candidate. I think everything else is more important. And I do think UNLV is moving towards that, thanks to the coat tails of the Raiders, the medical school, population, TV market, ease of travel/tourism/accommodations, etc.

But I think we need to see both sides of the potential of pro sports.

Good points. I do think that, just like what happened in Seattle, the NFL and NCAA football can complement each other when a city is growing into a sports community.
One thing that you touched upon that I'd like to add to this is that it is very important that Las Vegas avoid adding any more professional sports until we become more successful in sports and the population grows by another 10% at the very least. The NFL & the NHL are more than enough for our size right now. Them, along with the Rebels, is the proper balance for now. Adding more big professional sports teams from the NBA &/or MLBB would water down the fan base far too much at this point. JMHO.