From the post above it sounds like there are at least a few serious hockey fans in Vegas.
There are also a ton of tourists:
For example, Cirque du Soleil does the following shows:
Michael Jackson One: 1804 seats, twice nightly
Love: 2013 seats, twice nightly
Mystere: 1600 seats, twice nightly
Zarkana: 1840 seats, twice nightly
O: 1800 seats, twice nightly
Zumanity: Couldn't find seats, but twice nightly
Ka: 1950 seats, twice nightly
Even assuming Zumanity only has 1500 seats, that would be over 25,000 seats per day. Granted, not all shows play every night, but they play more frequently than an NHL or NBA team would. And they play all year, including summer, which is slow in Vegas for weather reasons.
Also, the average NHL ticket price was recently $57.10. None of the cirque shows have tickets available at that price, they all start higher than that. Granted there are deals/comps available, but guaranteed the average price is above that. If a Vegas NHL team could fill an arena with Boston Bruins type ticket prices, it'd probably be ok.
http://www.hookedonhockeymagazine.co...1-2012-season/