I think basketball of football are better fits than hockey. 1.3 million people means you need a very high number of fans per person. 1 million is a viable market in Canada but bearly. So you would need a Canadian level of interest to have a successful NHL team. Even if tourism is 10-20% of your attendance I think you still struggle. The base level of interest in hockey is probably simialr to Phoenix.
Football actually works best, games are during the day, there are limited in number, they are on weekends, and the NFL has marketed its games like Must See Events. This to me fits the Vegas model better than hockey.
I think MGM is building it for musical acts. Artists will want to book multiple dates in Vegas just to be in Vegas and people will come from all over to see a concert. In this way it will compete with LA for acts and extra concert dates.
I think hockey could survive but it would never be a rich market and I wonder if the 40 dates could be put to better use.
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