There was so much optimism for Las Vegas’ ticket drive when it announced it had sold 5,000 season ticket deposits within two days of when it started Feb. 10.

And now … they have “nearly 7,000” in 13 days. So the pace has slowed a lot as Vegas continues its quest for 10,000 deposits.

From a release via potential owner Bill Foley and the Hockey Vision Las Vegas team:

“The support of the Las Vegas community throughout this campaign has been incredible,” said Foley. “We are extremely pleased to be able to report that - in less than two weeks - we are almost two-thirds of the way to our goal of having the 10,000 deposits we are seeking in order to demonstrate that Las Vegas can support its first major league sports franchise!”

This is Foley via the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

“I need 1,500 good men and women to make deposits on two seats,” Foley said. “We’re not going to casinos or the Strip (asking for deposits). We’re asking local people that they put their hard-earned money down for a deposit.”

We knew this would not be like Winnipeg, which hit the magic threshold of 13,000 super quickly. But this is starting to drag a little, which is interesting. The NHL has made no bones about the fact that it’s interested in Vegas.

The organizers for the Vegas franchise even unleashed a local commercial during the Super Bowl. They’re clearly trying, but we knew this was going to be a tricky market, just based on the transient nature of the city.

Considering the proactive approach of the group, it's not a bad idea from them to send us a reminder that they still want to bring hockey to Vegas. But does Vegas indeed want hockey? We are still finding out.

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper

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