So the Las Vegas NHL franchise has sold out the building in year one, or at least that was the reported news yesterday. But there’s a recurring theme popping up on talk shows, TV news, watercolor conversations, and most notably, the comment sections on sites and social medias like ours at SinBin.vegas.

The building may be sold out now, but these are just deposits, what happens when the organization asks for that other 90% of the total season ticket price? Will they still be sold out then?

We are cognizant that conversion is not going to be 100 percent, but based on the fact that we had 5,000 people come to an open house in August, the multiple touch points we’ve now made, and our great hires on the hockey side. We’re confident that we will convert at a very strong number. -Todd Pollock, VP of Ticketing

Is this a biased or even hopeful answer? It’s an understandable question, and one I hate to admit, but for a while there I wondered as well. But after having the entire process of why the sold out announcement was made so early spelled out to me, that concern can be filed away in the same dark back room I put such issues as “Can hockey work in the desert.” or the more specific “Does The Creator actually have the money to buy the team?”

Simply put, it’s a non-issue, and I’ll explain why.

19 months ago a team called VegasWantsHockey launched a ticket drive attempting to prove to the NHL the desire for hockey is present in the valley. The goal was to sell 10,000 tickets to individuals, not the casinos, a goal that was reached within a few months. Fast forward to June 21st, the day before the team is awarded. Well over 14,000 deposits were in for a still nonexistent team.

In October 2017, when the team hits the ice for the very first time, those who jumped on board will have had a deposit in for over 32 months! The stragglers who didn’t buy in til after the announcement will still have had their money down for at least 13 months.

These are not people who made a spur of the moment decision. The payment plan for the full price is not going to sneak up on anybody. Rationally thinking, it only makes sense for the conversion rate to push 95%+ because outside of a major life change in the last two years, there’s really no reason to back out now.

Once you factor in single game tickets, team holds, player tickets, and visiting team tickets, there are at this point no tickets available. -Todd Pollock

Oh and by the way, just about every one of the 16,000 sold are to regular folks, not corporations. And a “significant number” are on 3, 5, or 10 year commitments. There’s no reliance on suits. One big customer can’t drop out and put a dent into that 16,000. The seats are sold in pairs, groups of four or eight, they aren’t massive blocks of 50-100 seats. So even if certain folks do drop out, the impact will be minimal.

And this is all before we’ve even gotten into the wait list. On February 8th, 2016 it was announced that P1, P5, and P6 were all sold out and a wait list for those sections had begun. June 24th, 2016 a fourth section’s wait list opened up. And then yesterday, the entire building was shut off and the wait list for the rest of the seats began. They’ve literally got 19 months of wait list in the bag for the most popular sections, and at least a year for the rest.

Without a doubt year one we will be sold out, and with the way things are trending we feel very comfortable with how things will continue beyond that. -Todd Pollock

Believe it yet?

If not, you better start now, cause you are going to look awfully foolish come October of next year if you don’t.