The Vegas Golden Knights have announced plans to build an AHL arena in suburban Henderson, though a few details on the potential project remain unknown.
Last week, it was announced that the Golden Knights have an agreement to purchase the San Antonio Rampage franchise membership from Sports Sports & Entertainment. Should they receive the necessary approvals from the AHL board of governors, the Golden Knights will buy the team and relocate it to the Las Vegas area after this season, with home games in the 2020-21 AHL campaign to be played at Orleans Arena.
Its stay at Orleans Arena would be temporary, however, as the Golden Knights plan to construct a new arena in suburban Henderson that would host the team’s home games. The 6,000-seat venue would be developed as a separate project from the currently under-construction Lifeguard Arena in downtown Henderson, which the AHL team will use as its practice facility and headquarters.
Those details were revealed in a Thursday update from Golden Knights chairman and CEO Bill Foley. His statement can be read below:
“We are proud to announce that the American Hockey League version of The Fortress is coming to Henderson. We will work with city officials on developing a second hockey facility in Henderson, which will be a new state-of-the-art, 6,000-seat arena for our AHL team.
While our AHL club will practice and be headquartered at our Lifeguard Arena complex on Water Street, this new venue will be where the team plays their home games and will be where we create the same energy, excitement and programming that fans have come to expect during Golden Knights games on the Strip.
The Golden Knights and the City of Henderson have demonstrated a commitment to bringing major professional sports to this great community and growing the game of hockey in our region. The City has been an outstanding partner on both of these ambitious projects and we look forward to our shared vision becoming a reality.”
The planned Henderson AHL arena would be built at the site of Henderson Pavilion, an open-air theatre, as Golden Knights president Kerry Bubolz revealed at the Henderson State of the City Address Thursday. The city’s mayor has spoken favorably of the project but, for now, a few key details remain unknown, including financing and the timeline for construction. More from the Las Vegas Sun:
Henderson Pavilion is on Green Valley Parkway just south of the 215 Beltway. It is an open-air theater but will soon house a 6,000-seat arena for the to-be-named Henderson AHL team. The team has already secured more than 5,300 season ticket deposits, Bubolz said.
“This facility will give our fans the same electric jolt of the excitement and experience that you see at the Fortress for Golden Knights games on the Strip,” Bubolz said, referencing T-Mobile Arena. “When we build this facility, it will be world-class.”…
“Bill, we’re thrilled with the vision that you and the Golden Knights have for the city of Henderson,” Henderson Mayor Debra March told Foley.
No timetable was given for the completion of the new arena, nor how it will be funded.
An AHL arena would be the latest professional sports facility project completed in the Las Vegas suburbs. In addition to the upcoming Lifeguard Arena and the planned AHL venue, Henderson will also be the home of Intermountain Healthcare Performance Center, the headquarters and training complex for the Las Vegas Raiders scheduled to open this summer. The Golden Knights previously completed City National Arena–their practice facility and headquarters–in Summerlin, and the new Las Vegas Ballpark opened behind that facility last spring.
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