Raiders hope to learn from Knights in reaching Las Vegas locals

When he was a boy, Mark Davis would spend time in Las Vegas with his father, being introduced to many of those celebrities who headlined acts, names like Jimmy Durante and Don Rickles and countless others.

On Wednesday night, Davis attended a Gwen Stefani concert and sat next to a few other well-known locals.

So, who was he more star-struck by: Durante or Marc-Andre Fleury?

“Oh, I’d have to go with Fleury, man,” Davis said. “I’m still not quite over that one.”

Score one for the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender over one of America’s most popular personalities of the 1920s through the ’70s.

Davis walked onto the red carpet wearing a Knights shirt only to discover his seats were next to Vegas players Fleury and Deryk Engelland and their wives, a chance for the Raiders owner to pick the brains of two of the hockey team’s more popular players.

A team to emulate

Davis is taking notes, because he saw first-hand the incredible impact an expansion team had on its community.

“They raised the bar pretty high,” he said. “What they did was so special. We have known all along how important it will be to get local fans involved with what we’re doing. We’re very focused on that. We can learn a lot from all those things (the Knights) did off the ice to become such a part of Las Vegas. And then they won big.

“We know it will be a challenge. It’s something we have to earn. (Community support) isn’t going to just be given to us. But we’re not here to ruffle feathers. We’re here to be part of something big with professional sports in this city.”

He spoke Thursday from the site where his NFL team’s $1.8 billion stadium is being built, Davis and team president Marc Badain part of a group that spent time handing out meals and greeting 700-plus workers who are in the midst of raising the 65,000-seat structure set to open for the 2020 season.

In time, there will be twice as many laborers.

It’s a challenge, for sure. The Knights were not only the first major league professional franchise to arrive in town, but they did so with an owner in Bill Foley who wrote a $500 million expansion check, along with the fact hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenue weren’t needed to make T-Mobile Arena a reality.

Not one cent.

That, and combined with a horrific mass shooting and how Vegas players responded to it, an inseparable bond between town and team was formed over a season that simply can’t be duplicated for its extraordinary attachment.

A Golden blueprint

But never underestimate the power of an NFL brand, and while a portion of Raiders fans in the new stadium will assuredly travel from places like the Bay Area and Los Angeles, those in Southern Nevada are who matter most for long-term success.

Not all sports fans locally want the Raiders. Not everyone agreed with the tax. Not everyone still understands the sticker shock a personal seat license will ultimately bring to one’s wallet.

The team gets all that. But it’s here, building, marketing, having its players visit schools, holding community events, finalizing plans for its practice facility in Henderson, preparing to become one with Las Vegas.

And it has a Golden blueprint by which to follow.

“Certainly, how the (Knights) came into the community and captured everyone’s attention was fantastic,” Badain said. “We’ve had a lot of conversations with them. You want to make sure you’re humble and touch as many people as you can. They were the sports story of the year.

“It showed us what we already knew — this is a really strong community that is proud of everything it has here. We have to do the work and show them we appreciate the support and give them a good product and facility.”

Tough road ahead

It was during the Stanley Cup Final when a picture spread across Twitter of Davis in a front-row seat at T-Mobile. The Knights had just scored and everyone around Davis was going crazy as he stared straight ahead.

The tweet read: The moment Mark Davis realized the Raiders are going to have to win the Super Bowl their first year in Vegas.

“I was talking to (Fleury and Engelland) about (local support),” Davis said. “Deryk has lived here 17 years. He knows the town and what makes it tick. We’ve sold almost all our (premium level) seats, and 73 percent went to locals. That’s huge. It says a lot. I’m excited.”

That’s a lot of suites and club seats already gone.

It might even be tough for guys like Fleury and Engelland to score good tickets.

Or not.

“I’m sure they have some pull,” Davis said. “And they can always call me.”

That’s some Jimmy Durante treatment, right there.

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Contact columnist Ed Graney at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.