Bill Foley On The State Of The Golden Knights

Let's call this Christmas with the Golden Knights.
These are down days for the NHL with no games on the ice and no player availability - so we thought this would be a good time to catch up with the leadership triumvirate of the Vegas Golden Knights: owner Bill Foley, GM George McPhee and president Kerry Bubolz.
The Golden Knights sit atop the Western Conference with a 23-9-2 mark. It's been the most improbable of starts for the expansion franchise in Vegas. Expert after expert predicted this team would fail both on and off the ice but that simply hasn't been the case.
McPhee and his hockey operations staff took full advantage of friendlier expansion draft rules and crafted a roster which is not only competitive in today's NHL but is also stocked with players aged 26 and under and just hitting their prime. Jonathan Marchessault, Erik Haula, Colin Miller, Reilly Smith, Alex Tuch, Shea Theodore, Nate Schmidt and Malcolm Subban are all contributing on the NHL roster and have lots of good years ahead of them.

McPhee also loaded up collecting five years worth of draft picks over the first three years of this organization's existence and kicked off his draft and development program selecting prospects such as Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom and Nic Hague.

The present is solid and McPhee has positioned himself to create a pipeline which will churn out players moving forward.

The organizational depth chart still needs time but with all the picks McPhee has been able to acquire - soon there will be a long list of Golden Knights prospects playing at the amateur level and in the AHL.
Off the ice, the organization has enjoyed unparalleled early success. Every home game has seen over-capacity attendance and the franchise sits third in the league at 102.6 percent.

Foley says the club is ahead of budget in key revenue areas such as ticketing, sponsorship and merchandise.
VGK.com: So, how's it feel to own the Vegas Golden Knights right now?
BF: Well it feels great. The whole experience of being involved in hockey and being an owner of a hockey team has been incredible for me. It's the most exhilarating experience I can remember ever having. Getting ready before each game, going to the arena-fortunately, I get to sit with George (McPhee) and Kelly (McCrimmon). I'm learning a lot, but the adrenaline flow and the rush of watching our team score and watching our team perform and play great defense has been just an unbelievable experience. I've never had more fun. It's incredible.
VGK.com: How's the business performing?
BF: We were pretty detailed in terms of our budgeting process and our expectations. We had four or five different buckets. One was game day revenue, season ticket sales, suite sales and such. We're well above budget on game day revenue, suite sales, season ticket sales, game day sales so that's been very positive. We were faced mid-year with having the Raiders announce that they're moving to town. There was concern there was going to be a pushback, but what we found was there really wasn't pushback from the key players that we were trying to get involved with the key corporate sponsors. That was a big positive. We ended up making a very favorable transaction with AT&T SportsNet and they accomplished my mission of getting our games on TV throughout the Rocky Mountain region. We're really selling a lot of merchandise at the Armory and the Arsenal. The Arsenal has only been open for about three months and we've almost sold as much gear there as we have at the Armory at T-Mobile. In all of those ways, we've really done well in terms of what our expectations were. Probably more importantly, we have managed to staff our entire organization over the last more or less twelve or thirteen months when we really started getting going. So we have 215 employees not including myself and I'm not even a paid employee. So to have done all of that and to have us be in the position we're in is pretty incredible. I'm really proud of our guys for working hard.
VGK.com: I'm assuming Kerry Bubolz and George McPhee were the two key hires?

BF:That was my whole thought process. You need to first have an experienced individual who would understand the whole business side of a professional sports team; that's Kerry. He obviously came, not just from hockey throughout his career, but he ended up being the president of the Cavs operation in Cleveland and also ran the Monsters in the AHL. He had a lot of really good experience. He is a no ego, hard working guy. He's at every game walking the suites and greeting people. He runs a very collegial organization. There's a lot of input from a lot of different people. We were able to bring in this really strong group of individuals to run every business discipline. We had a couple of changes that we made along the way, but I feel like with 140 or 125-30 people that are in the hockey side of the operation, we've had two or three that haven't worked out. That's a pretty good record. Then you flip over to the George McPhee side and I was convinced that we needed to have a very experience General Manager who has built teams, rebuilt teams and understands the drafting process and focus on winning a cup. I interview several different individuals, but I really felt like George was the right fit for our team long-term. He's met every expectation that I've had of him. He's actually exceeded every expectations. That's one of the reasons why our team is so successful today. The extensive drafting process we went through and the mock drafting that we went through. We did five two and a half day sessions before we ever even got the unprotected list. I feel like hiring those two individuals and then they hired very intelligently underneath them for all of the people that were their direct reports. Then their direct reports are all low-ego, low-maintenance types of individuals. They hired great people. You're with the organization and you know the quality people that I'm talking about. I just don't know that there is any other team that has done what we have done in terms of the type of people and the type of individuals that put together in this type of time frame.
VGK.com: Is there part of you that also thinks that the community part is just as important as winning games?

BF: I think it is just as important. I believe that's why the town has embraced us the way they have. We brought something to las vegas so we're Las Vegas's own team. We're Vegas Born and that's one thing that Brian Killingsworth was working on developing that concept. Being in the community and doing what these guys do is just incredible. Their willingness to give up their free time and to go make these kind of appearances. I didn't go to the hospital would have been too tough. I just cant believe it. These guys go to the hospital and meet with everyone in a large room and then they go visit the kids that are too ill to come down and actually be in that first kind of meet and greet. Our guys are so good, but hockey players are that way. Hockey players are low-ego warriors, team players brought up to play as a team their entire lives especially if they're Canadian and they haven't gone to the NCAA process in the US. It just started three years old and they go from team to team and keep on growing. Their process of getting here, they really appreciate the fact that they're playing in the NHL and they're great players. They are humble. I believe this is just as important as winning hockey games. Being in the community and being a part of the community.
VGK.com: What's next for the Golden Knights?
BF: Well we're 22-9-2. That's pretty good. I kind of go game by game now. I'm kind of learning coaches and GM speech. We've got to focus on the next game, we can't be too far ahead. We go on the road to the Ducks and the Kings. Couple of tough road games in our division. I'm focused on game-by-game and getting these points and working toward the miracle of us actually getting the playoffs. That would be unbelievable for me in this first year.
VGK.com: What's your favorite part of the whole thing?
BF: My favorite part is watching the games and watching them with George and Kelly and learning. I've gotten some hockey sense because I hadn't played hockey in years and years. I had kind of forgotten about the game until I got involved in this process. The most fun I have right now is going to the games. I also really enjoy the interactions with the scouting staff. We have the pro and amateur scouts coming in in early January for about five days and I'm really looking forward to spending all day every day with these guys and talking about how we're going to improve today and how we're going to go after in the draft. They're going to be ready to talk about a lot of different players. I'm liking the whole thing. It's great.