When the Golden Knights began playing hockey in 2017 it was assumed that their big rival would be the Los Angeles Kings or maybe the Arizona Coyotes… or even, maybe the Anaheim Ducks. However, that hasn’t happened. Instead by far the biggest rival to the Las Vegas Golden Knights is the San Jose Sharks. So this post is going to be about Las Vegas Golden Knights v. San Jose Sharks. A compare and contrast if you will. I think there are a couple of main reasons why the Sharks and the Knights have created a nice little rivalry:
- The Sharks and Knights have played in the playoffs each of the past two years with the Knights winning in 2018 and the Sharks winning in 2019… but only after a controversial call against the Knights. Yes, the Knights vanquished the LA Kings 4 games to 0 in 2018 also but that was a first round ho-hummer of a series. The Knights and Sharks battled going 6 games in 2018 and 7 games in 2019.
- The Sharks home is in San Jose which is in the State of Northern California. The movie Better Off Dead is a modern classic (1985 or so) where I first learned of the State of Northern California or NorCal for short. However, the fine people of NorCal are some of the most territorial people I have ever met and they love to hate. For example, they have a huge one-way rivalry with all-things that are SoCal (Dodgers, Lakers, sunshine, beaches, etc…). I believe Vegas got lumped into the NorCal hated for SoCal.
- Since they are in the same division they of course play frequently. The more you play the more you have chippy fouls, bad calls, incredible plays, media making up stories, etc….
So as of today, the first day of 2020, we are where we are and the Knights and the Sharks form a great rivalry and fans of both teams seem to enjoy the rivalry. Now, I am a Knight’s fan first and foremost so undoubtedly my blog post is jaded but I will try to be as objective as I can be. I have been to a few Knight’s games, as well as games for all sports throughout the country, and I believe the Knight’s fan experience is up there amongst the best. I have not been to the “Shark Tank,” down in San Ho, in many years but I recently did to watch the Knights play the Sharks. The point of my post today is to compare and contract the fan experience at the two venues. The place in the standings speak for themselves (hint one team is in first and one team is near last).
VENUE LOCATION
I have been to several sporting events at the SAP Arena, or whatever it is called these days, and it’s a nice place. However, the neighborhood is pretty marginal. If you stay at a hotel you have to walk through a very mediocre area with a lot of homeless. Yes, there are some bars and restaurants a few blocks away, and they are fun, but it’s pretty average compared to what Las Vegas offers right outside the T-Mobile front door. World class hotels are steps away – Park MGM, NYNY, and MGM Grand. During the week you can frequently get very cheap rates at these hotels. In terms of bars and restaurants… well, the Las Vegas Strip is one of the best entertainment destinations in the world and it literally goes almost to the doors of the T-Mobile Arena. We drove up to SAP, parked in a massive parking lot, and then stood in line to go in as there nothing to do right next to the arena. While waiting in line at T-Mobile they a DJ playing, an MC who greets all the fans (even the opposing team’s fans), and the vibe is electric. San Jose was not so electric. This really is a no-brainer. WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights
PRE-GAME
So Vegas is a world class destination with more shows than any city I know of. They literally take the show into the Fortress (aka: T-Mobile Arena) for the games. The DJ is blasting the beats inside, there is literally a Las Vegas show taking place on the ice, a world class singer sings the national anthem(s), and the vibe is pure electric. In San Jose they have some guy playing an electronic organ that reminds me of going to games in the 1970’s when I was kid. At the game I went to they tried to do a theatrical production where two kids (one dressed in Shark’s gear and one in Knight’s gear) had a little sword fight. Some fans booed the Knight’s kid… or maybe they were just booing the whole thing because it was pretty pathetic to make a kid the enemy. Ya, I know it was probably staged but it wasn’t very funny but rather just awkward. WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights
FANS
So granted it was just before Christmas but you are supposedly playing your rival and the Shark Tank was fairly empty. I don’t buy into “attendance” numbers since the definition of attendance now seems to be tickets sold rather than butts in seats so I will ignore whatever attendance number the Shark’s published. The place was about 20-25% empty. I checked the day before and you could get the BMW seats (first two rows PLUS unlimited food and booze) on Stubhub for about $250 each. We got seats around row 12, not too far from center ice, for about $150 each on the Hub. The prices seemed pretty cheap but once I saw all the empty seats I understood I probably overpaid! So the fans had one moment where we thought they did a good job. They sung the national anthem, with the organ playing, and they replaced the words “night” with the word “boo” which was funny. This has gotten them into hot water in the past as they messed up a previous singer. https://www.bardown.com/sharks-crowd-abruptly-boo-s-when-anthem-reaches-the-word-night-leading-singer-to-botch-next-line-1.1075046 On this night, other than that one moment, the fans basically sat on their hands, didn’t cheer much (except one loud lady behind me), and it was something similar to Christmas mass at your local Catholic church. At one moment the fan cam was darting around the arena (as it did A LOT during the evening), focused on two teenagers, who gasped with excitement, and we heard them from the other end of the ice. When you go to a Knight’s game in LV you can barely hear yourself think. WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights
FOOD
So stadium food has come a long way in my lifetime. In the old days it was hot dogs, peanuts, cracker jacks and frozen malts. Over time some inventive arena added pizza. Then, probably in the late 90’s, the variety of food expanded considerably. Now days a lot of arenas have gourmet food from local restaurants, celebrity chefs, etc…. The last game I was at in Vegas I had an incredible chicken salad sandwich to go with my $17 Bud Light (yikes). At San Jose we started with some Ritas frozen custard, followed that up with some tri-tip, and lastly had some turkey carver. I have to say all the food we ate was very good. I need to eat more food at T-Mobile before I can make a final decision on this. WINNER: San Jose Sharks*
SPECIALTY LOUNGES
We had access to the stadium club which was downstairs from the main entry level at San Jose. There was a lot of nice food and drink options in bar/restaurant like settings. It was impressive. We were with people who had previously enjoyed BMW Club seats at SAP. They said it was pretty incredible with exclusive entrance and unlimited food and drink all night long. At my last Vegas game I had tickets that came with access to the Bud Light Lounge. It was nice for having short lines for food, drink and bathrooms. Plus offered nice seating if you didn’t want to walk down to your city. I believe sections 16 and 17 at T-Mobile get you into the Bud Light Lounge though not 100% positive on that. Likewise I believe sections 5 and 6 get you into the Jack Daniel’s lounge. I do not know if T-Mobile has anything equivalent to the BMW Lounge with unlimited food and drink. However, what decides the winner is that T-Mobile has Hyde. It’s a club, in full Vegas nightclub style, at the very top of T-Mobile. You don’t see the game much from up there but what an awesome concept! WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights
OTHER STUFF
I was going to have a separate section for the people that clean the ice. In San Jose it’s a mix of average looking men and women in warm weather gear efficiently cleaning the ice every few minutes. In Vegas it’s mostly women in skirts, along with a few guys, but all look they are models.
SAP is looking old while T-Mobile is still brand new at about 3 or 4 years old. Don’t get me wrong. SAP is still nice but it’s a bit long in the tooth. T-Mobile just feels clean and modern.
The video graphics at SAP were surprisingly outdated. They did a lot with clipart, superimposed onto fans, but messed up many times. The funniest being they put the word “nice” over the head of Shark’s fans and then switched to a Knight’s fan and put the word “naughty.” Unfortunately the word naughty also was placed above all the other fans, next to the Knight’s fan, and they were all Shark’s fans. Lol on that tech fail. Pretty funny since you are in the heart of Silicon Valley at SAP.
Exiting the arena – we were able to get out of ABC parking lot, at SAP, and onto the freeway in minutes which was nice as we had to drive home. However, I prefer T-Mobile where I can walk out, throw a few bucks into the slots, or hit the Piano Bar in NYNY, or any of 1,000 other options.
WINNER: Las Vegas Golden Knights
CONCLUSION
Overall the clear winner is the experience in Las Vegas. Las Vegas Golden Knights v. San Jose Sharks is a fun rivalry though. Regardless of what team you root for, or if you don’t even know anything about hockey, I encourage you to check out a Las Vegas Knight’s game at T-Mobile Arena. I think you’ll find it memorable!
* Tentative – dependent on eating more food at T-Mobile