Foley claims Golden Knights have more ticket revenue than Penguins

The owner of the Vegas Golden Knights is claiming the expansion club's ticket sales rival that of the Stanley Cup champions and several other legacy franchises.

"We are number five, six or seven in terms of ticket revenue in the league," Foley said to Mark Ewing of Forbes in a profile published Sunday night.

"That’s how good Las Vegas has been to us," he added. "Edmonton has more revenue in their brand-new arena. The (New York) Rangers, Toronto (Maple Leafs), Chicago Blackhawks, they’re all ahead of us. (The) Montreal (Canadiens are) right with us. We have more revenue than the (Philadelphia) Flyers, (Pittsburgh) Penguins, (and) the Boston Bruins. Most of our tickets are multi-year. The lower bowl is three to ten years.”

The Golden Knights got thousands of ticket commitments before the team had actually been awarded, and long before the construction of T-Mobile Arena was complete.

"I knew nothing about how to do a ticket drive," Foley said. "We fumbled around with it, and at the end of about 60 days we had 11,000 deposits for season tickets for a team that did not exist to play in an arena that had not been built.

"The arena was not finished until April of (2016). We have (now) sold 13,500 of the 17,000 seats. We sold all the suites - we held back five suites to bring in guests. All the opera boxes on the third floor are nearly gone. Game-day ticket sales are the most important thing in the NHL because everyone wants to see a game live."

The NHL's 31st franchise will begin its inaugural season this fall.