If, for some crazy reason, you packed your bags and moved your family to Las Vegas and you like hockey (who doesn't), then prepare for a professional ice hockey team.  Well, not quite.  But, the NHL is contemplating adding another team to the league and Nevada is a No. 1 destination. 

Eric McErlain has a gazillion reasons for expanding to Vegas.  Instead of moving to Hamilton, Ont., as the wise Jes Golbez proposed, behind the No. 1-rated Desert-based Las Vegas, I prefer Green Bay, Wisconsin for two hundred billion reasons.  I am not going to bother you with too many rationales.  Do not worry my child.  Ahmed Bradshaw is here to rescue you and your defensive unit as well.  Focus on the fourth quarter portion of the box score, in case you accidentally missed the 38-21 NY Giants playoff-clinching road win at windy Buffalo.

Ah, Green Bay, a frosty city that only hosts the Packers of course.  The same team that is headed to the postseason as the No. 2 seed in the NFC.

In the meanwhile, those same fans only have the Milwaukee Brewers to look forward to in the spring (until they earn a spot in the postseason consistently, I am calling them a spring-based organization).

I am not necessarily suggesting that the hockey team play on Lambeau Field, even though that would save the town a lot of money, considering the people own the Packers.  I am confident that if you raised the idea, people would have shot me beforehand with their bows and arrows.

Nothing touches Lambeau except for a pigskin and Brett Favre's wife jersey (when he retires). 

And some hockey?

“In February 2006, Ohio State and Wisconsin attracted 40,890 fans to Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.”  Theteliosgroup even reported that the game netted an estimated $2.8 in tourism revenue.  Wow, I am impressed.

Well, the NHL is testing out the Ice Bowl in Buffalo after the successful Edmonton experiment on November 22, 2003.  Yeah, it has been quite some time now, four years and counting.

In fact, the game in Alberta mimicked the Cold War, no not that one between the United States and the former Soviet Union, but rather a more physical contest between the college rivals University of Michigan and Michigan State.  If you recall correctly, over 74,000 fans touched bums to enjoy the 3-3 tie there, and another 57,000 froze in -18 °C temperatures in the Canadian contest.

After this season, comm. Gary Bettman should stroke his 55-year-old Cornell-graduate baldhead for some advice.  If he is fortunate, the game should not generate $2.5 million in revenue, but enough to gather the team owners for an important vote.  He should propose a team name like the Green Bay Packers Favres.  It is simple, unadulterated, and fitting for arguably the most loyal fan base in North America.  Season tickets have been sold out there since 1960, except for Doug Burris, who managed to grab 331 season tickets in the 1980s (must read).

Even though six Canadian-based organizations represented 28 percent of the revenues, while 24 U.S. teams produced the other 72 percent, Green Bay is the No. 1 destination for an NHL organization.  Wisconsin is like a cold refreshing beer.  Children grow up with a football and hockey stick in their hands there.  Just see above (Ice Bowl).

Therefore, it is fitting and reasonable to expect a new hockey arena in Green Bay because of the aforementioned clauses.  I hope that your time was not wasted reading this and was spent watching the New Jersey Devils’ 1-0 overtime thriller over Calgary only a few minutes ago. 

Well, now you can read it.

• Much thanks to McErlain, Greg Wyshynski, Golbez, and the other sites that were used.

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