Page 68 - Las Vegas Golf & Leisure SPRING 2018

[ FE A T UR E ]

L A S V EG A S LIG H T S
F OO T B ALL CL UB
On August 11, 2017, owner Brent Lash-
brook and United States Soccer League offi-
cials announced the Las Vegas Lights would
be joining the league in 2018 and would play
in Cashman Field. Following a flurry of ac-
tivity and unlimited energy from Lashbrook,
the Lights played their first exhibition game
on February 10. It sold out, and more than
10,000 soccer fans spent the game chanting,
singing and dancing to their hearts delight.
Very quickly, Lashbrook and his team had
turned Las Vegas into a soccer town and cre-
ated a nice buzz. The early success has proven
his vision might have been correct after all.

“Everything that has happened validates
that we’re a big league city,” Lashbrook says.
“It validates where soccer is in America in
2018. It validates that it is OK to look at old
things in new ways. It is OK to take this very
traditional European sport and put a Vegas
twist on it. It speaks to the 2.2 million of us
here that want something to call our own.
God bless the Strip and what it has done for
our community, but that’s not what all of us
who live here want to be known for and what
we do on a Saturday night. It shows that even
in the entertainment capital of the world, if
you provide something new and different,
you can succeed. I wouldn’t say that validat-
ing that we are a soccer city has surprised me,
but it has surprised some other people.”

Like the 51s, Lashbrook is looking to create
a family friendly environment and offer af-
fordable entertainment. “We have priced this
to be as affordable as possible,” Lashbrook
says. “No matter what your background is
or what your socio-economic status is, we
want everyone to feel welcome. We want this
to have a county and community fair feel.
We want everyone from the soccer mom in
Summerlin to the working-class family in
North Las Vegas to the hipster in downtown,
to know that this is a place where they are
welcome, that on a Saturday night in down-
town they can come and have fun for a low
cost and receive a great value proposition. I
just want everyone to give us one chance and
I know if people do that, we will be a huge
success.”
To say soccer is a game is not descriptive
enough. Soccer is more like a lifestyle for

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