Dan Marrazza

Emmy winner, sports biz veteran & dad joke enthusiast. Formerly @ArizonaCoyotes, @ProFootballHOF, @DraftKings, @GoldenKnights. Looking for next opportunity.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

Congratulations to the @FlyingMummies on taking the field yesterday for the first game in franchise history.

Honored to have been allowed to be part of helping the team launch.

And have to admit. Indiana’s got some BEAUTIFUL baseball skies!

[Clint Hurdle @ClintHurdle13]

When it's time to correct somebody, close the door. When it's time to praise somebody, open it wide. Public humiliation has a short shelf life and so does the leader who uses it.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

When I first read this, I read it as me being required to pay $1,000 for the honor of receiving such a wonderful 30-minute meal 😂😂

[Chicago History ™️ @Chicago_History]

For $1,000 - Could you eat all of this
in under 30 mins?

#ChicagoHistory ☑️

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

First time I ever visited Arizona was when I was 16.

Came with my dad to see the @Mets play the @Dbacks.

I wore a black @mikepiazza31 jersey I got when I cut school to go to Opening Day at Shea Stadium.

23 years later, same ballpark, SAME jersey still fits.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@Trevor_Porath2 The world is filled with crime, atrocities, poverty and all sorts of actual tragedy.

If the format of a playing surface for something that’s a “show” bothers you that much, you should feel very blessed that your life’s in that good of a spot.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

Judging from the comments, we need to normalize not hating on people for enjoying things that absolutely cause no harm to anyone else.

Not everything has to be for “us.”

That’s OK.

But hating on people for enjoying things that causes no harm to anyone else is wasted energy.

[Joe Pompliano @JoePompliano]

The Savannah Bananas will play their biggest game ever tomorrow night — over 100,000 at Kyle Field in College Station. That’s wild.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

Who cares? You don’t have to watch it.

And personally, as someone who’s a 162er for my favorite team (Mets) who’s in a road stadium right now having traveled to see them, personally I’d rather watch an MLB game, too.

But if someone prefers the Bananas, even the Bananas were deemed “weird” why would you care so much if someone else liked it?

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@Trevor_Porath2 Would it bother you if they did?

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@Trevor_Porath2 It’s not to be taken that seriously, though. It’s not meant to be competition or “baseball.”

It’s meant to be an entertaining show themed around baseball.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

I started going to @mets games when I was 5, growing up in New Jersey.

Tonight, Angels Stadium in Anaheim becomes the 17th ballpark where I’ve seen my team play live.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@Allen_TSS @robnmish I started with the team at the beginning, moving there from New Jersey.

Then I moved away after two years to work at DraftKings (Boston).

I later ended up with the Coyotes and was with the team went down.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

When I was in Vegas, I learned the city is way different than many think.

Many think it’s only casinos/tourists.

People from there are as fiercely proud of their city as anywhere in the country. Them against the world attitude. Blue collar.

They turn out for their teams. They’ll support the full group just fine.

[Todd Fuhrman @ToddFuhrman]

Vegas going from no pro sports teams at the top level to having one in damn near every league by '29 is nuts

* Golden Knights
* A's
* Raiders
* Aces
* NBA - TBD
* MLS - Whitecaps relo

I love it for the city to have options but not sure how the town supports all of them well

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@Yelladmanjohnny Been there, loved it.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@Allen_TSS I lived in Summerlin for two years. I was one of the first five employees in Golden Knights history and was in the room when the majority of the original season tickets were sold. I know both the area and sports scene well.

[SabresClassics @SabresClassics]

I don't know what the big deal is. Even Greg Brady sings O Canada when he's in Buffalo.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

@LVSportsCentric Appreciate the kind words. Always nice to be remembered fondly.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

It's a fair observation. I have not lived in Vegas since the Raiders got there, so I can't speak to the vibe around their team.

One interaction that summed up the early VGK days on the hockey side was when I moved into my house in Summerlin. Summer 2016, a year before they played their first game. We had just gotten the franchise and had to build everything out. The team didn't even have a name yet.

I am in my empty house and the cable guy comes in and sees my hockey bag in the corner and some framed jerseys I had on the walls of places I worked.

He looked at it a bit perplexed and asked me what all the stuff was.

When I told him I was with the new team, his eyes lit up. He essentially said: "I know nothing about hockey, I have never watched a game. But I have lived here my whole life and we've never had something of our own. I already bought season tickets!"

Not relevant to your comment, but I always found that stuck out to me about the sentiment of the city when VGK got there.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

I don't think it's a matter of whether the city can support them - they can. It's if the teams are run well and earn that support.

Early on in Vegas, when people "assumed" we were only going to be "supported" by tourists, we leaned hard into targeting our local fan base. We never rejected outsiders, but embraced a local audience.

Almost all of our marketing was geared towards tapping into how Vegas fans saw themselves at the time: People who never had their own team before, whose community was often discounted by outsiders as "tourists only."

Totally embraced that Vegas vs. Everyone type of vibe and I think it resonated well with the fans.

It's not saying other teams have to do it that way. But they do have to "prove" to locals that they are a "Vegas" team.

If they can establish themselves as part of the people, of the people, the people will be there for them.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

Yep, 100%.

It's been such a philosophical change.

In the early 2010s, it was more about the teams having close proximity to each other and being a bus league. Most away games, teams returned home after and slept in their own beds.

The thought was this allowed for more practice days, which would lead to better development, and that having this set-up for the majority of the team was more valuable than the extra travel time for the occasional call-up.

The other difference was back then most NHL teams did not own their own affiliates, and basically paid the AHL franchise a fee (and player salaries) in exchange for the AHL franchise managing the business side.

Teams have opted for more control and closer proximity over the last 15 years, putting less of an emphasis on practice days.

Like everything, things change.

[Dan Marrazza @DanMarrazza]

They did, 100%. But both had some foundations to build on early.

San Jose advanced in two of their first four seasons and were a perennial contender within a decade or so.

And Anaheim (which also rode tremendous due to the movie connection which is totally different than any other team has ever had) was contending within a decade, too.

For both, that success gave them a foundation that supported them even when the teams took a dive.

But Arizona and Atlanta never really got that.