(Las Vegas) Tens of thousands of Golden Knights fans, maybe more, will be expected in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip for the Stanley Cup Champions Parade on Saturday night.
The rally will mark the team’s first championship.
Las Vegas police prepare for over 100,000 people along Las Vegas Boulevard.
Organizers liken the planned festivities to New Year’s Eve fireworks, which in recent years have drawn more or less 400,000 people.
PHOTO DAVID BECKER, ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES
Fireworks during the New Year’s festivities in Las Vegas, 1er last january
Unlike a winter night, the temperature should be above 30 degrees Celsius.
The Strip will be closed for the parade. This should start at 7:00 p.m. local time near Flamingo Road and continue for a mile and a half to Tropicana Avenue. Next, there will be a rally of supporters at Toshiba Plaza and the Park District in front of T-Mobile Arena.
Roads will be closed from late afternoon until late evening.
Glass bottles, large bags, luggage and backpacks are prohibited, as well as coolers, strollers and folding chairs.
The team played their first game at T-Mobile Arena as an expansion club in October 2017.
The Knights surprised by reaching the finals in their first season, before losing in five games against Washington.
This year, the Golden Knights won the cup by beating the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 on Tuesday.
Captain Mark Stone had a hat trick and Jonathan Marchessault received the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoffs’ most valuable player.
PHOTO JOHN LOCHER, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Golden Knights captain Mark Stone lifting the Stanley Cup last Tuesday.
Marchessault is one of the six original members of the Golden Knights. The others are William Carrier, Reilly Smith, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb.
All week, gamblers have been spotted celebrating at glitzy Strip resorts like Caesars Palace, The Flamingo, The Bellagio, The Horseshoe, Paris Las Vegas, The Cosmopolitan, Planet Hollywood, New York-New York, The ‘Aria and the MGM Grand.
The course, arena and plaza are the same as during the Aces championship celebrations last September.
The team defeated the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA Finals.