Las Vegas will attract fans as long as its a novelty, and if they improve over time and become a winner they'll do very well. That's not the hard part, though. The real challenge is after they've become a winning team and then they have to go through a rebuilding period. Sun Belt teams are notorious for having fickle, fair-weather fan support. It's easy to draw fans when you're a winner, but it takes a strong hockey market to get 15,000 or more fans to come out to see a mediocre team. There are a lot of places in North America where a team can do this, but it's not going to happen in the Sun Belt.
I’ve read that about Ottawa. Also that they recently rescinded the ability of government officials to use taxpayer money for hockey games. It sounds like this may be a team on the move if they don’t make the situation more fan friendly.
As far as Las Vegas, I’m going to give it time. It seems like a Columbus style situation to me. I was reading the Vegas web sites when the team was announced and most remarks were about the team being for the people of the city. Most outside fans were saying this was a tourist attraction hence unstable. I think the season ticket holder base suggests the reality is the former not the latter.
Most American cities will support teams on a fickle basis. Win and they will come. Lose and they don’t. I live in the Pittsburgh area, we just had 650,000 people at the parade. The moment the team looks shaky you won’t be able to give tickets away. Yet, at the moment it’s one of the most stable US franchises. It’s just the way sports fans are.