Paul Konerko did not attend the Vegas Golden Knights parade and victory celebration after the team claimed the 2023 Stanley Cup championship with a five-game victory over Florida. Here’s an interesting sidenote: I was in Las Vegas for the extravagant title party on Saturday, June 17, along with my friend Essie, taking advantage of an off-weekend after a three-game White Sox set at Dodger Stadium. But Konerko has much more of a connection to the team than I do.
The White Sox icon, who was a consummate leader and highly productive force during the team’s 2005 World Series title run, has a small investment in a group of nine or 10 holding a larger investment in the Golden Knights. He has been part of this LLC dating back prior to the team’s first season in 2017-18.
“It’s a very small part of it. I’m not saying it was because of me, that I brought hockey to Vegas,” said Konerko during our recent phone conversation. “This was kind of cool and a situation of being involved in the [T-Mobile] Arena, which was a separate deal and is also turning out to be a good deal, and that was kind of it.”
Konerko got involved with the Golden Knights through his friend Darren Blake, who belongs to the same golf club. Through the connections held by Darren and his brother, Dennis, who ran Blake Sports Group among other hockey tie-ins, they had heard buzz that Las Vegas was going to get a franchise and owner Bill Foley was going to be involved.
“When there were rumblings of this expansion team, Blakey came to me and said, ‘I know you like hockey. You played it and you love it and all that. If this ever happens, and there’s a million things that need to happen for this to happen, you think you would be interested?’” Konerko said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, of course. Always listen. That would be cool.’
“That was probably almost two years before they even awarded the franchise to Foley. So, it was kind of like one of those things, yeah, let me know and obviously gathered a bunch of steam and kept going and going and it kind of happened.”
Those who remember Konerko with admiration — which likely encompasses everyone who came in contact with the six-time All-Star during his 16 years with the White Sox — recall, among the first baseman’s myriad accomplishments, his 432 home runs and manager Ozzie Guillen naming him team captain. Konerko retired after the ’14 season, had a sculpture at Guaranteed Rate Field unveiled in ’14 and had his jersey No. 14 retired in ’15.
