The NBA’s elite descend on Las Vegas next weekend, forced to squeeze in an All-Star Game and skills events between all the frolicking and cavorting around town.
The question is whether this will be a one-shot deal for Sin City, or the harbinger of something bigger.
Despite luring All-Star weekend, Las Vegas faces considerable odds to secure a major professional team of its own. The obstacle, naturally, is the issue that has fueled the city’s popularity: gambling.
Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman said Friday he doesn’t consider next weekend’s festivities an audition and remains ”very optimistic” about landing a team in the future, more likely an NHL or NBA team.
But in comments to reporters last year, NBA commissioner David Stern made one thing very clear about the possibility of placing a team in Las Vegas: “We’re not going to go there while they have betting on NBA basketball games.”
In fact, in order to get the All-Star Game, Goodman and the Las Vegas sports books had to agree not to allow wagers on next Sunday’s game. But Goodman said he would not consider eliminating betting on NBA games in order to secure a team.
”I will not budge on our position,” he said. “David Stern is a great guy. We’ll sit and discuss it.”
All of this leads to a larger issue: If the NBA isn’t ready to put a team in Las Vegas, why is it placing its marquee midseason event there?
”We’re going to Las Vegas because we think it’s a great destination city,” Stern, who was unavailable for an interview last week, said in a news conference last fall. “They have removed the All-Star events from the betting line and . . . we have no problem with people who want to go there and gamble.
“It’s state-sanctioned, state-sponsored, state-regulated. They have great hotels, great shows, great restaurants, great family events. It’s a great entertainment place. We don’t think it’s a stigmatized city in our view.”
Las Vegas has its share of pro sports — minor-league baseball, Arena Football, marquee boxing and tennis events — but Goodman wants something bigger, something sexier. He believes it’s warranted for a city that draws 37.4 million visitors annually and has seen its population triple, to 1.8 million, in the past 20 years.
Goodman at one point said he expects a team from one of the four major leagues to relocate by 2010. He didn’t offer a new timetable in a phone interview Friday, but said he hopes to have serious conversations with one of the leagues “before spring.”
Goodman said he has spoken with several NBA teams, but declined to name them. He reportedly inquired about the New Orleans Hornets when they shifted games to Oklahoma City after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
MARLINS BLOCKED
Two Marlins officials met with Goodman in December 2004, but Major League Baseball would not permit the Marlins to have more serious conversations because of the gambling issue, The Miami Herald reported last year.
‘I’ve been told by [commissioner] Bud Selig to stay out of the Marlins’ business,” Goodman said Friday. ”He indicated [last year] he prefers I don’t speak with them and that the team stays in South Florida.” He said he did not push the issue because he wants to preserve a good relationship with MLB.
Last week, MLB president Robert DuPuy voiced concerns about any team relocating to Las Vegas.
‘We had very productive discussions with Las Vegas about a baseball team in that city during the Expos’ relocation process,” DuPuy said in an e-mail. “And the mayor and local leaders were very enthusiastic and committed. As a rapidly expanding city, Las Vegas offers interesting professional sports opportunities. The television market there is quite small, but the growth is intriguing.
“However, the gaming remains an issue, particularly the fact that baseball is on board with the other sports. While gambling has become more pervasive in other forms in many states, the difference in Nevada is the sports betting. Given the history of the Office of the Commissioner and the sensitivity to the issue of gambling, this would be a significant obstacle.”
Because of that, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson hasn’t made progress in his efforts to bring a team to Las Vegas, though he reportedly pieced together a deep-pocketed investment group.
Meanwhile, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell expressed serious concerns when asked at a Super Bowl news conference how he would react if an owner approached him and said he wanted to move to Las Vegas.
”I feel strongly about keeping a very strong line between the NFL and sports gambling,” he said. “I think it’s a real issue. I have my personal views about gambling, and I don’t think it’s in the best interests of the NFL to have any association with sports betting.”
Goodell said he has not had any dialogue about moving a team to Las Vegas. Twice in the past nine months, Goodman has made inquiries to the San Diego Chargers, who want a new stadium. But the Chargers have said they will concentrate their efforts on San Diego. Goodman also once offered to build a stadium to play host to all Monday Night Football games, but the NFL declined.
”I don’t have the best relationship with the NFL,” said Goodman, who was unhappy when the league rejected some of the city’s broadcast advertisements in the past.
The NHL won’t rule out Las Vegas, but said changes would need to be made regarding sports gambling issues.
”Las Vegas we’ve had talks with — it’s a great sports town and certainly could be considered,” NHL spokeswoman Bernadette Mansur said. ”There would have to be restrictions with gambling. But it’s all speculation. We are not considering any expansion or relocation of clubs.” Mansur reiterated the NHL hopes the Penguins — whose future is in question — will remain in Pittsburgh.
To Goodman, the reluctance to bring a team to Las Vegas is mystifying. He consistently has called gambling concerns a “red herring.”
”Tonight, [the Heat] is playing in Cleveland,” Goodman said Friday. “There will be more bets taken in Cleveland for that game than in all the sports books in Las Vegas. . . . Sports betting is good. We’re the only state that regulates it.”
This won’t be the NBA’s first foray into Las Vegas. During the 1983-84 season, former Utah Jazz owner Sam Battistone scheduled 11 games at Thomas & Mack Center, which will play host to next weekend’s festivities. In one of those games, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar surpassed Wilt Chamberlain and became the NBA’s all-time leading scorer. The U.S. national team held training camp in Las Vegas last summer, and the league holds summer league competition in the city each July.
Stern suggested last year that if NBA games weren’t wagered on, he would have no qualms about placing a team in Las Vegas.
`WHAT AMERICA DOES’
”Forty states have lotteries,” he said. “Those that don’t have lotteries, there’s Indian reservations that have gambling establishments or video poker or all their eating establishments. So everybody gambles now. Whether that’s right or wrong, that’s state government policy that’s been left to the states. And that’s what America does.”
Even beyond gambling, another drawback is the lack of a state-of-the-art baseball/football stadium or an arena to replace Thomas & Mack, which doesn’t have enough revenue-producing luxury suites to support an NBA team.
Goodman has said he is proceeding with plans to build a $404 million arena, potentially without using public money, but hasn’t offered details.
”No one is going to privately build a stadium unless a team is there,” Goodman said in a November news conference in comments published by The Las Vegas Review-Journal in November. “But if the NBA is going to come here, I have ways I believe it could be built without taxpayer dollars.”
Goodman isn’t alone.
Gavin Maloof, whose family owns the Sacramento Kings and the Palms Hotel, told The Associated Press he expects an NBA team in Las Vegas within the next five years, despite Stern’s position.
”Every owner that I’ve spoken to loves Vegas,” said Maloof, who helped facilitate the All-Star Game going to Nevada.
Marc Ganis, president of Chicago-based Sportscorp — a sports business consultancy firm that works on franchise relocations — said he expects a pro team in Las Vegas ”well within the decade, perhaps within three or four years.” He said he easily could see an NBA team move to Las Vegas if Stern ever changed his mind on the issue.
”Hockey needs Vegas the most,” Ganis said. “If there was not the sports gambling element, it is the most viable market in the country that is available.”
For now, though, a weekend of NBA All-Stars will have to suffice.
Source: Miami Herald