Wednesday, Nov. 24, 1999 | 11:02 a.m.
Despite recent setbacks for both a performing arts center and arena downtown, the committee studying the feasibility of such facilities learned Tuesday that both plans are apparently more alive than ever.
Mayor Oscar Goodman said he spoke as recently as Tuesday morning with the owner of an NBA team eager to move to Las Vegas.
A nationally recognized sports business expert from Chicago then told the committee he had spoken with the same owner and felt the possibility was very real that the unnamed owner's team could relocate to Las Vegas as early as next season if local leaders are prepared to make a deal.
NBA Commissioner David Stern had previously told Goodman and a Las Vegas delegation that the league would not allow a franchise to move here because of legalized betting on professional sports.
The owner said to be interested in moving to Las Vegas told Goodman on Tuesday that he wants the mayor to again ask Stern to loosen the league's staunch anti-gambling rules.
Marc S. Ganis, president of Sportscorp Ltd. in Chicago, said he believes Stern is a "pragmatist" who will listen to a real offer that's good for the league.
"They won't change a thing they don't want to unless they're presented a specific option on the table," said Ganis, whose company specializes in the relocation of professional sports teams and the development of arenas.
Ganis came to Las Vegas on his own dime to offer his advice to the committee pondering how next to proceed to lure a pro basketball or hockey team and build a state-of-the-art arena downtown.
"If a team owner, one of the brethren, wants it, it'll happen," Ganis said.
Goodman said he didn't want to get in a struggle with the gaming industry over betting on pro basketball. Some casino companies, including Mirage Resorts, are amenable to taking all pro hoops off the board in order to get a team.
Others, like Leroy's Race and Sports Books statewide, are dead set against limits on basketball betting. Still other casinos said they would favor a UNLV-type rule, in which the local team's games were always off the board.
"I don't think there is a clear position," said Kenny Wynn, brother of Mirage Chairman Steve Wynn and president of the architecture and design firm under Mirage Resorts Inc.
Boyd Gaming Corp. Chairman Donald Snyder said he found the NBA's position on Las Vegas' legalized and regulated gaming troubling given the illegal gambling that occurs in most of the league's cities.
Snyder urged Goodman to meet again with members of the Nevada Resorts Association to try to arrive at a clear position on NBA betting and to continue negotiating with the interested NBA owner.
"I think it would be a real travesty if we walked away from the table at this time," Snyder said.
Ganis told the committee that Las Vegas has a reputation for getting things done -- something team owners like in a city. He also urged the committee to form a strategic vision and be willing to cut a deal at a moment's notice.
With his firm SPORTSCORP, Ganis has helped relocate the NFL's Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Raiders and St. Louis Cardinals to their current homes in St. Louis, Oakland and Phoenix, respectively.
"I think this can actually be a very quick process," Ganis said.
Meanwhile, the sudden action last week by the Clark County Commission to proceed with the design of a Metro Police Department administration building on land eyed for a performing arts center appeared to take everyone on the committee off guard.
County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury, who co-chairs the arena committee with Goodman, said he wants to bring the performing arts center dilemma before the Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition on Dec. 16.
"This will take several months to sort through," Woodbury said.
Dr. Keith Boman, who is active in one of two groups aiming to build a performing arts center, said his group would be willing to pay one-fourth of a feasibility study related to location of such a facility.
The Howard Hughes Corp. and the county have also agreed to pay one-fourth of the study's cost. The other performing arts center group may also be interested in chipping in for the study, Boman said.
Metro Sheriff Jerry Keller took many by surprise when he asked the commission for the land adjacent to the Clark County Government Center even though the city had previously offered Metro 10 acres of land in the Enterprise Park on Martin Luther King Boulevard for free.
Goodman said the city's offer still stands and he hopes the regional planning coalition can help guide local leaders on how best to act next.
"I think this whole discussion has focused public attention in a positive way about the performing arts center," Woodbury said.
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