Monday, April 14, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.
As Peter Karmanos flew into Las Vegas Friday morning, he came to a realization: The clock is ticking.
The Hartford Whalers owner needs a new home for his team, and the longer he waits, the more difficult it becomes.
Of course, he has several options. Newspaper reports claimed Las Vegas to be a front-runner to welcome the NHL team on a list that also included Minneapolis, Nashville, Tenn., Oklahoma City, Portland, Ore., Columbus, Ohio, and Raleigh, N.C.
Prior to touching down at McCarran International Airport, however, Karmanos scratched his destination and circled his two most recent stopovers.
"I have two ideal candidates: Columbus and Raleigh," Karmanos told the SUN while in his Caesars Palace suite. "By the time I got here, I told myself, 'I gotta choose between those two.'"
Before officially abandoning a move to Las Vegas, Karmanos visited corporate executives about potential sponsorships Friday. He declined to name which corporations.
"I'm not here to look for a team anymore," Karmanos said. "I'm here to get something done quick and they couldn't get anything done quick."
Karmanos checked out Sunday morning, right around the time his Whalers played their final game in Hartford. He left Las Vegas without contacting officials at either the Thomas & Mack Center or the MGM Grand Garden.
"I still think it's a good site for a franchise," he said. "Someday, this will be one heck of an NHL market."
While T&M director Pat Christensen expected Karmanos' decision, he is optimistic about the future.
"I think it's good (franchise owners) are looking into Las Vegas," Christensen said. "In a few years, it will be a viable market. But there are too many things working against us right now."
While owners originally are lured to Las Vegas because of Nevada's tax laws, a little research deters them.
"There isn't a lot of incentive for corporate sponsorships because sports is entertainment," Christensen said, "and it takes business away from the properties."
Market size is another problem. While Las Vegas is a top 50 media market, there are larger metropolitan areas -- such as Nashville, Memphis, Tenn., Oklahoma City, Louisville, Ky., Providence, R.I., and Norfolk, Va. -- without one major sports team. Hartford, which officially joined that list Sunday, is the nation's 27th-largest market.
Karmanos, the Compuware founder and CEO who bought the Whalers for $47.5 million in 1994, claims he since lost nearly $45 million. He will pay a $20.5 million penalty to break his four-year lease with Connecticut.
His main source of contention is the Whalers' home, the 22-year-old Hartford Civic Center. Karmanos demanded a new arena be built at no cost to his team.
"Professional sports teams anymore, the most important thing is where you play and the deal you have," said George Maloof Jr., whose late father once owned the Houston Rockets. Maloof now lives in Las Vegas and is president of the Fiesta Hotel. His family has actively pursued the acquisition of another major franchise for years. One current target is the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning.
"If a team moves, it has to find the right venue," Maloof said. "Suite revenues are very important; club seating is very important. And you can't have a place that's too big. You have to create demand for your product."
Hartford's offer to build a $147 million venue fell $6 million shy of guaranteeing the Whalers a profit, according to Karmanos. The city also insisted on a 20-year lease.
"I've just sat here and watched this go on, with all the talk and the rhetoric, and I keep paying out money," Karmanos was quoted in Sunday's Hartford Courant. People in Hartford "don't seem to understand this, like I have some kind of obligation to pour money down the drain."
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