Columnist Dean Juipe: News flash? Empty Mack eyes NHL

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

Two different sources, one affiliated with the Las Vegas Thunder and the other with the Thomas & Mack Center, suggested this week that the Thunder is being booted out of its arena at least in part because of "ulterior motives."

Their analysis seemed more guesswork than discovery, yet perhaps it's substantive enough to be addressed.

Both -- independently, they let on -- reached this conclusion: With the Thunder out of the Mack, the building is freed up to claim a more prominent tenant, specifically a wayward National Hockey League franchise.

At least two NHL teams, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators, are currently available to the highest bidder. The Penguins are coming out of bankruptcy and the Senators are simply the latest Canadian team to feel the pinch of that country's unrelenting tax bite.

(Despite the fact Canada has a reported budget surplus of $7 billion, it does not offer tax breaks to its professional sports franchises. As a result, a recent report solicited by the Canadian Parliament indicated that "if nothing is done, eventually the only team in Canada will be the Toronto Maple Leafs." Currently there are six NHL, two NBA and two MLB teams in Canada.)

However inconclusive the speculation this time around, this isn't the first time Las Vegas has been mentioned as a possible NHL site. Yet, as was the case with the Edmonton Oilers a few years ago, this city still doesn't have the wherewithal, or population base, or desire, to support a professional sports team -- unless it is in the National Football League. And Las Vegas does not have anything resembling an NFL facility.

Put an NHL team here and it would flop. Oh, the hockey would be great and far more invigorating than what Las Vegans have been exposed to with the minor-league Thunder, but, financially, it just isn't feasible.

Nonetheless, there are at least a couple of people with potential insight into the situation who believe the T&M is making a positional move by ousting the Thunder when its sixth and final season concludes Saturday. They think the building needs more than a single occupant, the UNLV men's basketball team.

And while it's commonly known that basketball coach Bill Bayno badly wants the T&M on a full-time basis for his Rebels, and that his wish seemingly has been granted, if his program's recent troubles with the NCAA are compounded in any way he will lose some of his clout. That loss of clout may manifest itself in the university's decision to make its 18,000-seat arena available to an incoming franchise like the Penguins (next fall) or the Senators (in the fall of 2000 after their supposed deadline for a new facility in Ottawa expires).

By the end of the summer, UNLV should know where it stands with the NCAA and its current, ongoing inquiry into allegations of financial improprieties. Likewise, by then the school and its arena manager should have a better feel for whether enough one-night events like concerts and boxing matches are available to keep the building active beyond its needs for the men's basketball team.

The Mack remains a beautiful facility and it is also undergoing some revisions that qualify as a face lift. Some people feel it's too nice to be so idle.

But the solution to this booking problem would not seem to be the National Hockey League.

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