Summerlin's SportsPark opens tonight

Lengthy political battles, lawsuits and competitive complaints were lost on 8-year-old Randy Smith this week as he eyed with excitement a National Hockey League regulation ice rink just blocks from his Summerlin home.

"Mom, can I take hockey lessons?" Smith asked, tugging on mother Meg Smith's purse-laden left arm. "It's so cool here."

Cool is the operative word at the Las Vegas SportsPark, set for a grand opening tonight, with months of political squabbles now over for the public/private facility at Vegas Drive and Rampart Boulevard.

Cool as in "The Freezer" -- the constant 54-degree ice rink striped for hockey, but available for figure skating, broomball and run-of-the-mill public skating time.

"This is a permanent ice structure and we've been told by the players who've tried it out already that it's the smoothest and fastest rink in Las Vegas," SportsPark's marketing director Jack Close Jr. said.

The 70,000-square-foot facility also includes a regulation roller rink called "The Rock 'n Roller," an indoor arcade, snack bar and pro shop and three tournament-level softball fields.

The softball fields are strictly for adult leagues -- including a co-ed media league that takes over the park on Sundays and men's C and D division leagues.

Inside the SportsPark, kids like Randy are in a world of their own.

"I want to have a birthday party here," Randy declares, spinning the unmanned Foosball handles just after asking his mom for money for the SuperShot basketball games.

A disc jockey booth adjacent to both rinks can send pulsing dance tunes into the roller rink while country music twangs into the ice rink. Locker rooms can be converted to party rooms.

Tonight's grand opening kicks off at 7 with a four-hour open skate period. The cost is $2 for a skate rental and $5 for the session -- with $1 going to this weekend's charity beneficiary, the Animal Foundation.

Kids can sign up for "Learn to Skate" programs and hockey and roller skating classes for all levels.

The hardwood roller hockey court can also be used for basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, dances and self-defense classes.

"The reason why we're sitting on city land is because we want this for the community," Close said.

But two years ago when the park's proposal was first floated by former county commissioner Don Schlesinger, complaints arose that the public-private partnership was a sweetheart deal.

The $5 million complex, proposed to the City Council by Schlesinger and Las Vegas Color Graphics owner Linda Fernandez, was criticized by nearby residents who didn't want lighted ballfields near their homes. Competing ice rink operators also criticized the partnership, claiming Schlesinger and Fernandez would be getting a steal.

Under terms of the proposal, SportsPark pays the city $277 an acre per year at the beginning of its 50-year lease. By the end of the agreement, SportsPark would pay $1,111 per acre. SportsPark is situated on 18 acres just east of the city's Bruce Trent Park and not far from Angel Park Golf Course.

Schlesinger offered impromptu tours of the SportsPark last weekend to visiting softball players and said of the past squabbles, "That's all behind us now and we just want to concentrate on giving the community a nice park."

Schlesinger has lived up to his end of the bargain. The softball fields feature evergreen sod and will eventually get a misting system in the dugouts.

The rink has a professional hockey dasherboard system and has five windows offering a view of the Strip.

The park's major emphasis is on recreation leagues, although Close said the facility will partner with a number of schools and organizations for benefit events -- similar to the one this weekend for the Animal Foundation.

Tank, a 40-pound pug who serves as the SportsPark mascot, will be on hand through Sunday to pawprint his trading card in keeping with the charity's theme.

"We want to be really community oriented," Close said.

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