Las Vegas Arena plans moving forward

[Arena Skeptic]

Sorry if I posted this in the wrong place.

Las Vegas's arena will be ready by 2011. They're meeting with the NBA today to let them know they want a team.

In the meantime, the new owner of the Sonics has gone on record that he will ask to move the team to Oklahoma City, eliminating Anaheim, Vegas, San Jose, et al, as a possible destination for that team. Indirectly, that increases the odds the Kings would choose LV, if they choose to move.

http://www.klas-tv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6808805

Plans for a downtown sports arena and event center took a huge step forward. The Las Vegas City Council voted unanimously to start negotiations with REI Neon LLC on the arena and a massive development project.

The project will be on 85 acres of land extending from Wyoming just north of the Stratosphere to East Charleston and from Main Street to the railroad tracks. At the moment the land is mainly warehouses, industrial businesses, and small restaurants.

REI Neon says they have agreements with 120 businesses to sell almost all of the property. In fact, work measuring the site started Wednesday.

Each agreement is a little different. For 11 years Casa Don Juan has been on the same corner on Main Street. The restaurant falls on the edge of where the arena would sit.

The owner says he will sell, but does not want to go away. "Casa Don Juan supports this project because it's very, very important for the neighbor, for the city, for everybody," said Raul Gil.

Gil's agreement will allow Casa Don Juan to reopen in the project or be relocated across Main Street in the same area.

City council members expressed concern about where all of the financing will come from. REI Neon says they have it and are meeting with the NBA on Friday about moving a team to Las Vegas.

The cost of this project cost is estimated at $9.5 billion, which would be more than Project CityCenter on the Las Vegas Strip. There will be an arena, eight buildings housing casinos, hotels and condos, and space for shops.

 

[BMiller52]

And you really think Stern is going to let a team move to Vegas after Donaghy is being investigated for fixing games/mob connections?

Figures that you would be the one to post this though.

 

[PurpleHaze]

And you really think Stern is going to let a team move to Vegas after Donaghy is being investigated for fixing games/mob connections?

I agree. If Tim Donaghy is convicted of fixing games in the NBA that would probably be a last straw for Stern who has long expressed doubts about having a team in Las Vegas.

 

[kupman]

This may actually be good news for Sacramento fans. Las Vegas going to Stern and telling him that they are going to be NBA ready on the heels of the present scandal may press Stern to do something more heroic to keep the Kings the he** away from sin city.

I think that we should be more afraid of Anahiem or a return to KC.

 

[Circa_1985_Fan]

And you really think Stern is going to let a team move to Vegas after Donaghy is being investigated for fixing games/mob connections?

Figures that you would be the one to post this though.

Eh...I have to agree with ya BMill, but I've seen stranger things...AND it wont be the Kings 'moving' there, anyways...and I wish people would stop making connections with all of this in that way, because it aint gonna happen in 100 years, and Joe, Gavin and George will be long passed in 100 years, not to mention Commish Stern. LV's best bet is for expansion.

 

[Arena Skeptic]

I really have to point out that Tim Donaghy lives in Florida.

Organized crime is everywhere. It's never more than a mouse click or a phone call away.

Read Ian Thomsen's column on SI today:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/ian_thomsen/07/24/stern.reaction/index.html

Besides, my real point here is that Vegas is way ahead of us now. Way ahead of us.

They have the location set, the financing set, the developer set...

What do we have? We have a flat tire stuck in a soft shoulder to Vegas's accelerating, shiny wheel.

 

[kupman]

It is all about image and the NBA has a significant image problem. It did before the recent scandal and now the image problem is bigger. Being a Kings fan aside, I believe that any NBA team moving to Vegas would be a huge mistake from a public perception stand point. The article you referenced makes complete, rational sense. However, most people do not think logically. They think emotionally and superficially. That being said, the association between the NBA and Vegas will leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Bottom line: moving an NBA success story from a small, pleasant city to one associated with organized crime and general debauchery will not improve the public's perception of the NBA.

 

[Arena Skeptic]

It is all about image and the NBA has a significant image problem. It did before the recent scandal and now the image problem is bigger. Being a Kings fan aside, I believe that any NBA team moving to Vegas would be a huge mistake from a public perception stand point. The article you referenced makes complete, rational sense. However, most people do not think logically. They think emotionally and superficially. That being said, the association between the NBA and Vegas will leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Bottom line: moving an NBA success story from a small, pleasant city to one associated with organized crime and general debauchery will not improve the public's perception of the NBA.

I'm reading that the center of NBA gambling activity is Philadelphia, which makes sense. Mob, legalized gambling nearby, and it's not far from NYC and NJ, plus it has teams (one wonders if the Phillies may be historically bad because of Philadelphia's mobs. Hmmm... Are they into MLB umps, too?).

And, it's mostly over-under betting, not spread-betting.

Just a little disclosure here: I have bet on exactly one NBA game in my life, and it was a legal bet in Reno. I bet on the Kings in a playoff game, and won.

I already posted this link elsewhere, but it's still interesting, because it refers to game 6 in the WCF vs the Lakers.

http://www.mercextra.com/blogs/kawa...s-b-a-d-but-heres-how-it-could-get-much-worse

 

[JoMama]

It is all about image and the NBA has a significant image problem. It did before the recent scandal and now the image problem is bigger. Being a Kings fan aside, I believe that any NBA team moving to Vegas would be a huge mistake from a public perception stand point. The article you referenced makes complete, rational sense. However, most people do not think logically. They think emotionally and superficially. That being said, the association between the NBA and Vegas will leave a bad taste in people's mouths.

Bottom line: moving an NBA success story from a small, pleasant city to one associated with organized crime and general debauchery will not improve the public's perception of the NBA.

Exactly. I'm not sure what part of "image problem (er, nightmare") Arena Skeptic doesn't get. Anything resembling the image of gambling will be off limits for the NBA. Any other course would be even more devastating for the league's "image."

 

[kennadog]

I can't imagine the NBA touching Vegas with a 10-foot pole right now.