Saturday, April 20, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
Las Vegas tourism officials have stepped up their plans to bring Major League Baseball spring training to Southern Nevada, and could have two teams training in Henderson as soon as next spring.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is negotiating with four teams about moving their spring operations to a proposed $50 million facility near Sam Boyd Stadium. At least two teams have expressed a desire to begin training there in 1997.
"There is some indication from the group that we're talking to that some of (the teams) would like to have a portion of the facility ready for 1997," said Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing for the LVCVA.
"The full complex, if everything were to fall in place, wouldn't be operational until 1998, but it could be phased in."
Ralenkotter declined to name the teams negotiating a move to the Henderson complex. But the Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros, Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers are believed to be among them.
Although original plans called for the complex to be completed in time for the spring of 1998, when Major League Baseball adds two teams, Ralenkotter said it would be feasible to have part of the facility ready by March.
"It would have to be determined by those people who are in on the design -- the engineers and architects," he said.
Estimates for the facility, expected to include a small stadium and 12 playing fields, range from $20 million to $58 million, depending on whether two or four teams share the complex.
But first, the LVCVA must receive letters of intent from at least two teams confirming they will move spring operations here.
LVCVA and Henderson officials held talks in January with Colorado Rockies General Manager Bob Gebhard about the National League team moving its spring-training operations to Southern Nevada, but the Rockies have since entered into an agreement to remain in Tucson, Ariz.
The Chicago White Sox and the expansion Arizona Diamondbacks also were rumored to be interested. But both have since reached agreements in principle to share a new complex proposed by Tucson officials.
Las Vegas Stars General Manager Don Logan, who two years ago initiated the idea of spring training in Las Vegas, said there is no shortage of teams interested in moving their spring bases to this area.
"I think there are enough teams that are unhappy with their situation, that I don't think we're going to lack for dance partners in this deal," said Logan, whose team is a minor league affiliate of the San Diego Padres.
Ralenkotter said the idea of spring training in the Las Vegas area gained momentum with Major League Baseball since the city played host to the Oakland Athletics' first six regular-season games earlier this month at Cashman Field.
"I think what happened, by having Oakland come down here and play that series, it heightened the awareness on the part of Major League Baseball of Las Vegas as a baseball venue," he said.
"The teams that had been discussing these things with us previously have now sat down to the bargaining table and we're negotiating back and forth."
The next step, according to Ralenkotter, is to finalize construction cost estimates, operating expenses and projected revenues of the proposed complex. He said a report will be submitted to the LVCVA board Tuesday night, and a time frame for having commitments from major-league teams will be discussed.
Last Tuesday, the Henderson City Council voted to begin negotiations to purchase the property for the complex. The council will have to hold an additional vote to approve money to buy the 130-acre parcel near U.S. 95 and Gibson Road.
Ralenkotter said he is confident that local government and civic leaders will succeed in bringing major-league spring training to the valley. Las Vegas' ability to host the Athletics on less than two weeks' notice would appear to be proof of that.
"There aren't very many cities -- if there are any -- in the United States that could have done that," he said. "The fact that we were able to put it all together and draw almost 55,000 people in that short amount of time, I think that was impressive to Major League Baseball.
"It just heightened the awareness and indicated to the baseball world that Las Vegas has a lot of offer."
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