Vegas may host series for triple-A

Thursday, July 24, 1997 | 9:23 a.m.

Cashman Field could host the first Triple-A World Series -- even if the Las Vegas Stars aren't involved -- under a plan being formulated in conjunction with the merger of the three Class AAA leagues.

Tucson Toros general manager Mike Feder said that Las Vegas' Cashman Field was being eyed as a permanent site for a championship series between the winner of the two "super leagues" that will result from the merger of the existing triple-A leagues.

It was the lure of a Triple-A World Series and a possible television contract that prompted Class AAA owners earlier this month to vote to realign the International League, American Association and Pacific Coast League into two leagues beginning in 1998.

Las Vegas Stars general manager Don Logan confirmed the Stars would be interested in putting on the championship series but added the plan still is in its infancy.

"It's kind of premature at this point," Logan said. "We want to do it but one of the things we've got to get is ESPN to buy off on it and we've got to get the (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority) to want to do it. There is a lot of stuff that's got to be done before we can even talk seriously about it."

But Feder said in a radio interview that the subject of holding the series at a permanent neutral site was discussed at the owners' meeting in Iowa during the Triple-A All-Star Game, and that the idea of holding it in Las Vegas met with approval.

"We talked about it a couple years ago but the format, it was just too tough with three leagues," Logan said of a Triple-A World Series. "But now that there's only going to be two (leagues), it makes more sense.

"I think for a neutral site (to work), it has got to be somewhere like Vegas where people would want to come."

When the three triple-A leagues merge, it will result in one 16-team league (including the current 10 members of the Pacific Coast League) and one 14-team league composed of the 10 members of the International League and four teams from the American Association.

Before team owners can establish a Triple-A World Series, however, they first must name a president for the new 16-team league and work out a scheduling and playoff format, Logan said.

The major sticking point in recent talks has been the PCL owners' refusal to abandon split-season play. The PCL is the only Class AAA league that splits its season into halves and conducts divisional playoff series.

"All that is going to have to be worked out at our meetings in Denver (in August)," Logan said. "Then we'll finalize everything at our league meetings in October."