Tuesday, April 14, 1998 | 7:27 a.m.
It turns out both ends of the Strip will have new arenas up and in operation by next year.
Word surfaced Monday that construction of an 8,000-seat arena on the Strip in North Las Vegas will begin April 30. That facility, due to open by May of 1999, will be built at 2845 Las Vegas Blvd. North, near the Strip and Pecos Road intersection.
Already under construction is a 12,000-seat arena attached to the Mandalay Bay resort on Las Vegas Blvd. South.
The North Las Vegas arena has a price tag of approximately $10 million and it expects to host conventions and sporting events. Rick Kerstine, the facility's vice president of marketing, said the target sports are equestrian events as well as boxing, roller hockey, ice hockey and, perhaps, indoor football. The Professional Indoor Football League, which has an office in Las Vegas, may put a franchise in the building.
"We're going to cater to locals and hopefully appeal to them," Kerstine said.
One facility that's up and running and should appeal more to locals than it does is UNLV's Wilson Stadium, an attractive 3,000-seat ballpark that hosts the Rebel baseball team. Attendance figures for the three UNLV vs. Air Force games played there over the weekend were 408, 318 and 265 -- a situation called a "disgrace" by KLAV 1230 AM broadcaster Scott Robbs during Saturday's game. "We should be doing better (at the gate)," agreed UNLV head coach Rod Soesbe. "We've got a good product and it's fun and exciting to come out to a game. We need to get out and market this program more than we have. It's inexpensive, it's good fun and we've got a pretty good team." ... That team is 10-8 in the WAC and 27-15 overall heading into a crucial series this weekend at San Jose State. "It's a big weekend for us," Soesbe said of trying to qualify for the six-team WAC tournament. "We need to take care of business." ... One team appearing as if it's in the WAC tourney is Grand Canyon University, which is 9-7 and has the only winning record in the WAC North Division. Grand Canyon, 21-18 overall, is playing its second and final season in the WAC, as it replaced Wyoming last year but will return to independent status next year. Grand Canyon, which has an enrollment of only 2,000, was predictably overmatched a year ago in the WAC, going 5-25 in league play but has bounced back this season to hold its own against schools with much higher enrollment figures.
Masters champion Mark O'Meara was 40 to 1 to win the tournament, according to posted odds at the Imperial Palace. That made for a nice return for anyone inclined to wager on him, although it was a gamble given the fact the I.P. listed 23 players as more likely than O'Meara to win. ... The I.P. had Jack Nicklaus at 200 to 1 and he finished a heart-warming sixth. ... Barbara Nicklaus, Jack's wife, has never played a round of golf. ... Tiger Woods didn't think much of the Showtime cable network's biography of him, which debuted over the weekend. "It pretty much sucks," Woods said. ... The top-ranked high school golfer in the country, Erik Compton of Miami, had a heart transplant at age 12. He's going to attend Georgia. ... The University of Texas, which tried to lure UNLV's Dwaine Knight when it had a coaching vacancy last year, supposedly has the top incoming freshman class in college golf. ... Nevada ranks second in the country in highest average greens fees. Typically, it's $84 to play a round of golf here and only Hawaii -- at $85 -- is higher on the average. Arizona ($67) and California ($57) are next in line. ... Cheering in bowling? It's a trend that started over the weekend at the U.S. Open in Fairfield, Conn., where fans were encouraged to yell and holler even as the bowler toed the line. And yes, it did look -- and sound -- strange.
Omitted from last week's listing in this space of locally produced baseball players in the major leagues was Florida pitcher Eric Ludwick. He's 0-2 with a 2.70 ERA and just went on the disabled list with a bad back. His 1998 salary is $171,000, or $1,000 above the MLB minimum. ... Trivia question: Who fought in the first boxing championship match that utilized the now standard practice of three judges and a non-scoring referee? Answer: Dick Tiger vs. Roger Rouse, Nov. 17, 1967, at the Las Vegas Convention Center. (Tiger won by TKO in the 12th.) ... Boxing promoter Bob Arum of Las Vegas on counterpart Don King and his many legal and image problems: "Because King's out there, my reputation suddenly becomes a huge, huge virtue." ... It's something of a death march as the USA cable network's Tuesday Night Fights program heads toward extinction in August. "Only 17 shows left," the announcers will likely say tonight. The program aided its demise by refusing to promote its fights in the wire-service listings and never phoning in results to the Associated Press. ... Boulder City's Allen Cole hauled in a 47-pound striper last week at Lake Mead. ... A member of the UNLV faculty called after the school hired Regina Miller as head coach of the Lady Rebels basketball team despite the fact she's coming from a small school, Western Illinois, and has a poor 60-103 record. "Think of the public outrage there would be if the men's team hired a coach with a 60-100 record," the caller said.
archive
