New pro basketball league plans Las Vegas team

Steve Carp

Tuesday, Aug. 11, 1998 | 12:12 p.m.

The NBA didn't make it. Neither did the CBA. Same for the World Basketball League and the Western Basketball Association.

So why does the International Basketball League think it can make a go of it in Las Vegas when others couldn't?

"We believe the timing is right for this," Thaxter Trafton, president of the fledgling eight-team league, said today at a Thomas & Mack Center press conference.

"Things have changed. I think the fans are ready for something that's exciting and affordable."

The new league, which will play a 64-game schedule beginning in November 1999, plans franchises in Las Vegas, San Diego, Albuquerque, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Richmond, Va.

There will be a hard salary cap with a minimum salary. The league will control the eight franchises, but the individual teams will hire their own management and coaching staffs.

Right now, the IBL controls the yet-to-be-named Las Vegas franchise. However, it has been in negotiations for the past three months with a group of local investors.

Doug Sanderson, president and CEO of Sega Gaming, is the point man for the group. League officials said the operating cost per franchise will be $2 million per season.

"We're looking at it," Sanderson said. "We know the history of failed franchises here. But I'm a basketball junkie and I believe there are 200,000 people in town who are like me and would like to see basketball."

Sanderson said the possibility of his group getting involved is "50-50." But he thinks the IBL has a lot going for it.

"It would be a great way to showcase the ex-Rebels and compliment UNLV basketball," he said. "On the night the Rebels aren't playing, this could be a fun alternative.

"I'm just as curious as the next guy. But I think they've got a solid concept here."

The new team is looking into playing at the Thomas & Mack or in the new UNLV practice facility which will be ready in the fall 1999. T&M director Pat Christenson said that facility would seat 2,500 for basketball but could be expanded to 3,500.

The proposed Millennium project in North Las Vegas also would be a possibility. It would seat approximately 7,000 for basketball.

Trafton said the league would price its tickets between $5 and $25 with an average cost of $12. The break-even point for the first year would be 4,000 paying customers.

The plan is to form a league that would rival the existing CBA for talent. Trafton said there's a huge talent pool, both in the United States and in Europe, that could fill the new league's rosters.

Top players would earn over $100,000 with the average salary somewhere around $50,000.

"Our interest is being a league that will develop the stars of tomorrow," he said. "This is going to be a first-class, well-run organization.

"We've been working on this for four years and we think the timing's right to be successful."