Columnist Dean Juipe: Decision due on Thunder’s future in LV

Dean Juipe

Friday, May 1, 1998 | 7:48 a.m.

THE SIGNALS are mixed and they reflect the uncertain status of the Las Vegas Thunder after five seasons in the International Hockey League.

The givens: The team has a year left on its lease with the Thomas & Mack Center; it is very unhappy with its arrangement; team owner Ken Stickney is considering options ranging from reluctant acceptance, to moving the franchise to Sacramento, to going "dark" for a year before reviving the team in a still-as-yet-unannounced arena that will go up on the South end of the Strip; and, regardless of what Stickney decides, the IHL will keep a team in Las Vegas.

A source very close to the situation spelled out the details Thursday and he wasn't just guessing.

The bottom line for Las Vegas hockey fans is that the IHL will retain a presence here even if Stickney bails out.

"If the Thunder were to fold, you'd see the Quebec IHL team move here virtually the same day," the source said. "They'd move into the Mack and accept the conditions.

"The IHL wants to keep this market and it isn't going to let it get away."

Quebec was one of "five or six IHL teams that were singing the blues" at a league meeting in Salt Lake City earlier this year. The Rafales are looking to fold or relocate by next season.

The Thunder may also fall into that category, although team vice president Don Logan said this week he believed Stickney was about to sign a new three-year lease with the T&M.

"(But) the T&M obviously hasn't been playing fair with the Thunder," the source said. "They've hurt the team quite a bit; for instance, they were supposed to provide one Saturday and Sunday night home-game package per month but they didn't give them even one this season.

"The T&M attitude is that the university is going to have to start providing Title IX opportunities for its women's teams to play in the Mack, and that they'll do OK without the Thunder."

Stickney admits he has been looking around Las Vegas for an alternate site for his team's home games. While there are now two arenas under construction in the area, neither is right for the Thunder. (The Millennium in North Las Vegas has some shortcomings and is going to acquire a franchise in the very minor West Coast Hockey League; while the Mandalay Bay resort/arena on Las Vegas Blvd. was offering Stickney only midweek dates, which he termed unacceptable. He also spoke with representatives of the All-American SportPark about the possibility of building an arena at that site.)

More significantly, he has also talked with people who maintain they are going to build a top-flight arena just South of Vacation Village. "But he was making some demands -- like signage and luxury suites -- that were pretty steep, considering he's not the one doing the building," the source said, adding that construction on this latest arena will begin shortly and that it will be up by the year 2000.

Sacramento fits into the puzzle as it wants an IHL team and has a facility ready and waiting.

Whatever route Stickney chooses will be known by May 15, the date of the next IHL meetings.

Sleepless as he may be, he certainly has no shortage of options.