Action threatened over Olympics-themed casino, topless bar

John Wilen

Monday, Nov. 23, 1998 | 11:38 a.m.

Several Las Vegas-area businesses could soon find themselves in trouble with the U.S. Olympic Committee.

A proposed Henderson hotel-casino named The Olympiad, the Olympic Garden topless dancing club in Las Vegas and a variety of other businesses that use the words Olympic or Olympus in their names appear to be in for an unpleasant encounter with the Olympic Committee.

"If they want to avoid a tremendous problem, they had better change this now," said Mike Moran, a spokesman at the Committee headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colo.

"We will act immediately," said Moran of the Olympiad casino. "They will not be able to use that name."

The Olympiad, planned by a group of investors headed by Randy Aleman, would be a $70 million, 330-room hotel and 116,000-square-foot casino complex. To be located at the southwest corner of Gibson Road and Boulder Highway, the resort would also include a 7,000-seat indoor events center and a 6,000-seat outdoor amphitheater.

In an interview earlier this month, Aleman said The Olympiad would have a sports theme, including a giant Olympic-style torch that would be visible from airliners approaching Las Vegas. The Olympiad was approved by the Henderson Planning Commission last week, and is slated for Henderson City Council approval in December.

Both the Olympiad, with its gambling; and the Olympic Garden, with its semi-nude dancing; reflect poorly on the Olympic name and would not be granted a license, said Moran.

The only exception to the Olympic Amateur Sports Act is for businesses that were open and using Olympic in their name before 1956, said Moran. For instance, Olympus Cameras falls under that grandfather clause. The Olympic Garden opened in 1989 and The Olympiad casino is a new proposal.

Moran said the Committee is very aggressive in protecting its rights to the Olympic name, and has pursued cases as far as the Supreme Court.

But Peter Eliades, owner of the Olympic Garden, said he does not see how the Committee can control the use of a common word.

"You can't copyright a word, Olympic," said Eliades.

Olympic is a Greek word, said Eliades, a native of Greece. It's unconscionable that the U.S. government would try to copyright a word that by rights belongs to the Greek people, he said.

"I was born in Greece," Eliades said. "I would fight them if I have to."

The Committee sent Eliades a couple letters when his club first opened, he said. He replied with a letter explaining his Greek heritage and the fact that his use of Olympic does not relate at all to the committee's use of the word.

"They can't stop us from using Olympic Garden," said Eliades. "I'm not selling anything that relates to the Olympic Committee."

After his reply, Eliades said, he never heard from the Committee again.

"I think they were satisfied," he said.

The Olympiad's Aleman did not return calls for comment.

A random sampling of other Las Vegas-area businesses using Olympic in their names found that some have been contacted, others overlooked.

Hugh Northington, a partner in the 31-room Olympus Inn on the Strip, said he's never heard from the Committee, but would be willing to change the hotel's name.

"If they even wanted me to change it I would," said Northington.

But Guy Inzalaco, spokesman for Las Vegas real estate development concern the Olympic Group, said his company has been contacted by the Committee.

"Yeah, we've been contacted by them," said Inzalaco.

The Olympic Group is holding ongoing discussions with the Olympic Committee, said Inzalaco. But the company has already decided not to enter a licensing agreement, and will most likely change its name, he said.

"If we can't retain the name, we'll have to change it," said Inzalaco.

For the Olympic Group, the issue is really a matter of how much time the Committee will give the company to change the name. The Olympic Group is in the midst of a number of marketing programs for projects it owns in Las Vegas and Phoenix, said Inzalaco.

The Committee's concerns have already prompted the Olympic Group to change the name of one development, a master-planned community at the northwest corner of Lake Mead and I-15 in Henderson. The community was to be known as Olympic Highlands. It is now called Southern Highlands.

The Olympic Group is a private developer based in Las Vegas. It owns shopping centers, commercial and residential developments, and a home building company.

It is unclear, and seems somewhat arbitrary, which businesses the Committee will actually pursue in court. The discrepancy between businesses that are contacted, those that are not, and those that are sued has to do with the Committee's limited resources, said Moran. The Committee primarily goes after large commercial operations trying to capitalize from the name or use of the Olympic Torch.

"We do not have the resources to go after small businesses that may be using the name," said Moran.