Columnist Steve Carp: It’s time for sports, Mack to play nicely

Steve Carp

Friday, July 9, 1999 | 10:29 a.m.

Steve Carp is a Las Vegas Sun sportswriter. Reach him at carp@lasvegassun.com or 259-4087.

Am I missing something? Or is the UNLV athletic family so dysfunctional that they can't get along and play nice?

Apparently, the athletic department and the Thomas & Mack Center need to take time out from each other. Or perhaps Richard Steele should intervene and send athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro and T&M chief Pat Christenson to neutral corners to cool down.

If you look down the page a bit, you'll notice stories about the two entities which, theoretically, are supposed to be on the same side. Instead, they seem to work as well as Felix Unger and Oscar Madison.

Call them UNLV's "Odd Couple," because it sure is strange watching the dynamics over at the Mack. They say all is hunky-dory, but they tend to quibble over a lot of things, mostly money. And money, which they say is the root of all evil, is also the root of this situation.

The Thomas & Mack is home to UNLV athletics. The reason the place even exists is because of Rebel basketball. Had Jerry Tarkanian's teams not been so successful, they'd still be playing at the old Las Vegas Convention Center. That's an undeniable fact.

But you wouldn't know it the way things operate. Yes, the Rebels do get the prime dates the majority of the time and fans are spared the $4 it costs to park at the T&M. They also pay for the privilege of playing on their home court. This season, it'll cost more than $13,000 for Bill Bayno's team to take the court at home for each game.

Christenson says it's not rent. But who ever heard of a school paying to play on its own on-campus court?

Football will have the same vig -- $25,000 for each of the five home games at Sam Boyd Stadium. Hey, someone has to pay the ushers and ticket takers, right?

Right. But why should it be UNLV? Why not have Garth brooks, the National Finals Rodeo or Disney On Ice foot the bill?

The Thomas & Mack brags how it books over 200 events a year. Fine, let those "operating costs" you charge UNLV for its 16 basketball games be paid for by the other 184 bookings you're making money off of.

The question here is: What is the Thomas & Mack Center's goal? Is it the home of Rebel basketball? Or is it a multi-purpose arena where Bayno's team is just another tenant?

Right now, the Mack is more Madison Square Garden than Assembly Hall. If it is indeed an island onto itself as it appears to be, fine. State it as such and we'll all live with it.

Perhaps when that downtown arena gets built, UNLV can put in a bid to pay "operating costs" to play there. Wouldn't that be ironic? You wonder if the Mack wouldn't suddenly back off on being "Las Vegas' Most Famous Arena" and go back to its roots, which was to be the home for Rebel hoops.

There's no quibbling with Christenson's desire to make the Thomas & Mack self-sufficient. It's doubtful the state legislature is going to make a 180-degree turn and offer subsidies to keep the Mack in the black.

But it shouldn't come at the expense of the school's athletic department. You're supposed to be under the same banner, pulling on the same oar and all the rest of those corny cliches. Why not get it together and do just that?

Associate vice president George Scaduto is a bright guy. Perhaps he can broker a just and lasting peace with an equitable revenue sharing plan. And maybe he can get everyone over there to play nicely.