Columnist Dean Juipe: Mayor finds New York to his liking

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1999 | 9:55 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Oscar Goodman's one-day exploratory trip to New York City in a nutshell: He ventured and Las Vegas gained.

The mayor spent Tuesday in the Big Apple, taping a segment for 60 Minutes and meeting separately with the commissioners of the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association.

He didn't figure to return home with assurances that Las Vegas would be in line for a team in either the NHL or the NBA, and, predictably, he didn't get those assurances. But he also didn't come home rebuffed.

Goodman took that as a win, as the NHL's Gary Bettman and the NBA's David Stern could have, in theory, told him there was no way their leagues would place a franchise in the gambling capital of the universe. But with both Bettman and Stern having informal degrees in business acumen, they knew enough not to shut the door on a sprawling city of 1.3 million people that also handles 30.6 million tourists every year.

As a result, Las Vegas can now regard itself as in the hunt for a top-of-the-line professional sports franchise, although, in truth, landing an NHL or NBA team is still a few years -- and many late-night policy discussions -- away.

Some in the media don't ever feel it will happen because of the city's gambling industry, and John Moores, the San Diego Padres owner who accompanied Goodman to New York, referred to Las Vegas and pro sports as "a long-term project, the chances of which might not happen."

Nevertheless, Moores adds "I think it's a matter of when, not if" when referring to the city landing an NHL or NBA team. His best guess is "five to 10 years."

At the present time Las Vegas has neither a stand-alone arena to handle an NHL or NBA team, nor, perhaps, a sufficient population base. But it is the 46th largest TV market in the country and gaining ground every year, and Goodman has the wherewithal to get an arena built within a very short time.

With the NHL and NBA bosses at least moderately interested in Las Vegas, Goodman can now focus on an arena and its cost to taxpayers. In all probability, there is enough enthusiasm to move the project off the drawing board.

If there was a negative in his New York meetings it was Stern telling Goodman the NBA would require Las Vegas sports books to pull NBA games off their boards (once Las Vegas acquires a team). That's a fairly unreasonable point of view for Stern, although, it can be surmised, he was merely posturing and could back off the edict in the future.

If, however, the gambling ban is ironclad, the city's sports books are unlikely to comply and the NBA will not place an expansion franchise here or allow an existing team to move here. Offhand, the NBA's position may also be successfully challenged in court if need be -- although that's no way to start a business relationship with a huge conglomerate.

The NHL's position on gambling is far more reasonable and Bettman said the league would ask only that games involving a Las Vegas franchise not be posted for betting action. Everyone involved finds that perfectly acceptable.

So give the NHL the inside track, especially in view of the fact it has at least one team -- Ottawa -- contemplating a move.

In a year or two, Las Vegas may sign the adoption papers.