Mayor not ready to talk with NBA owner

Erin Neff

Friday, Feb. 25, 2000 | 10:09 a.m.

With the professional sports ball clearly in his court, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman called a timeout Thursday by indefinitely postponing a planned face-to-face meeting with an National Basketball Association team owner.

Goodman said both he and the pro basketball executive agreed more information is needed before the two sit down to discuss specifics about arena sites, costs, competition and betting.

"He asked me, 'Are you ready to talk serious business?' and I said, 'I am not,' " Goodman said of his phone conversation Wednesday evening with the unidentified owner who was scheduled to meet the mayor here Thursday.

"I didn't want to play any games," Goodman said.

Goodman said both he and the owner were "hesitant" to meet.

"There was no reason to get together," he added.

Although Goodman has not identified the owner who is said to be interested in moving his team to Las Vegas, recent developments in the NBA point to the Houston Rockets as the team most susceptible to a move.

Voters in Houston rejected plans for a new sports arena last fall. Rockets owner Les Alexander has said a new arena is critical to the team.

Goodman said he needs more information before he can begin seriously courting a team.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority has been asked to update a study, presented just last August, that examined the demand for an arena.

LVCVA spokeswoman Richelle Thomson said the update is being conducted and is expected to be complete in about 30 days.

The study is not related to a 1995 arena study the LVCVA conducted and then updated in 1997, Thompson added.

GLS Research conducted studies last August asking both tourists and nearby residents whether they would support an arena.

A survey of 400 tourists to the Strip, downtown and on Boulder Highway found moderate interest in both professional basketball and hockey games.

The other survey, of 1,000 residents living within 250 miles of Las Vegas who could come to town on impulse for a game, found significant interest in basketball and moderate interest in hockey.

At the time, LVCVA President Manny Cortez warned that additional study is needed to determine whether an arena would lure those who do not gamble to town.

Cortez said casinos obviously prefer airplane seats to be filled by those who gamble, and thus, spend more money here.

An ad hoc committee studying the feasibility of an arena had mulled the idea of conducting additional research, but never officially hired a consultant.

Meanwhile, that committee has not met in months.

"The arena committee is in a state of limbo," Goodman said. "These are impressive citizens who have better things to do than sit around and speculate."

The study update being conducted by the LVCVA is supposed to examine what type of impact a sports arena would have on existing arenas and programming.

Erin Neff covers Las Vegas government for the Sun. She can be reached at (702) 259-4062 or 229-6436, or by e-mail at erin@lasvegassun.com.