LV may get minor league football

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Jan. 14, 2000 | 10:03 a.m.

Las Vegas, are you ready for some football?

No, not Monday Night Football. How about Tuesday and Wednesday night games?

And not NFL contests, but something along the lines of triple-A football?

Apparently Las Vegas, which has a past littered with failed minor league professional teams, may be getting another one soon.

Something called the the Triple-A Pro Football League, which has the slogan "Football For The New Millennium," has a fancy website (www.AAApfl.com) detailing plans for a 10-team minor league football operation set to begin in October, including a team called the Las Vegas Gladiators.

It also lists offices in San Diego not only for the league but a television network called Equinoxx Sports Television, which it also is starting up to show league games on a pay-per-view basis as well as carrying radio broadcasts over the Internet.

What it doesn't have is phone numbers for either the team or the proposed TV network in the San Diego phone directory. And as of Thursday it had not contacted Sam Boyd Stadium officials or anyone with the Clark County School District about using their football facilities to host their games, a rather significant detail considering its first kickoff is less than 10 months away.

"We haven't been contacted by them," Pat Christenson, director of Sam Boyd Stadium said. "I'd never say no without listening to someone who wanted to use the stadium. But our first priority is to keep the stadium grass in good shape for UNLV's football team."

Christenson says it costs a "minimum of $10,000" to open the doors at Sam Boyd Stadium for an event.

The website lists Jack Reinholz, identified as a Long Beach State graduate who "has been involved in California real estate and mortgage banking for over 25 years," as the founder and CEO of the league.

In a lengthy Q&A posted on the website, Reinholz says players will be paid a minimum of $50,000 and will be made up primarily of players cut from NFL preseason squads. Players would also get "victory" checks which could increase their earnings to $250,000 per season.

He also claims that tickets will be priced between $5 and $12 so that "the average Joe will be able to attend the games, even bring their family."

There are also big plans for halftime "mini-concerts" to be featured on a weekly "Humpnight" Game each Wednesday.

"Here is a sampling of the tremendous talent that the Triple-A Pro Football League will be inviting (key word here is "inviting") to perform," it says in another section of the website. "Mettalica, AC-DC, the Rolling Stones, U2, Aerosmith, Pearl Jam. ..."

Let's just hope Mick Jagger doesn't trip over Bono while trying to get to the front of that line.

Another area of the website is taking applications for 12 "Collision Girls" -- that's cheerleaders to most people --- to help promote the league at various affairs.

According to the ad, no nudity is required of the girls. "We are looking for extremely sexy individuals, but with more than just a little touch of class," the ad states.

Then in what some might perceive as a contradiction, it goes on to say: "Exotic dancers, Penthouse and Playboy quality models are encouraged to submit their application."

Reinholz says that "it is my fondest wish that some of the retired (coaching) greats from both college and the NFL seriously consider returning to the game and have the opportunity to just coach (in his league)."

For example?

"Gentlemen like Don Shula, Chuck Noll, Chuck Knox, etc.," he says.

Too bad Vince Lombardi and Bear Bryant didn't live to see the day of Reinholz's proposed league.

Free agent tryout camps, limited to "only" 6,000 applications, are to be held next summer in Reno, Pasadena, Houston, Orlando, Detroit and Boston. The first game is set for Oct. 6.

If the league ever does become a reality, Las Vegas is scheduled to play in a five-team South Division consisting of teams called the Tucson Terror Birds, San Diego County Cougars, LA County Barons and Anaheim Condors.

The five-team North Division features the Fresno Thunder Bolts, the Bakersfield Bison, the Sacramento Marauders, the Albuquerque Regulators and the San Jose Sea Lions.