Despite reports, no meeting set

Steve Guiremand

Wednesday, March 22, 2000 | 10:41 a.m.

Spring training is in the air again around Las Vegas.

Just how serious any major league baseball team is about moving its spring training operations here, however, remains to be seen.

Las Vegas Stars president Don Logan, a key figure in talks to bring spring training to Las Vegas, said this morning that published reports of a planned Monday meeting with officials from six major league teams -- the Dodgers, Orioles, Rangers, Astros, Blue Jays and Indians -- was premature.

"There's no time or place set yet, so how can there be any meeting officially set?" Logan asked.

But Logan, who helped spearhead a drive back in 1997 to build a $60 million spring training complex in Henderson that was voted down by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said he was trying to set up such a meeting to find out just how serious interest is from the six teams to move to Las Vegas.

A similar meeting planned earlier this month was postponed because of scheduling conflicts. At that time Logan wondered openly if Las Vegas was being used for leverage by the six teams to try to improve their current spring training complexes.

Not so coincidentally, all six teams have been very vocal about improvements needed to their current spring training facilities in Florida. A bill has been introduced in the Florida legislature to provide financial assistance to those six teams in order to upgrade their facilities, including famed Dodgertown in Vero Beach, but likely won't be voted on for several months.

"The thing is this is all just talk and speculation at this point," Logan said. "This thing is all premature. ... but I am committed to try and make spring training a reality here."

If so, the LVCVA will have to have a dramatic change of heart.

Back in 1997, the LVCVA voted 9-3 against building the spring training complex and also making $30 million in renovations to Cashman Field.

"It wasn't a question of whether it was a good idea," Las Vegas Mayor Jan Jones said at the time. "It came down to what we could expect to get back for our investment, and I didn't think spending $60 million to attract 19,000 visitors made good business sense."