Stars to align with Dodgers

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Sept. 15, 2000 | 10:27 a.m.

It looks like Las Vegas will be bleeding Dodger blue next season.

The Las Vegas Stars are expected to end their 18-year association as the triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres and enter into a working agreement with the Los Angeles Dodgers. An announcement could come as soon as today.

"We're talking with (the Dodgers)," Stars president Don Logan said Thursday. "We're getting close on a decision. But nothing has been signed yet. Hopefully we'll have something very quickly."

The Stars have until Sept. 25 to work out an arrangement with a major league team for the 2001 season.

Although Logan said on Thursday that he was still negotiating with three teams -- the Dodgers, Padres and Angels -- a source familiar with the talks said the Padres have already conceded that the Dodgers will end up in Las Vegas. San Diego is looking into entering into an agreement with Salt Lake while the Angels could end up in Portland.

The Dodgers decided to end a three-decade affiliation with Albuquerque earlier this year after the Dukes were sold to a Portland business group which is going to move the club to a refurbished Civic Stadium next spring.

The Dodgers considered moving their spring training operations to Las Vegas this year before getting an overwhelming financial offer from Vero Beach to stay at an upgraded Dodgertown complex. The team has made no secret of its desire to expand its marketing influence into Nevada and its large contingent of transplanted Southern Californians.

That includes the possibility of Dodger games, which are already being broadcast on radio on KDWN-720 in Las Vegas, being shown frequently on TV here as well. And, according to a source, the Dodgers are likely to play a handful of spring training games here each year.