Stadium would be considered, but only for major-league club

Diana Sahagun

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 9:37 a.m.

Though the Oakland A's-to-Las Vegas rumors were quickly quashed Wednesday, the city of Las Vegas offered a glimmer of hope for a potential major-league franchise.

At the City Council meeting, where word of the A's rumored sale crept into a scheduled discussion on downtown redevelopment, Mayor Oscar Goodman relented on his previous stance against a baseball stadium being built on a prime 61-acre city-owned site.

Goodman said he would consider a stadium proposal, but continued to insist that it not cost taxpayers or be built for a minor-league team.

"Let me make this crystal clear," he said. "Las Vegas is a major-league city and I would never accept anything less than a major-league team."

Last month, the city entered into a 60-day agreement with Southwest Sports Group to come up with a proposal to develop the 61 acres. Mandalay Sports, which owns the Las Vegas 51 and was rumored to be buying the A's, is partnering with Southwest on the proposal.

Mandalay Sports representatives were scheduled to meet this morning with staff from the city's Business Development department to discuss the project.

"We will listen to their proposals, be courteous, but we'll only accept a major-league team," Goodman said.

"It would be the world's team, and everybody from Las Vegas would be proud of it," Goodman said.

The mayor's stance contrasted sharply with what he said last month in voting to approve the agreement with Southwest. He said then he did not want to see a baseball stadium as part of the proposal, which must include a performing arts center, academic medical center, high-density residential housing and office space.

The ultimate decision to allow a sports stadium or arena on the 61 acres could determine the fate of the Southwest Sports Group's interest in the land.

Southwest representatives refuse to say whether the company would stay with the project if it were not allowed to build a sports facility, and skeptics doubt whether the negotiating agreement will go forward at the end of 60 days, which ends Sept. 5.

Southwest Sports Group, which specializes in building minor-league stadiums, has proposed moving the Las Vegas 51s to stadium on the 61 acres.

A preliminary report commissioned by the city to evaluate the success of a stadium found that attendance levels increased an average of 60.2 percent when a new stadium was built for an existing franchise. Attendance levels at Cashman Field have decreased in the last several years, according to the report.

In pushing for the possibility of a new minor-league stadium to host the 51s, Southwest Sports representatives said it could open the door for a major-league team to eventually locate here. But none of the current 30 major-league baseball stadiums built in the past 40 years originally served as minor-league stadiums.

If Las Vegas were to lure a major-league team, the city would be at the low end of the traditional population base that can support a team.

According to the study, at 1.5 million people the Milwaukee Brewers have the lowest population base for major league baseball. The 2000 census shows that the Metropolitan Statistical Area of Las Vegas -- which includes Clark County, Nye County, and Mohave County, Ariz. -- has 1.6 million people.

The 28 major-league baseball franchises in the United States are located in cities that average 3.3 million people, according to the study.