Swimming Hall of Fame considers relocating to Las Vegas area

Thursday, Aug. 2, 2001 | 11:12 a.m.

Las Vegas is on a short list of cities under consideration to be the new home of the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Of three cities in the running, Las Vegas is a dark-horse contender competing with Miami and Hollywood, Fla., said Samuel Freas, chief executive officer of the nonprofit organization that operates the facility. Some representatives of the current home of the Hall of Fame -- Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- also have mobilized to keep it there.

Some Southern Nevada economic development leaders are leery of the Hall of Fame leveraging Las Vegas against the Florida cities with a threatened move.

Freas said Las Vegas is appealing to the Hall of Fame because the 35 million tourists who visit the city would be potential customers. In addition, Las Vegas has the hotel room capacity to accommodate the thousands of competitive swimmers who would come to the hall to compete in everything from Olympic trials to YMCA swim meets.

The Hall of Fame is considering leaving Fort Lauderdale because the city's five-member City Commission in May rejected an expansion plan in favor of a condominium project that would put more tax money in city coffers than the non-profit hall.

Freas said the Hall of Fame's board of directors instructed him to look into other proposals after the commission rejected the expansion plan.

After news of the rejection spread in South Florida and among followers of competitive swimming, "almost 20 cities contacted me about relocation," Freas said.

"I was asked by the board to come up with the top three cities that made sense," Freas said.

Indianapolis, Atlantic City and Las Vegas were among the cities outside of Florida that contacted Freas. In September, Freas said, the board probably would eliminate one of the cities under consideration and determine which of the remaining prospects had the better proposal.

Freas said the contact from Las Vegas came in the form of a group of swimming aficionados. The city's traditional economic development recruiters weren't aware that contact had been made with the Hall of Fame or that Las Vegas was held in such high regard by its management.

Somer Hollingsworth, president of the Nevada Development Authority, said he was surprised when told by a reporter that the Hall of Fame was looking at Southern Nevada.

"I think if it's a credible organization and has some following, it would give Las Vegas that much more credibility," Hollingsworth said.

But he also cautioned that the Hall of Fame appears to be entrenched in South Florida and may be looking at Las Vegas only to spur Fort Lauderdale's leadership to offer a better deal.

Rossi Ralenkotter, vice president of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said he hasn't heard anything about the Hall of Fame considering Las Vegas.

Although Southern Nevada leaders say they would welcome the Hall of Fame, the mayor of Fort Lauderdale has begun efforts to keep it in South Florida.

"When they (Hall of Fame) have an event, it brings great recognition to the city," said Mayor Jim Naugle. "Besides the tourism that an event creates, some of the big ones are televised and that helps our exposure."

Naugle said he hopes to meet with the three commissioners who voted against the Hall of Fame's expansion plan for reconsideration.

So how did Las Vegas suddenly become a leading contender for the hall, which has been a fixture in Florida since 1965?

The lead contact to the Hall of Fame from Southern Nevada has been Ed Pyle, a 30-year swimming and water polo coach who moved to Las Vegas in 1993 and has worked with community leaders to improve swimming centers across the valley.

Pyle has worked with other aquatic boosters to develop a strategy to get the Hall of Fame's attention. Pyle's group has sought advice from Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and is considering going to Clark County commissioners or the LVCVA to determine if a package of financial incentives could be offered to sweeten the deal for the Hall of Fame.

"We have a desperate need for more community (swimming) amenities," Pyle said, "and if a facility were to be located in Clark County, it could be supported by tourists and locals."

Pyle noted that some of the best competitive swimming events -- those that could fill thousands of hotel rooms -- occur in the summer and in December when Las Vegas experiences visitor lulls.

Freas, who called Las Vegas "a sleeping hotbed of aquatics," said the hall he envisions for the city would be different from the one that exists in Fort Lauderdale.

In addition to existing Hall of Fame amenities -- a museum, a bookstore, a gift shop, an archive known as "the Henning" with more than 30,000 aquatic artifacts, two 50-meter swimming pools with a 4,000-seat arena and a diving tank -- Freas envisions attractions that would appeal to families.

Freas said he would like to see a water park with slides and flumes for youngsters, and for their parents, a leisure center with steam, sauna and workout rooms and a teaching facility.

The Hall of Fame currently attracts about 450,000 visitors a year. Freas said competitive events at the Hall of Fame only generate about 60,000 room nights a year for Fort Lauderdale, down from in the mid-'90s when there were more meets.

In a good year, Freas said there were competitive events in 40 out of 52 weekends a year. Today there are events 15 weekends out of the year, down because of community lethargy, he said. But he said he expects the number of room nights generated by the center could climb to 200,000 a year if it were promoted properly.

In addition to the room nights, Freas said the Hall of Fame generates good community publicity with several television shows a year broadcast from the hall, from historic features on Johnny Weissmuller of "Tarzan" fame to tributes to Olympians like seven-time gold-medal winner Mark Spitz.

"And that doesn't even count the competitions on ESPN," he said.

"It's wholesome publicity you cannot buy," said Jim Reitz, the 22-year men's and women's swimming and diving coach at UNLV and a member of Pyle's group of community activists. "What better venue than a tourist destination to place the archives of the world's history?"

Reitz said his UNLV athletes are better known in Canada than they are in Las Vegas because of the presence of Olympic stars on the team.

Where the Hall of Fame would be built if Las Vegas were selected to host it is up for debate. Reitz and Pyle believe it needs to be close to the Strip and visitors for it to be a success, so land in the vicinity of the Sports Center, formerly known as the All-American SportPark, at Las Vegas Boulevard South and Sunset Road has been mentioned.

Clark County also has 110 vacant acres at the 252-acre Sunset Park that Reitz believes could be suitable. Freas already has jumped on the publicity bandwagon for that site, noting that the Hall of Fame could be "next door to Wayne Newton's place."

Freas said the Hall of Fame has no problem with Las Vegas' gambling culture.

"In Australia and Italy, they already wager on swimming events," Freas said. "I don't see that that would be a problem for us."

Freas also has his differences with the NCAA -- one of Nevada's nemeses in the sports gambling industry. He said while he welcomes all sorts of amateur swimming, diving, water polo and synchronized swimming competitions at his facility, he is lukewarm to the NCAA.

He believes the organization that oversees collegiate athletics to be hypocritical in its treatment of athletes while it and universities make millions of dollars from those same sports.

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