Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Don’t bet on majors coming to LV

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman remains perpetually hopeful that a major league sports team will one day settle in the city. It has been one of his goals since taking office in 1999.

But community cheerleading is one thing, and reality is another.

Reality hit home again this week, when the rumored sale of the Oakland Athletics to the parent company of the minor league Las Vegas 51s led to short-lived speculation that the American League team might try to relocate here.

Though the $150 million sale to Mandalay Sports Entertainment has reportedly fallen apart and might never be consummated, that is now beside the point.

The point is that as soon as the story broke Wednesday, with some news outlets confusing Mandalay Sports with Mandalay Bay hotel-casino, which are not affiliated, the same old questions quickly arose about a big league team relocating to a city and state with legal sports wagering.

The answers came back the same: Don't bet on it.

When Goodman attempted to lure the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies last year, any potential deal was destroyed in the early stages because the league and the casinos couldn't see eye to eye on sports betting.

As soon as it became clear that the casinos would not uniformly agree to stop booking all NBA games, not just games involving a potential Las Vegas team, NBA commissioner David Stern refused to even consider Las Vegas as a destination for the Grizzlies.

Likewise, the possibility that the Athletics -- or any major league team -- would move to Las Vegas remains so remote that MLB hasn't bothered to formulate a policy on it.

"We really don't have a stance," said Richard Levin, executive director of public relations for Major League Baseball. "Obviously, there would be some concerns (about a team locating in Las Vegas), but we haven't moved a franchise in 30 years. At this point it is all speculation.

"There's nothing on the horizon, (but) if such a time would arrive, we would look into it."

But Scott Haggerty, head of the Oakland-Alameda County stadium authority for Network Associates Coliseum, thinks baseball already has its mind made up against gaming cities in general, if not Las Vegas specifically.

"I'm not sure that Major League Baseball wants a team that close to legalized gambling," Haggerty told the Contra Costa Times. "Are all of the casinos there willing to pull (baseball) off their tote boards? I doubt it.

"I think there are tremendous hurdles in moving (a team) to Las Vegas."

For the last 12 months through May 31, baseball accounted for only 14 percent of the total amount won on sports wagering in Nevada. But to many in gaming, the decision to accept sports bets goes beyond economics.

The NCAA has been waging a determined battle in Congress to ban amateur sports betting in Nevada, and surrendering any type of sports gambling could prove politically damaging. As a result, there is little appetite for budging to accomodate baseball.

But Major League Baseball is also unlikely to give much ground, said Bill Eadington, director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming at the University of Nevada Reno.

The sport has been haunted by numerous, high-profile gambling scandals, from the "Black Sox" attempt to fix the 1919 World Series to Pete Rose's lifetime ban over allegations of illegal sports betting.

"Baseball plays on nostalgia and tradition, much more so than football or basketball," Eadington said. "Because of that, I think Major League Baseball would take the attitude of, 'Think of Pete Rose.'

"It's a very harsh, Draconian (position), and I think it would be a deal-killer from Major League Baseball's perspective."

Goodman, an avid sports fan, said Thursday he has gotten no indication that the A's or any major league team had eyes on moving to Las Vegas or building a stadium on a 61-acre downtown site.

In fact, Goodman met Thursday with 51s general manager Don Logan and representatives of Southwest Sports Group, a Dallas firm that specializes in minor-league stadium construction. He said the company is continuing to push for a new minor league stadium on the site.

Goodman said Southwest Sports has asked him to fly to Dallas next week to view its Victory project, touting the benefits a minor league park could bring. The project, rising on an old industrial site, includes office space, hotels, retail, and a minor league ballpark as the centerpiece.

Goodman said he would try to fit the trip into his schedule.

"They're going to try to convince me that a minor-league arena is good for the city," Goodman said. "But I'm a major league mayor."

Goodman said he won't seek out a baseball team for Las Vegas, nor would he allow any public money to go into stadium construction.

Southwest Sports has proposed building a minor league stadium for the 51s and converting it to a major league stadium in the future. But Goodman says he wouldn't accept a minor league stadium, even if it could be converted.

Goodman has said the 61-acre project must include an academic medical center, performing arts center and high-density residential.

Asked how a stadium could fit into those plans, Goodman said the high-density residential could be built on a nearby 39-acre parcel, leaving part of the 61 acres available for a stadium.

Meanwhile, in Oakland, the rumored sale of the A's to L.A.-based Mandalay Sports Entertainment reportedly fell apart Wednesday after word of a proposed deal was announced by city councilman Ignacio de la Fuente.

The San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News reported today that a deal had been close to fruition, but their sources would not say whether de la Fuente's comments contributed to it falling apart.

In fact, both newspapers speculated that Mandalay Entertainment backed out because it didn't want to disclose its financial records to Major League Baseball -- required for MLB to approve the deal.

De la Fuente couldn't be reached for comment by the Sun. His office said he was traveling and unavailable until Tuesday.

Sun sportswriter Victoria Sun and business writer David Strow contributed to this report.

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