Columnist Dean Juipe: City doesn’t need another arena, team

Dean Juipe

Monday, Nov. 19, 2001 | 10:37 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

The last thing Las Vegas needs is another mid-sized arena.

Yet that's what we may get if mayor Oscar Goodman's maneuvering with downtown business leaders and an Idaho developer leads to construction of a sports and entertainment center that would be built at Main and Stewart.

The proposed arena would seat at least 7,000 and perhaps as many as 9,000 and would be anchored by a minor-league hockey team.

The building is neither in demand by the general populace nor large enough to serve a greater purpose, such as attracting a National Hockey League or National Basketball Association franchise.

In fact, it's arguably nothing more than an attempt by Goodman to placate his own lingering desire to do something dramatic downtown during his term as mayor.

His intentions are honorable, to be sure. But another arena and another minor-league team?

We don't need either.

For starters, Las Vegas may already have the greatest number of arenas of any city -- certainly any city its size -- in the country.

There's the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV, which can seat 18,000.

And the new Cox Pavilion, which is attached to the Mack and can accommodate at least 2,500.

The private sector also provides the MGM Grand Garden and the Mandalay Bay Events Center, each of which can handle any sport in the universe and seat a good 12,000.

And, while not yet publicized to any great extent, the Orleans plans to break ground in January on an 8,000-seat arena that will have the capacity to house all types of sports and entertainment attractions.

We're oversaturated with arenas, or certainly will be before the proposed one downtown is completed in 2003 at a cost of some $50 million in tax-free bonds.

These arena entities also compete among themselves for concerts, conventions and traveling shows, which is apt to keep the one downtown empty more days than not.

Beyond that, placing still another minor-league franchise in Las Vegas is akin to asking for trouble. You know our legacy without me listing the corpses: Many have tried to crack the local market, but only triple-A baseball has made a go of it in Southern Nevada and its days here sometimes seem numbered.

This city has great and knowledgeable sports fans, yet they have little or no interest in minor-league games and the proof is an overflowing graveyard of teams tagged Aces, Gamblers and the like.

Putting a Western Hockey League team downtown will not, under any circumstances, prompt residents to react with glee or support the venture once it's up and running. Perhaps worse yet, the building's very presence would eliminate the desire and the possibility of the city ever getting a major-league facility built in the same area.

Let's not rush into things or accept a second-best notion simply because the mayor feels we have to take a risk and do "something" for downtown's betterment.

If the arena and its hockey tenant were to fail, as they very well might, it would be a blemish the city would find difficult to cover.