Columnist Ron Kantowski: Orleans draws even in latest hockey battle

Tuesday, Feb. 5, 2002 | 9:13 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's insider notes column appears Tuesday and his Page One column appears Thursday. He can be reached at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

If the fledgling battle between Las Vegas' proposed minor league hockey arenas were scored like the game itself, it would be Downtown Arena 1, Orleans Event Center 1 at the first intermission.

The proposed downtown arena lit the goal lamp last month when it announced it had an agreement in principle with a tenant -- the not-as-yet hatched Las Vegas Wranglers, a West Coast Hockey League (WCHL) expansion team, for 2003-04.

But the Orleans drew even today with the official groundbreaking of its 7,000-seat hockey palace, which also will come on line for hockey in 2003-04.

Let's see: Downtown has a team but no building (at the moment) and the Orleans has its shovels in the ground but no team (at the moment).

It's too bad somebody couldn't introduce the frankfurter to the bun. Then we might have the perfect hotdog.

"Our permits have been issued," said Steve Stallworth, the former UNLV quarterback and sports marketing executive who will manage the Orleans' arena.

"We're going to have free parking, cheap food and beer and an arena that's tailor-made for hockey. We've got a lot of bullets in our gun -- in fact, we've got bullets that I haven't even seen yet."

Stallworth also expects the Orleans will have a hockey tenant long before the first high-sticking penalty is called. He said the host site has had informal discussions with leagues from coast to coast.

In fact, if there actually was a Federal League, as in the movie "Slapshot," you can rest assured the Charlestown Chiefs would be weighing an offer from Coast Resorts magnate Michael Gaughan.

"Right now, we're kind of zeroed in on the Central (Hockey) League," said Stallworth in suggesting that circuit's southwestern U.S. roots would be a good fit geographically with Las Vegas.

Stallworth believes the state-of-the-art design of the Orleans' building, combined with its marketing plan (the team most likely will be underwritten by Coast Resorts, Inc.) and accessibility will give it a power play on its downtown rival.

"We'll have 8,067 parking spaces," Stallworth all but winked as he gave a reporter a sneak peek at the plans to the Orleans arena.

Parking -- or lack of it -- is sure to be a major concern of patrons of the downtown arena, which will be stuffed into three acres at the intersection of Stewart Avenue and Main Street.

The message part of the board is expected to return, just as soon as it can be repaired. However, the gigantic Coors logo has been painted over.

UNLV officials said a billboard touting Lady Rebels basketball ace Linda Frohlich for All-America honors would be going up on the board momentarily. But in the long run, the school would like to find a new sponsor for the campus landmark. A source close to the university said that when former Rebels baseball coach Rod Soesbe was fired last year, Coors left with him. It adds up, in that Soesbe now works for the local Coors distributor.

It might have been the Rams were realistically only a touchdown better than the the Pats on paper. But with the Rams being a "public team" (i.e., certain to attract the majority of wagers from casual bettors), the line had to be inflated to protect the books in the event of a St. Louis romp.

Maybe next year they could just run Super Bowl Classic spots.

Or bring back the the Bud Bowl.