Editorial: A major league city

Friday, Dec. 10, 2004 | 4:49 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

December 11 - 12, 2004

Two months ago Major League Baseball awarded the Montreal Expos franchise to Washington, bypassing Las Vegas and two other cities vying to get the team. But Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman and other government officials have made it clear that the city still is very interested in getting a team to move here. Goodman was expected to talk with other team owners at this weekend's Major League Baseball meetings in Anaheim, Calif.

The trip follows last week's meeting that local officials had with representatives of the Florida Marlins, a team that is running into a snag in its negotiations with Miami officials on public financing for a new stadium. But we shouldn't get our hopes up too high every time local officials meet with team owners. It's very common for team owners to use other cities as bargaining chips, suggesting they might move their team elsewhere if they don't get more taxpayer money to refurbish a stadium or build a new one.

Nevertheless, as the fastest-growing city in the United States, it's really a question of when, not if, Las Vegas gets a major league team. The upcoming issue of Sports Illustrated carries a story predicting that Las Vegas will have an NBA or Major League Baseball team within the next 10 years. For now, at least, we'll have to patiently wait until our moment arrives.