Group that tried to win Expos wants in on next Vegas move

Monday, Dec. 13, 2004 | 9 a.m.

ANAHEIM, Calif. -- Some of the key figures in a private attempt to coax Major League Baseball into moving the Montreal Expos to Las Vegas want to be involved in the city's next attempt to land its first major-league sports franchise.

Mike Shapiro, a consultant for Centerfield Management Group, served as a spokesman for a group that included New York financier Robert Blumenfeld, and they hoped to woo the Expos with a privately financed $420 million stadium.

Chicago-area entrepreneur Lou Weisbach was originally given the go-ahead by Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to explore stadium options, which led to Shapiro and Blumenfeld's involvement in the Expos saga, almost two years ago.

Blumenfeld, Shapiro and Weisbach told the Sun they would each like to participate in the next chapter of Las Vegas' run at the major leagues.

Weisbach said he's already "involved" with Goodman.

"I'm doing some work on the financing side of a potential stadium downtown," Weisbach said. "I told you this wasn't going away. When everyone was depressed that things didn't work out with Montreal, I said this page wasn't done being written. It's just a matter of time.

"There was just an issue of laying building blocks. That's been accomplished. A lot of teams, five or six, will be better off in Las Vegas than the markets they're in right now. The league is looking so favorably toward Las Vegas."

Weisbach said Florida, which had two of its officials meet with Goodman in his office Wednesday, is obviously one.

"But a lot of other teams are struggling, and Vegas would be a huge boon to their ownership," Weisbach said.

Blumenfeld, who had spoken on the record to the Sun only once in 2004, is easily the most private of the trio.

"I remain quite interested in Las Vegas," Blumenfeld said Friday night from New York, "in relation to Major League Baseball."

Shapiro, who is involved with a group's effort to buy the Nationals, said he has told Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown and Goodman that he would be interested in providing his expertise in another Las Vegas run for the majors.

"There's a great deal of enthusiasm right now," Shapiro said, "about someone going to Las Vegas."

Goodman said he and Brown will try to control much of the ensuing and likely lengthy process in which they hope to persuade an existing baseball team to relocate to Las Vegas.

"At this point in time, the city is doing it on our own," Goodman said. "We're going to take as much help as we can. We're not stupid. I mean, if somebody has a suggestion that will help us achieve our objective, we're going to listen.

"But right now, the ball's in our court."

Las Vegas 51s general manager Don Logan has always hoped to replace Cashman Field with a new Triple-A stadium that could be expanded to major league standards if such a team were to move to the city.

When the Florida executives requested the meeting with Goodman and Brown, they went through Logan, who said he went through proper MLB channels to arrange what has been described as an informal get-together.