Columnist Ron Kantowski: Who needs an NBA franchise, anyway?

Monday, Aug. 8, 2005 | 8:48 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

You can officially add me to virtually every local casino executive and sports book director, UNLV athletic director Mike Hamrick, Rebels basketball coach Lon Kruger, any local sports fan who thinks $77.36 is too much to pay for an average ticket (which is what they get in L.A.) and the arena security force in the event the Pacers would come to town, on the list of those who really don't care if we ever get an NBA franchise.

As for the NBA All-Star Game, even if my name was Casper or Christmas Past I wouldn't have much chance of getting on the "A" list at Ghostbar and the other upscale nightclubs around town that figure to be busier than Shaq during free-throw practice when the slam dunk and bad pass-fest comes to town in 2007.

But if the event's non-gaming economic impact on Las Vegas and Clark County is anywhere close to the projected $27 million, it can stay as long as the train on Dennis Rodman's wedding gown as far as I'm concerned.

The last time I watched an NBA game from start to finish, Clifford Ray and Wes Unseld were the centers and Mendy Rudolph was the referee. Maybe if the coaches still wore loud plaid slacks like Dr. Jack Ramsay, and maybe if the players could sink an uncontested 12-foot jump shot and play a little defense before the playoffs got under way, I, too, would be yearning for some itinerant 18-64 franchise to leave New Orleans and relocate here.

As a city, we never have had an opportunity to support or, more likely, once the novelty would wear off, fail to support a franchise. But the Paleozoic Era attitude toward legalized sports gambling expressed by NBA commissioner David Stern during Friday's All-Star news conference suggests it probably will be later rather than sooner before any of the Big 3 (sorry hockey, you blew it last season) pro sports businesses takes a huge risk by moving here.

Which, of course, brings up one very fundamental question:

So what?

In that the average sports fan stopped caring about the average ballplayer somewhere around 1965, it has been a generation since home teams provided taxpayers with a sense of civic pride and community.

These days, pro sports are more about entertainment at less-than-affordable prices. If you've checked on Celine Dion tickets lately, you know we already lead the league in that department.

So who cares if we ever inherit a team that is destined to finish fifth in the Pacific Division?

I would almost bet that the average fan in Portland would gladly trade the Trailblazers for the Blue Man Group, a couple of Station hotel-casinos and a 99-cent shrimp cocktail. With all due respect to Portland, I don't see where we should be envious of the Blazers when we've got the Scintas.

But we are the Entertainment Capital of the World and pro sports, at least in the many cities the Clippers don't visit, is still viewed as entertainment. That's why the NBA All-Star Game and Las Vegas go together like the pick-and-roll. Oops, dated reference. Make that Allen Iverson and a posse.

In fact, instead of focusing on bringing an 18-64 team to town full-time, perhaps Mayor Goodman and the city's movers and shakers should be focusing on attracting more one-off sporting events like the NBA All-Star Game, in that our track record for supporting them is proven.

With an aggressive marketing approach, we could even do one major sports event per month here, starting with the Las Vegas Bowl in January. Get Steve Wynn to put his name on it and call the BCS people about that extra New Year's Day slot.

The NBA All-Star Game would follow in February. First guy who takes a charge gets an Escalade with all the options.

The Ides of March already bring the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 to Las Vegas Motor Speedway. When it comes to butts in the seats, it doesn't get any bigger than NASCAR.

In April, if we build it, they would come. In 2004, the Yankees and Devil Rays opened the Major League Baseball season in Japan. In 1996, the A's and Tigers opened the season at Cashman Field. The first was by choice, the second out of necessity. But Opening Day in Las Vegas can -- and already has -- been done. A new expandable stadium for the 51s would give us that option.

The Winston or NASCAR Nextel All-Star Challenge, or whatever stock car racing is calling its all-star race these days, could restart our engine in May. NASCAR's mid-spring classic would be a perfect compromise for that second Nextel Cup race date that LVMS has been coveting.

How about Corrales vs. Castillo III in June? The boxing lightweights will reprise their unforgettable brawl at the Thomas & Mack Center in October. If they don't kill each other, by next summer they should be ready to do it again.

The CFL didn't exactly work in July, but what about the the return of the Battle of the Network Stars at Lake Las Vegas? Robert Conrad and Melissa Sue Anderson vs. Gary Burghoff and Mackenzie Phillips in the tug-of-war, with expert commentary from Dr. Joyce Brothers. Well, maybe not. July is probably too hot for anything sports related, even relay races featuring marginal sitcom stars and 12-men-a-side football.

But what about Notre Dame vs. UNLV at Sam Boyd Stadium in late August? If the Irish are considering playing UNR, Mike Hamrick should entice a corporate sponsor to put up the kind of guarantee that would make the Golden Dome a little more golden.

The Andre Agassi Invitational presented by Las Vegas would make an ideal offering for September. Pro tennis needs an unofficial fifth major, doesn't it?

October would belong to the other country club sport, with the advent of The Tiger Woods Invitational presented by Las Vegas. Pro golf needs an unofficial sixth major, doesn't it?

In November, the new preseason NIT presented by Las Vegas could substitute for one of those early season UNLV vs. Fort Lewis games to which we have become accustomed. North Carolina vs. Kansas. Illinois vs. Arizona. Texas Tech vs. Duke. Alaska-Anchorage vs. Chaminade. Dick Vitale would choke on his DiGiorno pizza.

The longstanding National Finals Rodeo would continue to close out the sports calendar in December. I hear Oklahoma City called and it wants its cowboys back. Sorry, Skoal Brothers. Ain't gonna happen.

You can probably say the same about the Clippers moving here, as long as the myopic Stern is commissioner.

Somehow, I think we'll survive without them.

archive