Thursday, May 5, 2005 | 10:05 a.m.
Las Vegas moved a step closer to playing host to the 2007 NBA All-Star Game on Friday, when Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority president Rossi Ralenkotter returned an official bid request to the league's headquarters.
Less than a week later, as negotiations continue between Las Vegas and New York, Ralenkotter said he is very hopeful about Vegas landing professional basketball's marquee mid-season event.
"We sent a very strong bid proposal back to them," Ralenkotter said late Wednesday afternoon. "To host our brand with the NBA All-Star brand would be a winning combination, from the domestic and international exposure to the live broadcast of the game.
"The prospect of having all that big-name talent here in Las Vegas is something everyone here would welcome."
Maybe not. To satisfy NBA commissioner David Stern's concerns about gambling, Mayor Oscar Goodman has said that the city's top casino executives have agreed to not post lines on the All-Star events if Las Vegas is awarded them.
In reality, the relatively low annual handle on that game, according to Hilton race and sports book director Jay Kornegay, makes it a no-brainer to forfeit, compared to the windfall of exposure and revenue that Las Vegas would receive.
In principle, Stardust sports book director Bob Scucci has a problem with being told what games, or events, he can or cannot post on his property's big boards.
"I'm fundamentally against not being able to book anything," Scucci said. "I'd like to be able to book any event, as many events as possible, regardless of where it's played.
"I don't feel the location of the game should determine whether we book an event or not, but it (would be) a small sacrifice to have the (NBA All-Star) game here. I don't think we would lose anything, in terms of revenue."
At a meeting in New York two weeks ago, the NBA's Board of Governors -- comprised of a representative from each of the league's 30 ownership groups -- unanimously agreed to pursue Las Vegas, and the Thomas & Mack Center, for the '07 All-Star Game.
Stern said no other cities have bid on the 2007 event and that Las Vegas is advantageous because of its ability to provide the hotel and convention space, and transportation, that the All-Star weekend increasingly demands.
"It may get to a place where a smaller number of cities can deal with it," Stern told the Associated Press. "That has left us open to the proposition that we could consider non-NBA cities."
By many accounts, the Maloof brothers were the catalysts in a Vegas venture that was first broached about a month ago and has moved rapidly through NBA circles.
Joe, Gavin, George and Phil Maloof are equal partners -- with their mother, Colleen, and sister, Adrienne -- in Maloof Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Sacramento Kings of the NBA and the Palms in Las Vegas.
Joe and Gavin run the Kings franchise, while George, a former UNLV football player, oversees the daily operations of one of the city's hippest hotels and casinos.
"There's just a tremendous amount of local support," George Maloof said of luring the All-Star game to Las Vegas, "with people who want to make it happen."
From securing 5,000 peak hotel-room nights to reserving one of three convention-center sites to figuring flight arrangements, Ralenkotter said details are being hemmed out on a nearly daily basis between the LVCVA and the NBA.
Ralenkotter confirmed that his final proposal might include a financial inducement, depending upon the convention site that is chosen for the game's many extracurricular activities. He declined to reveal the likely range of that monetary figure.
NBA site director Ski Austin has explored the Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay and Sands convention centers as potential venues.
Ralenkotter said he will send the LVCVA's formal final proposal to the league's Olympic Tower offices on Fifth Avenue by the end of this month, and he expects to hear a decision from Stern by mid-June.
By Wednesday, neither Kornegay nor Scucci had heard from their superiors about not taking wagers on the All-Star Game, or its 3-point shooting competition, if Las Vegas were to become the first non-NBA city to play host to the February showcase.
"But it's pretty much understood that that would be one of the contingencies," Scucci said.
"I would recommend, to my executives, that we take off that one game," Kornegay said, "because I truly believe that hosting the event would be much bigger than actually taking wagers on the game."
According to Kornegay, total wagers on an NBA All-Star game and the 3-point contest usually equal that of an NFL exhibition game. Scucci said it matches the action on a highly anticipated Lakers game. Neither disclosed those figures.
Ralenkotter has estimated that the NBA All-Star festivities could fetch $100 million for the city in visitor spending.
"But, of course, that's just one game," Scucci said of taking action away from bettors. "There's a big difference when we're talking about an entire season."
Stern has adamantly opposed an NBA team playing in Las Vegas, unless gaming officials prohibit betting on its games in the state's legal sports books.
That the removal of betting on an All-Star hoops game in Las Vegas could serve as a litmus test, showing that a major pro sport could exist in Nevada without gambling, might be reading too much into the situation.
"It would be reverting back to the way we used to treat the UNLV games," Scucci said. "There was no particular reason for not having those games on the board. It was more for perception than anything else."
A ban on betting on college games either in Nevada or from the Silver State, on UNLV or Nevada-Reno football or basketball games, was lifted in 2001.
"We have proven to everyone that we are very highly regulated in this industry," Kornegay said. "I would surely welcome NBA officials to tour the books and understand that it's very well protected and regulated."
The game's All-Star event might be staged in Las Vegas before Stern or any of his lieutenants choose to take a closer look behind the scenes at the Hilton or Stardust sports books.
In the meantime, assistants to Ralenkotter and Austin continue exchanging details and answering questions that will further the likelihood of the NBA's stars playing in the Mack in less than two years.
"We're very, very excited about it," Ralenkotter said. "It's developing. We're analyzing all of the information, it's moving back and forth, and we're moving forward."
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