Editorial: Big league dreams

Friday, Feb. 16, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

The question is no longer can Las Vegas land a professional sports team, but what is Las Vegas willing to do to land a team?

That is because of NBA Commissioner David Stern's remarks Wednesday. His hard-line stance against legalized sports betting, which would rule out Nevada, has softened. Stern now says he welcomes a proposal from Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman on putting a team here.

Building a new arena - an issue that has been studied in Clark County in depth - will be a key part of that proposal, but the critical element will still be sports betting. It appears there may be room to compromise.

Stern told New York's Newsday in Tuesday's edition that there could be a negotiation on sports betting. Stern did not rule out a partial betting ban, which he called "something in the middle," such as a gaming regulation the Nevada Gaming Commission revoked in 2001. That regulation, dubbed the UNLV rule, outlawed betting on the state's college teams wherever they played. A similar rule could be enacted for an NBA team to address the league's concerns.

The league's owners, who will make the decision on whether a team comes here, are interested in Las Vegas. Joe Maloof, whose family owns the Sacramento Kings and the Palms, says he is a strong supporter of Las Vegas getting an expansion franchise the next time the league expands, which may be a few years away.

"It's a huge market. I think it's an international market. I think probably most of the owners would want to be there," he said.

The issue comes down to what Las Vegas can propose to satisfy the NBA.

Goodman, whose tireless effort to land a franchise brought the All-Star Game to town, called Stern's change of heart a "slam dunk."

We think he is right. While we believe that the NBA's stance on Nevada's well-regulated sports betting is silly, a compromise along the lines of the UNLV rule could be the answer.