One arena bidder has played the game

By Steve Kanigher (contact)

Friday, June 29, 2007 | 7:19 a.m.

Only one of the seven companies bidding to build an arena in downtown Las Vegas has actually developed and operated sports facilities, but some of the others have linked up with top arena and stadium architects.

AEG of High Point, N.C., the owner and operator of the Staples Center - home to the National Basketball Association's Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers, and the Los Angeles Kings of the National Hockey League - is the sole City Hall applicant with its own arena credentials. AEG is a subsidiary of Anschutz Co., the firm that built the Staples Center.

The company, the operator of Caesars Palace's Colosseum, also operates Toyota Park for Major League Soccer's Chicago Fire. AEG also developed the Sprint Center arena in Kansas City, Mo., which opens this year and will be the centerpiece of that city's search for a professional basketball or hockey team.

Another AEG project , which opened this week , is the O2 arena and entertainment complex in London.

AEG's competitors for the Las Vegas arena project include:

One of his partners for the Las Vegas project is Ellerbe Becket, a Minneapolis architectural firm that designed arenas for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats, Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana Pacers and San Antonio Spurs. The company also has left its imprint on Las Vegas' sports world, having been the architect for UNLV's Cox Pavilion and for renovations at Thomas & Mack Center and Sam Boyd Stadium.

Another team member is Global Spectrum, a facilities management subsidiary of Comcast-Spectator, which owns the NBA's Philadelphia 76ers and the Philadelphia Flyers of the NHL.

The company co-developed the Westland Plaza shopping center in Las Vegas with former Lakers star Magic Johnson, and has developed retail centers in Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin.

The company's partners in the Las Vegas arena proposal include former player and General Manager Kiki Vandeweghe of the NBA's Denver Nuggets and HNTB Architecture Inc., a Kansas City, Mo., firm that designed Invesco Field at Mile High for the Denver Broncos of the NFL, and has designed sports facilities for the Air Force Academy, University of Southern California, Ohio State University, Oregon State University and several other universities.

An eighth company - the Postolos Group of Houston, run by George Postolos, former president and chief executive of the NBA's Houston Rockets - had filed a letter of intent to bid on the Las Vegas project. This week, however, the company decided not to submit a proposal.