Vegas quietly removed from consideration

By Rob Miech (contact)

Monday, June 9, 2008 | 2 a.m.

USA Basketball nixed Las Vegas from its list of potential sites for a new headquarters in March and didn’t tell many about it.

“I’m waiting for a hard answer myself,” said Julian Dugas, the director of sports marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. That was Thursday.

Louisville, Glendale, Ariz., and Colorado Springs, Colo., the current home of USA hoops, are the finalists after Indianapolis pulled out a month ago. An insider said Glendale has the inside track.

Officials from USA Basketball and Wasserman Media Group, the Raleigh, N.C.-based outfit that has led the search, were mum about the entire process.

They’ve been so secretive, it’s as if the new home for USA Basketball were a matter of national security.

The country’s hoops brain trust should be so diligent in solving the pick-and-roll, international trapezoid lane and Argentina’s perimeter game.

Maybe anti-Vegas NBA Commissioner David Stern intervened to ensure that the game’s year-round home wouldn’t land in the same neighborhood as a sports book?

In October, Dugas (pronounced dew-GAH) received an initial proposal request, found a Boulder City group, Hang Time Sports, that was interested in pursuing the project and let it play out.

Six weeks later, Hang Time boss John Balistere sent a 250-page proposal to USA Basketball. It included flexibility on square footage for office, court and locker-room space in Boulder City.

If being so far away from McCarran International Airport, the Thomas & Mack Center and other potential arenas, and the Strip played a role in nixing the proposal, nobody told Balistere.

“In any major city, there’s a 35- or 40-minute drive” from airports to hotels and arenas, Balistere said. “I don’t know if that came into it. They didn’t elaborate and we didn’t inquire. It would have been nice.”

Balistere said the project had plenty of support, from mayors to corporate leaders and hotel owners, and that it made the cut when Wasserman whittled its candidates to five.

Someone from Wasserman did ring Balistere when it zapped Las Vegas from a final list of three in March.

“It would have been hard to find more community support than we had,” Balistere said. “But my gut instinct is that, the way everything is being developed in Glendale, that that’s probably a good fit.”

Dugas said USA Basketball would have fit well in Las Vegas.

“It would have been an asset for the city,” he said. “But they have to make decisions that fit their business model. I know the city would have welcomed them. We would have loved to have had it.”

THIS WEEK’S BEST BET

Glen Gondrezick fundraiser, 7 p.m. Friday, Orleans Arena

The former Rebel basketball player is in dire need of a heart transplant, and this event has been arranged to help him defray his massive medical expenses. Coaches and players from all over are sending items for a silent auction, and it will include food and music.

TICKETS: $100.

INFORMATION: 434-4923

ALSO WORTH A LOOK

U.S. Olympic wrestling and judo Team Trials, Friday through Sunday, Thomas & Mack Center

Judo takes place the first two days, and the wrestlers grapple all three days. Keep an eye on Brent Metcalf, the 2008 NCAA champion from the University of Iowa, at 145.5 pounds.

TICKETS: $15-60, three-day packages are $75 and $150.

ON THE WEB: www.unlvtickets.com