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Mayor Oscar Goodman: He’s all (team) talk
For more than a decade, he’s talked about bringing a pro sports team to Las Vegas
Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman responded to questions from the media in April at City Hall about the latest efforts to build a sports arena as part of a larger development plan to help revitalize the city’s downtown.
Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Sun archives
- Mayor: American League baseball team looking at Las Vegas (8-19-2010)
- Mayor hints at plans for professional team moving to Las Vegas (8-12-2010)
- Mayor: Without public funding for arena, Las Vegas won't get NBA team (7-22-2010)
- Mayor skeptical about NBA ‘contract’ for proposed Strip arena (7-15-2010)
- NBA team ‘under contract’ if Las Vegas builds an arena (7-14-2010)
- Detroit Pistons moving to Las Vegas? Don't bet on it (7-15-2010)
- Mayor: Downtown Las Vegas sports arena ‘very viable’ (6-24-2010)
- Strip sports arena has very little support (6-10-2010)
- A venue for all types of pros (11-5-2009)
Perhaps second only to his love of drink is Mayor Oscar Goodman’s love of talking about Las Vegas landing a professional sports franchise.
He was at it again Thursday, saying he has been in contact with a Major League Baseball team about building a domed stadium downtown.
It involves an American League team, but as with all such pronouncements from Goodman, it quickly gets vague: “We’ve had two meetings,” the mayor told reporters. “I’m waiting to hear from a gentleman as to what team I’m supposed to be speaking with.” And so it has gone for 11 years — stretching from his first campaign for mayor in 1999. One day it might actually happen; until then we’ll have Goodman talking about it.
June 1999
Mayoral candidate Goodman tells Sun sports columnist Dean Juipe that talks are under way between city and county government officials, executives of prominent Strip resorts and an NFL franchise — later revealed to be the Oakland Raiders — about moving the team to Las Vegas.
December 1999
The mayor reports an unidentified owner of an NBA team calls him several times a week and is said to be interested in moving his team to Las Vegas. “It’s part of my agenda to bring major league sports here. If somebody wants me to advocate on their behalf, I will,” he says.
May 2000
Goodman meets with an NBA team owner who might be interested in moving to Las Vegas, the second such meeting Goodman has that year with unidentified pro basketball franchise owners. “I told them we would have to get the land, a plan for gaming, and we are working diligently on that,” he says, later adding, “We need a major league team here. We have to have that kind of presence.”
September 2002
Major League Baseball’s Montreal Expos, now the Washington Nationals, are rumored to be looking for a new home. A stadium is proposed for 61 city-owned acres west of downtown, but Goodman sounds unusually pessimistic over its public financing plan: “I’d really love to have that arena, but I will not put the taxpayers at risk.”
March 2006
The mayor estimates, based on conversations with team owners and others, that the city will be home to an NBA franchise within three years. “I look at it as a way to galvanize the community. We’re a big-league city, but we don’t have a big-league team,” he says.
February 2007
Following the city hosting the NBA All-Star Game: “The All-Star Game, as far as I was concerned, was a vehicle to get the commissioner to come to Las Vegas and talk with me,” the mayor says. “Now we’re in a position to see an NBA franchise.”
December 2008
Goodman and City Councilman Larry Brown drop by Major League Baseball’s winter meetings, showgirls in tow. “I hope to bring home a whale to start some serious discussions with,” the mayor says.
November 2009
After Sun columnist Ron Kantowski writes that Goodman should wear a fake nose and glasses the next time he talks about this group or that group building a downtown sports arena lest he be taken seriously, the mayor proposes a wager: The city will have such an arena within four years or he’ll buy Kantowski a case of Yuengling beer.
Sun librarian Rebecca Clifford-Cruz contributed to this report.
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Las Vegas does not need a domed baseball stadium or a major league baseball team any more than a pig needs to be dressed in an Italian 3-piece silk suit. Let's get over this baloney of a major league baseball team making its permanent home in this city. Just how many people in this city with 14+% unemployment, an economic crisis does the good mayor believe will go to a MLB game? How many fans from NY city will travel to Las Vegas to see the Yankees play a Las Vegas based baseball team? This is the same pipe-dream, falderall we have heard for years. GET OVER IT FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE OSCAR!!!! We are not going to name the stadium for you anyway!!!
some people are for this but i've never seen any response how this is going to get paid. raising the room tax is one way but will the hotels and customers go for it? now is not the time to be talking about bringing a sports team to vegas.
I wish it was, but Las Vegas is not a Major League Sports City.
(If it was, we would need someone with a little more moxie and savvy than Oscar The Grouch to get a deal done.)
For MLB, you need 40,000 PLUS to fill your stadium EVERY NIGHT to be successful.
(And CORPORATE SPONSORS to ante up for naming rights, suite rentals, advertising, broadcast rights, etc...THAT PART Vegas can do), BUT...
Where are we gonna get 40,000-plus people that can afford the price of admission at today's MLB prices?
Tourists???
Probably not.
Locals???
Hardly.
A combo of the 2???
Perhaps, if it was aggressively marketed, and the team was good.
It would take a combination of funding sources, and of course, that would include PUBLIC FUNDS,
(and we all know that Nevadans squeeze a tax-nickel until G.W. fades completely out, so fuggetaboutit!!!)
That said, it would certainly be a BOON for Las Vegas...
I know the "experts" like Pat-the-think-tanker vehemently disagree, but I contend that being a MAJOR LEAGUE CITY adds exponentially to a city's status... Las Vegas could USE a SHOT IN THE ARM like MLB...or NFL...but you KNOW our MOTTO:
"We can't see the forest for the trees!!!"
All that said, I do not believe there is a Sports Franchise Owner alive today that would take a chance on Las vegas, Nevada, in it's current state of economic distress.
Would you???
Typical of a bad for the people politician, like so many in this state, his main concern is distracting the public from his real responsibilities by proffering a professional baseball team as an important issue to the people of Las Vegas. This of course means that his main concern is for himself. At least he tried to stop looking like a clown with treatment for his gin blossoms, but alas he remains a true clown. If only Circus Circus would offer him a job in residence the people of Las Vegas would be rid of him.
His main and only claim to fame is representing the most ruthless mafia murderer in Las Vegas history: Tony Spilotro. Imagine his interest in protecting the people of Las Vegas while he kept that murderer on the street. Maybe you can get more investors for the Mafia Museum; we all know how important the museum is to the people of Las Vegas.
His 15 minutes was up a long time ago, it is time for him to go.
Oscar Goodman is quite a clown. We have a police department that shoots anyone that scares them, like a bunch of frightened rabbits. We have almost 15% unemployment, double that for people who have given up hope of finding a job and the underemployed.
Typical of a bad for the people politician, like so many in this state, his main concern is distracting the public from his real responsibilities by proffering a professional baseball team as an important issue to the people of Las Vegas. This of course means that his main concern is for himself. At least he tried to stop looking like a clown with treatment for his gin blossoms, but alas he remains a true clown. If only Circus Circus would offer him a job in residence the people of Las Vegas would be rid of him.
His main and only claim to fame is representing the most ruthless mafia murderer in Las Vegas history: Tony Spilotro. Imagine his interest in protecting the people of Las Vegas while he kept that murderer on the street. Maybe you can get more investors for the Mafia Museum; we all know how important the museum is to the people of Las Vegas.
His 15 minutes was up a long time ago, it is time for him to go.
I am for it. This will produce revenue and increase tourism. Not everyone likes gambling. People willcome go to a hotel, see a game grab abite see a stripper, etc.
Time to diversify. This is a good start.
Go for it, lets get it done!
how and who will pay for this? still no answers, just gimme,gimme,gimme.
I can see the people who have no clue about business, economics or common sense are up and commenting this morning.
81 home games means 500-750 would have 8-10 hour days on game day. Not to mention all the off days were cleaning, repair and preperation. And let's not forget the construction to build it. Oh and all the other events that would be done in the stadium. Plus the additional tourism by fans from other cities coming to the Entertainment Capital of the World to see their team play.
You guys really need to think before you add comments on here. If the public has to put in a little to get a lot then I am all for it. You do that math.......
Vegasguy80:
If the stadium isn't full, the franchise won't be making money and there won't be those jobs that you are talking about. We'll just have a huge, empty, worthless stadium that the taxpayers most likely will pay for.
There is no way that we could fill a stadium every home game or even come close...not in this town.
I would rather watch the games at a sports bar or on my big screen tv.
It take alot of upkeep for a stadium plus A\C and that means $$$$$.
I would love a MLB franchise here in my adopted city, but I am very concerned about how we would pay for it. The only proposal I have heard is to jack up the sales tax, which is a terrible idea. Sales taxes hit the working families - and those include a lot of unemployed folks already scratching to get by - a lot harder than the millionaires who, I guarantee you, would make money whether or not the crowds showed up.
I'm afraid it would be just one more transfer of wealth from working and middle-class families to the very wealthy. There's a long tradition of that in Las Vegas and Nevada - see the SNWA plans for enriching developers to be paid for by existing residents, or the fabulous Las Vegas Monorail - but that doesn't make it right or sustainable.
If we're to build this domed stadium, etc., make sure those who would win big are betting their own money. And let's not swallow the nonsense peddled by the money boys, as with the monorail.
I applaud Mayor Goodman's efforts as he wants to redeem himself and Vegas from what it once was into a major city. But although I believe Vegas will be a Major sports city one day, I'd give it a few more years at least until the economy fully recovers before it can be seriously considered.
Heaven knows I will be a season ticket holder for any Vegas team.
But the longer I have to wait, the more I go to L.A., in which I don't have a problem with despite the gas money, the 4-6 hour drive, etc. One cannot compare watching on TV to being at a sporting event live. Unfortunately for some people, high schools and UNLV is as close as it gets, which is disheartening considering the potential that Vegas has.
I just can't see why a MLB team would want to be in LV. I hope it will come to pass and be profitable, but I just have a hard time seeing it happen.
I could be for the baseball it just depends on the publics cost.
I think baseball is the wrong way to go, if we could coax a basketball team over on the other hand... that i could see going well and appealing more to tourists. LA dosen't really NEED the clippers do they?
Let's see, I went to at least 6 Anaheim Angels games this year, a San Diego Charger game and Played the California State lottery about 30 times this year. If your a baseball fan, and the season tickets are within your price range, then your excited about the talk about getting MLB. Yankee fans would come...what scares me is that everything is becoming too expensive for the average joe like myself. $4.50 for a bottle of water, $6.50 for peanuts in Angel Stadium...can't afford that! Walt Disney World in Orlando, and Disneyland in CA, love to go there, but it's only for the rich..and I consider myself average middle class.
A sports team is the last thing Vegas needs. It just won't work. Plus, for some bizarre reason, you might find tourists will not actually want to go, or that the local businesses and entertainment shows will oppose it because it will take business away. Then there's the question of the sports betting.
OH WELL.
The worst thing Vegas could build is a climate controlled domed stadium with artificial turf. If anything, it has to be retractable and be natural grass. The whole reason the Rays want out of Tampa is that their climate controlled, artificial turf stadium sucks. The only other artificial turf field is in Toronto...and that stadium has become an empty white elephant. If they can play outside in Minnesota in April then then can play outside in Las Vegas in July. Domed stadiums without retraction just plain suck. They are warehouses.
People in Las Vegas don't even support the Las Vegas Wranglers hockey team, how could they support a new arena or any major team???? Please this town is so fickled if you are winning at anything they love it but you lose and well..we know what happens how many sports teams have been here and are now gone, gone, gone many many over the years.
Hey Oscar, how many city workers did you lay off because the city couldn't afford it? But, you have enough tax dollars for a new city hall, your mob museum and now you want to rip off the city for a domed stadium, at WHAT COST to taxpayers? Methinks you drank away a few too many brain cells. Get the city workers back to work and forget about your grandiose ideas on the back of already broke tax payers. When does Las Vegas get rid of this goof?
I heard someone from Las Vegas ask Oscar this same question re: his mob museum on NPR some time ago. He admonished the questioner, said they just had different priorities and he fled the studio for another "appointment". He had no qualms about laying people off to fund his pipe dream. He's gotta go, soon, before he does any further damage.
The Tampa Bay Rays need a new stadium. Just a thought folks...
I am not sure about this. If my state property tax goes up to pay for this, NO. I want to see how it will be paid for and the stats on who will come and what it will make. And of course, dish and directv cannot broadcast the games unless tickets are sold; or they pay alot of money to pay the bonds off.
The only way an MLB franchise comes to Vegas is by throwing money at them.
Bad move.
People don't think sports when they think of Vegas. Be what we are and be better at it than anybody else.
Want to diversify? Sports isn't the answer.
Go for it Mayor Goodman! People, realize the long term benefits that this sort of a thing would create for our city.
Diversification? Yes! We have relied too long on gaming being the primary source of entertaninment for tourists and visitors alike. If you read the ecomonmic reports for our city and its gaming comanpies, folks are not spending money on gambling!! They are however more inclined to spend their money on shopping, dining, and dare I say the all American pass time that is baseball. This would help to diversify our economy by offering another entertainment option to all; not to mention, the jobs that would be created during construction, and after when the staduim would need people to staff and help run the stadium. Also, there will be the dining and shopping options that would be around the stadium district that would also employ folks locally. Look at cities like San Diego, Denver, etc. These cities had depressed areas where their stadims now stand. Now the LODO area of Denver is thriving with shopping options, dining options, a stadium, and a performing arts center... that could be our city!!
Attracting permenant residents. Like it or not, a sports team helps identify a city and its citizens. People form a real attachment to their sport teams and are able to bond with other citizens of their city over that common interest. This is something our community lacks. There is a lot of passion that is formed when people have a professional sports team; that passion translates into their love for the city also. Why do you think our desert neighbor to the east of us, the city of Phoenix is able to attract more people to stay than our city? Professional sports is a big reason folks. It attracts people to want to stay and form a bond with their city!! Maybe then will we not be such a transient town.
Long story short, we need to think globally and outside the box when thinking about the longevity and success of our city. A pro sports team is a step in the right direction... GO FOR IT MAYOR GOODMAN!!