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StumbleCity votes 4-3 to back company over .vegas Internet suffix
Wednesday, Feb. 3, 2010 | 4:02 p.m.
Sun Archives
- Vegas not alone in wanting in on .vegas (2-2-2010)
After a lengthy hearing, the Las Vegas City Council voted this afternoon to support Dot Vegas Inc. in its effort to become the registry of the .vegas top level domain on the Internet.
The council was stuck on the issue of whether it should also consider that another company, VEGAS.com, had also been working independently to become the registry for the .vegas Internet address suffix, which would be used such as .com, .net or .org. VEGAS.com is owned by The Greenspun Corporation, which also owns the Las Vegas Sun.
However, after hearing the matter for about three hours, the council decided to back Dot Vegas Inc. with its letter of support to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers.
In turn, if Dot Vegas Inc. gets to be the registry, the city would get 75 cents for each registered name, or 10 percent of the revenue the company generates, whichever is greater.
Voting for the resolution were Mayor Oscar Goodman, Lois Tarkanian, Stavros Anthony and Ricki Barlow, who made the motion to approve.
Voting against were Steve Ross, Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese and Steve Wolfson.
The main issue was whether the city should or should not treat the matter as a competitive situation and open it up for bids.
During the meeting, Bill Arent, the city's business development director, said he had been approached last June by Dot Vegas Inc., which sought the city's endorsement in its efforts to try to get it approved by ICANN.
Arent said the city had been working in good faith with Dot Vegas and had treated them like it does any other business bringing it an unsolicited proposal — it works exclusively with that business and doesn't seek outside bids.
For that reason, Arent recommended the council support the resolution.
However, several Greenspun Corporation executives, including Brian Greenspun, chairman and chief executive officer; Jim Gibson, a senior vice president; and Howard Lefkowitz, VEGAS.com president and CEO; told the council that VEGAS.com had also been planning to become the registry of the .vegas TDL for several years.
The Greenspun officials explained that they had been planning to eventually get the endorsement of all the local government entities, after ICANN finalized its rules and regulations regarding new generic TDLs.
They said Arent's work with the Dot Vegas Inc. didn't come to public light until about two weeks ago, when the company's request first came up as an agenda item on the council's budget.
The Greenspun officials also said Dot Vegas Inc. was moving too quickly because the ICANN rules and regulations aren't yet finalized.
Elisa Cooper, director of product marketing for MarkMonitor.com, the domain registrar for various large companies, including those such as VEGAS.com, Google.com and eBay.com, also told the council it was moving too quickly on the matter.
Greenspun told the council if it decided to endorse VEGAS.com's proposal instead of Dot Vegas, he could offer the city $1 per registration. Plus, he said, VEGAS.com, which already has 30 million visitors coming to it's Web site each year, is in a good position to market the .vegas TDL and make the city more revenue.
Ross, Reese and Wolfsen, the three councilmen who opposed the matter, each said they didn't have much information until today's meeting and were reluctant to give the city's endorsement to Dot Vegas, when it was clear that Vegas.com was also working along the same lines.
However, Goodman said it would be unfair for the city to put the matter up for bid after working in good faith with Dot Vegas, under the unsolicited proposal guidelines.
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so is "www.vegas-is-cheesy-again.vegas" that much different from "www.vegas-is-cheesy-again.com"?
Goodman already has dibs on crooked.vegas.
You just have to ask yourself, who got paid off, and how much. With companies such as GoDaddy registering millions of domain names, why would you even consider a no name company like dot vegas without putting it out to bid IF your interest lies in what will generate the most income for the city instead of which will generate most income for your own pocket.
Ordinarily, I would tell Brian Greenspun and his family of companies, including Vegas.com and Green Valley Resort and Casino, to stuff it. You snooze, you loose.
But this just isn't ANY unsolicited proposal. This is THE unsolicited proposal.
Clearly, Greenspun and Vegas.com is in a substantially better position than Dot Vegas, Inc. to market, solicit for, enhance the value of, and provide for substantially better top-line revenue to the City without question.
But that is not the main reason I think that the Las Vegas City Council should reconsider.
Vegas.com actively PROMOTES and SELLS Las Vegas, and has done so for years now. It strikes me as purposefully disingenuous that Mayor Goodman on the one hand lambasts that moron in the White House who downs Las Vegas on a regular basis in public, and not to mention that the idiot's words have practically ruined business here in Las Vegas, but then on the other hand thumbs his nose with a fast one at a company that has helped put Las Vegas on the map all the while bringing in revenue day in and day out, and which offers a significantly better return on any tax investment.
Do you get where I'm going with this?
Vegas.com has gotten the shaft.
With a quickie Las Vegas City Council decision.
Oh, sure. "It was on the Agenda" is a coward's way out. A pipsqueak of a politico hack's hiding under the pretext of voting fairly then running under mommy's skirt to keep from being seen.
The Mayor and City Council have made a serious mistake. Serious mistake.
Acted unfairly. Then claimed a minor technicality.
Hey Oscar, I told the SUN to stop calling you a 'mob lawyer' because it insulted your dignity.
Why are you insulting Brian's and Vegas.com....?
I wonder how much benefit vegas.com gets from the tens of millions of dollars a year the city uses to promote Las Vegas????
I think vegas.com should consider paying the city a portion of its revenue and give the city some ownership since they have already benefited so much from the cities hundreds of millions of dollars used to push people coming to this great city.
No wonder they gave it to another company as they know the Greenspins will just pay some fixed amount per domain where dot vegas inc offered 75 cents or 10% of gross income whichever is greater, thats 10% right off the top.