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Apr. 04, 2008
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Race on for where, when sports arena will be in LV

By ALAN CHOATE
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman insisted Thursday that he's "still bullish" about plans for a sports arena downtown -- even though it's not clear now exactly where the arena would be located.

Meanwhile, a rival plan for an arena just off the Strip appears to be moving forward at full steam.

That means the clock is ticking for a downtown arena, since it's considered unlikely that both arenas would be built.

"As I've said before, whoever gets the shovel in the ground by July is going to get the NBA," Goodman said.

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    • The downtown arena idea started as part of a massive, $10 billion, multiuse development on land near the corner of Charleston Boulevard and Main Street. The initial phase was to include the arena and some retail.

    The city has been in negotiations with would-be developer REI Neon since July 2007, trying to hammer out a development deal.

    There's disagreement over how much public financing should be available to the project. The sour economy and tight credit markets have also make it tough to find financing.

    On Thursday, Goodman said the discussion now includes Goldman Sachs, the new owners of the Stratosphere, and the idea of putting the arena on 17 acres next to the resort on the north end of the Strip.

    "This is an evolving situation," he said. "I always realize that things change.

    "I think that we're closer to getting an arena downtown than ever."

    The other arena proposal, meanwhile, is closer to becoming a reality.

    In August, Harrah's Entertainment and the Anschutz Entertainment Group announced plans for a $500 million, 20,000-seat arena behind Bally's and Paris Las Vegas.

    Plans haven't been presented to the Clark County Commission, but AEG spokesman Michael Roth said the target of starting construction in June still holds.

    "We are still working toward a summer groundbreaking," he said. "If you happen to look at the property, we're clearing it right now."

    The idea behind both arenas is to lure a professional basketball or hockey team to Las Vegas.

    Contact reporter Alan Choate at achoate@reviewjournal.com or (702) 229-6435.



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    joe wrote on April 04, 2008 04:06 PM: They should be looking to build an arena in the area of the I-15 / I-215 interchange in the southern portion of the valley. You have 2 freeways that intersect there so transportation issues would be kept to a minimum as there would be access from Summerlin and Green Valley. Plus the drive south on the strip could take care of the Casinos.

    If they do build an arena they need to go after an NBA team first to get the ticket sales going as hockey is ultra lame as a stand alone pro team for a city. Once the crowds for the NBA come then they could look into going after an NHL team and rotate the arena schedule to have a few pro games in town each week. Then in a couple years a decent arena football team would be able to use the facilities during summer as fans in this town would finally be ready to watch more sports as they have a legitimate sporting complex.

    I went up to Seattle for the 49ers - Seahawks Monday Night Football game last November. Though it was one of the worst football games I had ever seen (my 49ers sucked!!!!) I had a great time because of the awesome Qwest Field stadium that had just recently been built for the Seahawks. Good venues can sometimes be just as important as the excitement of the teams playing!

    Please Vegas, do the right thing the right way in the right place! Great venue in the south portion of the valley with an NBA team first then NHL and arena football could follow. Downtown stadium with NHL, or anything else first will be a death nail for the future of sports here.


    Russ wrote on April 04, 2008 07:47 AM: THS, and why do we care what you think?


    ths wrote on April 04, 2008 07:11 AM: Which ever project has better access to public transportation should be the one that gets the project.

    Unless the downtown developer is going to put money towards expanding the monorail I would be hard pressed to support a down town arena. We need to look at mass transit beyond street bound buses otherwise traffic will only become that much worse.

    Look at the buses when a convention is in town. They get stuck in the same traffic that everyone else does.

    I only support public funds to help expand mass transit to and from the arena. That includes both arenas. If they can spend half a billion to build an arena they should donate $50 million to mass transit.