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Friday, January 18, 2002
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

COMPETING VENUES: Planned city arena gets team

Casino too pursues center, hockey

Downtown Las Vegas has a hockey team, but no final deal on a new arena. The Orleans hotel-casino soon will have an arena, but does not yet have a hockey team.

And in about 21 months, residents of the Las Vegas Valley are likely to have two minor-league hockey teams in different arenas vying for their hearts and wallets.

The Las Vegas Wranglers, a minor-league hockey team affiliated with the West Coast Hockey League, will be the anchor tenant of a 7,500-seat events arena planned for downtown, officials said Thursday.

The men's and women's basketball teams at the Community College of Southern Nevada also will be playing their home games at the arena, which is scheduled to open in October 2003.

Coast Resorts is scheduled to break ground later this month on a multipurpose events arena next to The Orleans. The arena will seat up to 10,000 spectators for concerts and boxing events and about 7,000-7,500 people for hockey games.

Coast Resorts Chairman Michael Gaughan said the $43 million project will have its groundbreaking Jan. 29 and will open in the spring of 2003. The arena is part of a $100 million upgrade of the West Tropicana Avenue resort, which will add 630 hotel rooms, a parking garage and new movie theaters and restaurants.

Gaughan said he had been negotiating for several months with West Coast Hockey League officials, and he appeared surprised Wednesday to learn that a Las Vegas franchise intends to play in the downtown arena.

"I guess my negotiations have broken down with them," Gaughan said. He said he still plans to have a hockey team as part of the tenant mix.

"I'll have a team for the 2003-2004 season that begins in the fall," he said. "We'll have a hockey team from somewhere.

The downtown events arena at Stewart Avenue and Main Street is being built by Larry Leasure, an Idaho developer who built a similar project that has helped revitalize downtown Boise. Officials predict the Las Vegas arena will draw close to 150 events per year, including at least 36 hockey games. Other potential attractions include indoor professional football, concerts and boxing matches.

Boyd Gaming Corp., is prepared to donate three acres of land for the project to Las Vegas Events Center, a nonprofit corporation run by Mayor Oscar Goodman, Boyd Gaming Chairman Don Snyder and Fremont Street Experience President Mark Paris. Las Vegas Events Center will own the arena, which probably will be built with bonds issued by the city of Las Vegas.

The bonds would be paid back by revenue generated from the arena. Goodman said no taxpayer money would be spent on the project.

Financing has not been completed yet but could be finished in several weeks, officials said.

Goodman said he hopes the arena will help restore a sense of community lost amid the city's rapid growth.

"We're all going to be able to see each other and say 'hi' and feel like Las Vegans," Goodman said.

Boyd Gaming spokesman Rob Stilwell predicted the management of SMG, a Philadelphia company that operates arenas throughout the country, will play a big role in keeping the downtown arena filled.

"Every day their (SMG's) mission is to fill the 1.4 million seats they manage throughout the U.S., and we're a part of that mix, so that's a real distinct advantage," Stilwell said. "The hockey team is an important tenant ... but it's not the one that's going to make or break the events center."

Wranglers Chairman Charles Davenport said a salary cap of $12,000 per week per team will be the key to keeping costs low enough for the franchise to succeed where similar ventures have failed.

The Las Vegas Thunder played six seasons at the Thomas & Mack Arena before folding in 1999 when the team's owners could not negotiate a new lease at the arena.

"I think part of the reason the Thunder folded ... is their budget just got way out of control," Davenport said.

Davenport's company, Chandar Sports, bought the rights to a Las Vegas franchise three years ago and owns a West Coast Hockey League franchise in Fresno, Calif.

Steve Stallworth, a Coast Resorts vice president who is leading the company's arena project, said customers will have the final say on the fate of hockey in Las Vegas.

"The market will ultimately dictate whether one hockey team, two hockey teams or no hockey teams are going to be able to make it in this town."

Review-Journal staff writer Jeff Wolf contributed to this report.