Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

February 13, 2007

NBA's Memphis Grizzlies Coming to Las Vegas? Or Not.

Posted by Hunter

According to Norm!, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman will announce on Sunday the development of a $10 billion arena project in Las Vegas, designed to lure NBA and NHL teams to the city. The Memphis Grizzlies have been mentioned as a team that could find a new home in Vegas.

It will be interesting to see how this shakes out. Many people are opposed to spending tax payer dollars to build an arena that effectively subsidizes a team... Also, there's the whole sports betting thing to work out.

Update: As indicated in the comments and on Norm's page, the Mayor has hit back saying there is no truth to the rumor.

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Categories: Downtown Las Vegas


Comments

Read archived comments (7 so far)
February 13, 2007 4:32 PM Posted by brian Fey

$10 Billion? Does he or you mean $1 Billion. NFL Stadiums cost less than $1 Billion, for that price you could build 10!

February 13, 2007 4:34 PM Posted by Hunter

Norm's article says $10 billion... I assume if it is that much that it includes a bunch of other stuff like hotel(s), casino(s), etc... It would have to be a large complex with all sorts of stuff because as you noted, no arena could cost $10 B.

February 13, 2007 5:43 PM Posted by Jason Robar

Norm's updated his previous report:

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says there is "no truth" to our earlier report that he is preparing to announce a $10 billion downtown development that would include a sports arena as the center piece.

"I wish it were true, but it isn't," said Goodman, who has been promising a major NBA-related announcement.

February 13, 2007 6:01 PM Posted by mike_ch

Between this and the flightplan drama he may have gotten me interested enough in local politics to register just for the purposes of booting him out.

February 13, 2007 6:01 PM Posted by rob

in my opinion, if vegas has any chance of landing a professional team, there can be no casinos anywhere near or associated with the team, the teams facilities, or the teams players. if anyone thinks any commissioner of any pro league will let a team play in a complex that has a casino and sportsbooks within walking distance of the stadium come to vegas then they are crazy, but bringing a pro team to vegas will basically complete our city as a real viable metropolis where people will want to come to live and stay

February 13, 2007 7:20 PM Posted by sharky

There was some rumors that the Maloofs wanted to move the Kings to Vegas. I hadn't heard about the Grizz. I think they are under new ownership control with Christian Laettner and another buddy from Duke heading up the ownership group that recently purchased them.

February 14, 2007 1:35 AM Posted by mike_ch

There's enough people who want to live and stay in our city to give the infrastructure support people a heart attack in the first place. I wouldn't want my money spent on a sports team that at worst I couldn't care about, and at best will strain the city's traffic grid even more.

Sports and gambling don't seem to mix well, either, and I'd take gambling over a home team any day.