Depending on where you look, Las Vegas’ future as a player in the world of big-time sports is either getting a lot brighter or a lot cloudier.
The latest is that Strip giant MGM Resorts International is looking to attract an NBA franchise to its new T-Mobile Arena.
“It wouldn’t be an expansion team,” CEO James Murren said in an interview on radio station KNPR’s weekly “State of Nevada” program. “It would most likely be relocation of a team.”
The T-Mobile Arena, which opened earlier this year, will host the city’s first major professional sports franchise, a National Hockey League team, starting in October 2017. The $375 million arena, located in an expansive outdoor entertainment area between the company’s Monte Carlo and New York-New York resorts, was privately built by MGM in partnership with Anschutz Entertainment Group.
Where the clouds are gathering is in the sky above Sheldon Adelson’s plan to build a $1.9 billion domed stadium with seating for 65,000 and a National Football League team for them to watch.
The stadium is designed to host the NFL’s Raiders, whose owner wants to relocate the team to Vegas from Oakland, Calif., whose city leaders have balked at gifting the team with a like extravaganza.
Adelson, the billionaire chairman and CEO of casino giant Las Vegas Sands, prevailed on the Nevada Legislature to provide $750 million in public funding for the stadium, with the balance to be financed by the tycoon’s personal interests and the Raiders.
The move, however, requires the approval of 24 of the league’s 32 owners. That vote won’t occur until early next year, and the outcome is far from certain either way.
In the meantime, Adelson’s development partner on the project, Majestic Realty, has pulled out, a split whose reasons have not been disclosed, although the parting was reported as amicable.
More recently, Adelson has told Reuters that he’s not happy with the progress of the negotiations with the Raiders and he’s prepared to walk away if things don’t go more to his liking.
“They want so much,” he told the news service. “So I told my people, ‘Tell them I could live with the deal, I could live without the deal. Here’s the way it’s gonna go down. If they don’t want it, bye-bye.’”
His spokespeople declined to elaborate, Reuters said.
