Movement on Sacramento Kings arena not a kiss of death for Las Vegas projects

The latest efforts to keep the National Basketball Association’s Sacramento Kings from relocating won't mean the game is over for bids to build arenas in Southern Nevada.

In meetings held last month during the NBA All-Star Game weekend, the Kings and the city of Sacramento put together the framework of a deal to build a new Sacramento arena.

The Kings — owned by the Maloof family, which also has a stake in the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas — were targeted by several cities when it appeared the team was ready to move because it couldn’t secure an arena deal in California’s capital city.

Anaheim, which was trying to build momentum for a third Southern California NBA franchise, and Seattle, which lost its team to Oklahoma City in 2008, have been suitors for the Kings. So has Las Vegas, which figured it had a shot because of the Maloof connection and an array of arena proposals on the drawing board.

But not only are development plans still under way for perhaps the most promising arena project in Southern Nevada — proposed by the Las Vegas Arena Foundation on land donated by Caesars Entertainment — a representative from the project said its success was not dependent on the NBA's presence.

“It isn’t the NBA’s policy to promise a team if you build an arena,” said Marybel Batjer, a member of the Las Vegas Arena Foundation and vice president of public policy and communications for Caesars Entertainment.

The nonprofit foundation plans to build the arena using specifications that could entice an NBA or National Hockey League team, but Batjer said the lack of a franchise wasn’t a deal-breaker for the project.

Two other prominent Southern Nevada arena proposals have indicated in the past that they would maintain their efforts with or without an NBA tenant.

Chris Milam’s companies, Las Vegas National Sports Center and International Development Management, announced last month that a Chinese company and its banks had agreed to finance a $650 million arena in Henderson near the M Resort. While Milam has hinted to having an NBA franchise ready to move into the arena, there has been no evidence to suggest that an existing team is coming.

Milam also has said the project was not contingent on attracting a team.

Proponents of the UNLV Now proposal to build a stadium on the UNLV campus have maintained that the project was geared to the campus and collegiate sports and not professional teams. Although early versions of the project suggested a flexible stadium design that could accommodate football and basketball indoors, the project has evolved into primarily an outdoor football stadium.

The Las Vegas Arena Foundation plan, which would use land east of the Imperial Palace, would include a 20,000-plus-seat arena designed to keep events like the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas and house special events too big for existing venues.

Jerry Jones, owner of the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys and a new state-of-the-art stadium in Arlington, Texas, has indicated he would try to lure the National Finals Rodeo — a high-profile 10-day rodeo championship event that has become a staple on Las Vegas’ December calendar — when the event’s contract is up for renewal.

While most believe the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, which operates the National Finals Rodeo, wouldn’t move to Dallas, some have said that the organization could look to a larger, more modern venue to increase profits. The event currently is staged at the 29-year-old Thomas & Mack Center.

“We want it to be a community arena for all casinos and hotels to enjoy and bring their customers and events,” Batjer said.

She said the foundation has continued to seek private financing, but it has also battled to get a proposal to form a tax district in the resort corridor to impose a 0.9 percent sales and use tax to finance arena construction on the ballot. The matter will be on the November ballot, and Batjer said the foundation would begin promoting its passage in the months ahead.