By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Well, now the city of Las Vegas can say there’s a proposal to build an NBA arena in its city as opposed to all the NBA arena proposals planned in Clark County.
The Las Vegas Sports Rush has struck Southern Nevada like a huge tidal wave, but all the big venues like T-Mobile Arena, Allegiant Stadium and the A’s ballpark under construction have all been built in the Strip corridor in Clark County — not the city of Las Vegas.
But New York real estate developer Fisher Brothers says it wants to build an NBA arena at the AREA15 entertainment area on the west side of Interstate 15 off West Desert Inn Road south of Palace Station hotel-casino.
Fisher Brothers wants to partner with the ownership group that wins the right to launch a new NBA expansion team in Las Vegas for possibly 2029. The expansion fee would be in the $12 billion range.
The contenders are multi-billionaire married couple of Nancy Walton Laurie and Bill Laurie with new group partner Egon Durban, a tech investor and Silver Lake co-CEO; VGK owner Bill Foley/USA Basketball leader Jerry Colangelo, who used to own the Phoenix Suns; and the duo of former Bucks owner Mark Lasry and Toronto-born billionaire and real estate giant Steve Apostolopoulos. The Lauries-Durban group has the most money and is considered the frontrunner if the biggest pot of money is the top criteria in selecting the NBA expansion group.
Here’s a look at the Fisher Brothers:
The company says there’s infrastructure to serve the site:
The location is officially in the city — not the county — and Mayor Shelley Berkley and Councilwoman Olivia Diaz wrote letters support the Fisher Brothers arena proposal.
One issue is that T-Mobile Arena (2016), Allegiant Stadium (2020) and A’s baseball stadium (2028) are all located within walking distance of many hotel-casinos and their visitors on the Strip. The AREA15 arena proposal is not too walkable from the Strip.
There are other arena proposals, too, like the Las Vegas Diamond Arena, which is pitched for the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Four Seasons Drive across from the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.
Foley said he plans to investing $300 million in upgrading T-Mobile Arena for an NBA team in the event his group is picked by the NBA to start a new team.
PSA
*