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Imagine walking out of a casino and into a ballpark. Imagine Celine Dion throwing out the first pitch one night and Wayne Newton the next. Imagine wedding ceremonies during the seventh-inning stretch.
I don't know if major league baseball would succeed in Las Vegas. I do know the city merits serious consideration even if the Expos move to Washington D.C., their most logical destination.
Some major pro sports league eventually will put a team in Las Vegas. It might as well be MLB.
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For all his faults, commissioner Bud Selig has a chance to create an impressive
legacy. He deserves credit for introducing revenue sharing, expanding the postseason
and spicing up the All-Star Game. Relocating struggling franchises -- starting
with the MLB-owned, split-custody Expos -- would be his crowning achievement.
Las Vegas isn't more worthy than the District of Columbia, but the Expos aren't the only club in need of a new home. The Marlins and the Twins are awaiting word on new parks. The Devil Rays should be in Tampa, not St. Petersburg. And if the Orioles accept the relocation of the Expos to D.C., then the Giants can swallow the move of the A's to San Jose.
A third team in the New York area also would benefit MLB, but the 27 other owners lack the guts to force the issue with the Yankees' George Steinbrenner and the Mets' Fred Wilpon. Virgin territory is much more appealing, which is why places such as Norfolk, Va., and Monterrey, Mexico, are drawing interest from MLB.
Norfolk, home of the nation's largest naval base, is mildly intriguing, especially if the NBA Charlotte Bobcats' Robert Johnson, the first African American majority owner in big-time pro sports, accepts a financial stake in the franchise. Norfolk organizers are talking with high-ranking admirals about Navy tie-ins, and they envision a television package similar to the Yankees' YES network -- one that could take in 10 million households in Virginia and North Carolina.
A Vegas franchise makes more sense.
Any outrage over the national pastime setting up shop in Sin City would be ludicrous. A number of teams already play near casinos and accept casino advertising. This isn't 1983, when commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle from baseball for accepting jobs as greeters in Atlantic City casinos.
As for the Pete Rose issue, don't even ask. Rose broke a cardinal rule by betting on baseball. It would not be hypocritical for MLB to continue its ban on Rose while playing in Vegas. Two different things.
One gambling hurdle exists, however: Only the Nevada casinos allow wagering on sporting events. Betting on baseball accounted for 19.9 percent of the state's sports book handle from July 1, 2002, to June 30, 2003, according to the Nevada Gaming Control Board. The surprisingly heavy volume is attributed to the sheer number of games.
Before moving a team into Las Vegas, MLB would insist that the sports books drop baseball. The casinos would resist, fearing the same demand from other leagues that would follow MLB to Vegas. But ultimately, they would recognize that the long-term benefits of an MLB franchise would outweigh the benefits of baseball wagering.
The larger question is whether Las Vegas truly is major league.
As of April 1, 2000, the Las Vegas metropolitan area ranked 32nd in the United States with a population of only 1.56 million, according to the U.S. Census, only about 130,000 behind Milwaukee, the smallest major league market.
Portland, the largest metro area without major league baseball, ranked 22nd, but it has little government support for a franchise. Norfolk was 31st.
Teams in small population centers generate little revenue from local TV and radio contracts, but that might be only a temporary condition for Vegas. Its population grew by 83.3 percent from 1990 to 2000, by far the greatest increase of any U.S. metropolitan area. More than 60,000 new residents arrive each year.
The dynamics all but scream, "UNIQUE SITUATION." Casinos would gobble up luxury suites and premium seats. Travel agencies would include tickets in their packages. The Vegas Blackjacks -- or whatever they might be called -- would play in a $400 million, retractable-roof ballpark off the Strip, becoming part of the tourist scene.
Of course, most people go to Vegas for the casinos and little else. The city expects to attract a record 36 million visitors this year, but the two Florida teams sure don't lure many tourists, and a Vegas club might be reduced to the level of a wax museum if it failed to succeed. Another problem: A new park likely would not be ready before 2007, and the city's Class AAA facility seats only 9,500.
Enough questions surround Vegas to make D.C. a safer choice for the Expos, but D.C., too, has issues. The district is offering MLB full public financing for a new park only at the least desirable of its four proposed sites -- near RFK Stadium, rather than downtown. Moving the Expos to northern Virginia would create greater distance from the Orioles, but the site concerns there are even more vexing. And, lest anyone forget, any indemnity payment to the Orioles would reduce MLB's profit on the sale price.
The solution is
to move the Expos to the best possible site in D.C., even if -- perish the thought
-- a contribution from the new owner is required. The decision would buy time
for MLB to further examine Vegas. An idea that was unimaginable 20 years ago
is starting to look inevitable. Viva Las Vegas.
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