Stern To Goodman: Address Gambling Before Vegas Gets Team

Goodman (l) And Stern (r) Meet To Discuss Idea Of Team In Las Vegas

NBA Commissioner David Stern during a meeting yesterday with Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman to discuss putting a team in the city said that Goodman needs to “submit a plan that addresses the issue of local sports books accepting wagers on NBA games,” according to Steve Carp of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. Stern: “I told him, ‘Oscar, this gambling stuff is the American way. Forty-eight states have lotteries. There’s video poker, slot machines. I just have this one little issue. ... I have a problem with betting on basketball. It’s time for you to make a proposal to me.’” Goodman: “It’s the best possible news short of us having a team. I feel very optimistic that the proposal we make to the owners will be met with a favorable response.” Stern said he hoped to have Goodman’s plan by March 23, a month before the scheduled NBA BOG meeting. He also said that it “would be premature to speculate on any franchise relocations or expansion.” But he downplayed expansion, saying, “We have enough teams.” While Goodman said that any arena plans would “have to wait until he meets with the league’s owners in April,” Stern said that the “lack of an arena –- as well as concerns over other demographics, including the city’s size –- was an issue that needed to be addressed sooner rather than later.” Goodman claims to have five groups interested in building an arena.

NOT WORRIED ABOUT A FIX: Stern said that he was “not concerned that gambling would lead to games being fixed” should Las Vegas land an NBA team. Stern: “I’m not afraid of the fixing of games. I think betting changes the dynamics.” Noting fans “leave arenas happy if the home team wins,” Stern said, “They’re not worried about the team covering [the point spread].” Carp notes Goodman’s plan is rumored to include “persuad[ing] the books not to accept wagers on a Las Vegas NBA team but not eliminate accepting bets on the league altogether.” Goodman said that his proposal “will not call for a complete ban on NBA betting in Nevada” (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 2/15).

BRIGHT LIGHTS, BIG CITY: Stern said of All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas, “Las Vegas is the entertainment capital, and we sort of styled the All-Star Weekend as making the city the basketball capital.” Goodman added, “It’s the perfect storm between the NBA and Las Vegas. We’re the expert, so to speak, on giving the perfect party.” Stern said of holding the festivities in a city without an NBA team, “It does open up the possibility of other non-league cities and it does open the possibility that it isn’t our last visit to Las Vegas.” Stern, on the possibility of an All-Star Game featuring U.S. NBAers against int’l NBAers: “As long as the rest of the world is only 20% of our league, I don’t think it is fair to our American players” (USA TODAY, 2/15).