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Official: Dispute in Bid for Event Is Being Resolved

The city's bid to attract the National Basketball Association All-Star Game in 2007 remains on track, one of the leaders of the effort said Tuesday.

Rossi Ralenkotter, president and chief executive of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said that a potential snag in the process is being negotiated and that the city's bid to the NBA is expected to be submitted within days.

A dispute between lessors of luxury boxes at the Thomas & Mack Center and organizers of the bid is being resolved, Ralenkotter said.

Several of the 30 luxury box holders were reluctant to give up their special seats to the NBA -- one of the requirements from the league to bring the game to Las Vegas.

Ralenkotter said box holders are being offered tickets in the lower section of the Thomas & Mack Center to watch the game as well as tickets to other events associated with the game, which features the NBA's best players.

The NBA is expected to announce the site of the 2007 game later this month. If Las Vegas succeeds in its bid, it would be the first time the game would be played in a city that doesn't have an NBA franchise.

Ralenkotter has said that the game could generate between $75 million and $100 million in nongaming revenue and that the city would benefit from the worldwide exposure of the telecast of the game.

Copyright © Las Vegas Sun. Inc. Republished with permission.

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