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Wynn Urges City Officials to Build Arena, Arts Center

Armed with results of a poll showing overwhelming support for such a project, Wynn urged 75 of the city's private-sector and political leaders attending a presentation at his Bellagio hotel-casino to pool their minds and resources to make a facility possible.

Both he and his wife, Elaine, stressed they were not interested in footing the bill or building a sports arena on Mirage Resorts Inc. property, but wanted to kick-start a public dialogue on ways to make it happen.

"Neither I nor my family nor Mirage Resorts is on fire to go buy a team and to have an arena in town to house it," Wynn said. "What we are interested in doing, individually and as a company, is participating in any good idea that strengthens and broadens Las Vegas' appeal as a world-class destination resort."

Frank Luntz, a national pollster and consultant, conducted a phone survey of 580 area residents earlier this month to determine the level of support for a sports or performing arts arena.

"There is a serious fundamental demand for sports," said Luntz, who runs The Luntz Research Companies in Arlington, Va. "Even if this were put up for a vote, for a referendum or an initiative, however you do it here, it would pass."

Luntz's poll found that 93 percent of the region backs building a sports arena and 87 percent supports building a performing arts center, provided that tax dollars are not used.

Even if local tax dollars are to be used, Luntz found 66 percent in favor of a sports arena and 61 percent in favor of a performing arts center.

Although the interest in both facilities is strong, Luntz said the sports arena has a broader-based interest, while the performing arts center is favored more by women and by those with higher income levels.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Clark County Commission Chairman Bruce Woodbury, Assembly Majority Leader Richard Perkins and Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt all said they were pleased to hear about the level of local support for such projects.

Goodman and Woodbury will chair an ad hoc committee of public officials and private-sector leaders to determine the best plan to build either the sports arena or the performing arts center, and possibly both.

"This is a community that gets things done," Woodbury said. "I think the community will step up."

"Let's get busy and get this done," Hunt added.

Everyone agreed that cost is going to be the most difficult hurdle to overcome. Arenas, and the significant land acreage they require, do not come cheap.

New arenas being built in Denver and Los Angeles, for example, cost more than $150 million.

However, the city of Las Vegas has the region's largest plot of vacant land that is adjacent to freeway access and hotels. City officials have been working with Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. -- the owner of 61.5 acres of the site -- to build some type of public facility.

It is possible Lehman would be interested in partnering with investors to build an arena, Goodman said.

Wynn said he went on a fact-finding mission to NBA Commissioner David Stern's office to determine what steps Las Vegas would need to take to get an NBA franchise.

Although Wynn said he prefers to invest in paintings, he did know what it would take to get a franchise and operate a team.

With those multimillion dollar figures in mind, he suggested that any arena should be set up to include both basketball and hockey. Those professional sports have about 40 home games apiece, making it easier for investors to recoup money through gate receipts.

untz determined that while both basketball and hockey have fan support here, more people signified they would be interested in attending basketball games.

An even higher number -- 53 percent -- would be interested in watching Olympic trials at a local arena, Luntz said.

Almost half of those surveyed favored building a sports arena in the suburbs, while 36 percent favored downtown. Only 9 percent said such an arena should be on the Strip.

"Every time we put up noncasino things, the public that we have coming here hits them like a freight train, like feeding piranhas," Wynn said.

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