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Plans for a $10 billion NBA-ready arena-hotel project slated for a plot of land just south of the Las Vegas Strip have stalled. Oak View Group’s plan to construct a 20,000-seat arena with a connected resort on Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road has hit a roadblock, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Review-Journal.
“On July 5, 2023, at approximately 11 p.m., LVMPD officers responded to a property in the 3700 block of Las Vegas Boulevard regarding a battery investigation,” a spokesperson from the police department told Variety. “The incident has been documented on a police report and no arrest or citations have been issued. No further details will be provided at this time.”
Las Vegas mayor optimistic about landing NBA franchise
In the past, there has been a tumultuous relationship with the City of Las Vegas and the NBA. Former Mayor Oscar Goodman said "no" to the NBA following a shooting on the Las Vegas Strip after the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. His wife, the current mayor, has a different idea. "I really do believe NBA will be among the next," Mayor Carolyn Goodman previously told 13 Action News. "We certainly have the WNBA, that was why that was there, a sort of 'let's see how they do,' and they've done remarkably well."
The NBA may not be ready to expand just yet, but Las Vegas is going to be prepared. A new group secured 25 acres of land near the Las Vegas Strip and announced plans on Wednesday for a new sports and entertainment district complete with an “NBA-ready” 20,000-seat arena. “The arena will be world class,” Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke said on CNBC. “We’re prepared to spend about a billion dollars on building the new arena. It will be for music, it’ll be for sports, it’ll be for cultural activities. Should the NBA decide to come — and by the way there’s no certainty or no guarantees that the NBA is ever coming to Vegas, but should they come — we will certainly be NBA-ready and make sure that we hit all of their standards.”
LeGarie pitched former NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Rod Thorn on doing just that in the late 1990s, but the idea was shot down by the league. The league viewed the Las Vegas Strip as nothing but trouble with its gambling-based economy and tempting nightlife. “It just seemed to suggest more problems than solutions,” LeGarie said. “Initially, it was a hard no.” LeGarie didn’t give up, however. He and his business partner Albert Hall had been attending various NBA summer leagues for years and, while they believed they were good places to do business, they thought they could be improved. That led to the idea to create their own, and they found themselves continuing to come back to Vegas as the destination for it.
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Former NBA player Jackie Robinson building 23,000-seat arena in Las Vegas
First, Resorts World. Now, what's next for the north end of the Las Vegas Strip? For years, the "All Net" project has promised a new hotel and arena development, only to fall short. After several false starts, developers now say they are ready to get to work on a $3 billion resort. 8 News Now spoke with the man behind the project — former UNLV basketball star Jackie Robinson.
A former NBA player planning to build a sports arena and hotel complex on the Las Vegas Strip has a deadline this month to fulfill county requirements before his application expires. Nancy Amundsen, Clark County’s director of comprehensive planning, told the County Commission on Wednesday that Jackie Robinson’s project application “will be considered expired” if he doesn’t meet an April 21 deadline, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Shaquille O’Neal, after opening a chicken sandwich shop near the Strip, has bought a house in Las Vegas, records indicate. The 7-foot-1-inch basketball Hall of Famer, known for his powerful dunks, lousy free throws and even worse movies, purchased a home in the Southern Highlands community, at the southern tip of the valley, early this year before the coronavirus pandemic upended daily life across the U.S., property records indicate. The $765,000 sale closed Feb. 19.
About 100 people, some with “Black Lives Matter” signs stuck to their backs, rode bikes down the Strip on Saturday morning in the latest anti-racism protest held in the Las Vegas Valley since late May. C.J. Watson, a former NBA player, said he helped organize the bike-ride demonstration through his Quiet Storm foundation that works with children.
According to a proposal deck sent to the N.B.A. and the W.N.B.A., which The New York Times reviewed, MGM envisions a fully quarantined campus, essentially one full block of the Las Vegas Strip, where players would live and play out whatever schedule the leagues want. The athletes would be joined by their families, league and broadcast media employees, as well as the staff and vendors needed to serve them, with access to lounges, spas, restaurants and all the other perks the resorts offer (yes, even gambling).
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The centerpiece of the proposal to the N.B.A. is the Mandalay Bay resort, which has 4,700 rooms at three connected hotels at the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip: the Mandalay Bay, the Four Seasons and the Delano. They are also connected by an enclosed walkway to the Luxor hotel, which is where MGM service staff such as housekeepers and caterers would live. As many as 24 basketball courts could be built at the convention center at Mandalay Bay, which hosts the Aces of the W.N.B.A. Five would be used to telecast games, while the others would be for practice. MGM also proposed getting access to the Thomas & Mack Center, an arena on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, that hosts the N.B.A.’s annual summer league.
Not even the neon lights adorning the fabled 4.2 miles of the Las Vegas Strip outshine the former Duke standout’s physical gifts and basketball brilliance. Combined with intense popularity, Williamson made for a Big Easy call as the No. 1 overall selection by the Pelicans in last month’s NBA Draft. This year, crowding extends beyond the stands. According to the NBA league office, more than 1,000 credentials were issued for media members compared to 700 in 2018.
Is Las Vegas flirting with adding another major league sports team as a long-term resident? One casino executive on the Strip said he wants it to happen. In an interview set to air on radio station KNPR, MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren said he is actively pursuing bringing an NBA team to Southern Nevada via relocation. Murren, in the same interview, did not comment on which team he is pursuing.
Prosecutors have dropped a misdemeanor case stemming from a man's complaint that Los Angeles Clippers star Blake Griffin slapped him and grabbed his cellphone at a Las Vegas Strip nightclub last October. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said Tuesday that new information obtained since a battery charge was filed in November made it clear that the allegations couldn't be proved. The 26-year-old Griffin didn't appear in court. Prosecutor Giancarlo Pesci and defense attorney Richard Schonfeld noted for Justice of the Peace Pro Tem Holly Stoberski that Griffin is an active community service volunteer. A telephone call to the alleged victim, Daniel Schuman of West Hollywood, California, rang unanswered. Schuman told police that Griffin grabbed his cellphone after he photographed Griffin and Clippers teammates Oct. 19 at Tao nightclub.
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