It is Official Vegas 2007 All Star Host

[Homeboy478]

Press Conference: Las Vegas to Host 2007 All-Star Game

Friday, August 5th, 2005

DAVID STERN
NBA COMMISSIONER

LORRAINE T. HUNT
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR, NEVADA

OSCAR GOODMAN
MAYOR, LAS VEGAS

RORY REID
COMMISSIONER, CLARK COUNTY

ROSSI RALENKOTTER
PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE LVCVA

Commissioner Stern: I have a very brief announcement to make, but no matter how long I was going to speak, Mayor Goodman is going to be speaking so it would seem short anyway. But I am here to announce the 2007 NBA All-Star game will be played in the city of Las Vegas.

For the week of the All-Star celebration, we are going to see a merger between the basketball capital of the world and the entertainment capital of the world, and it’s going to be in the same place, Las Vegas, Nevada. And the NBA is very happy to be here to announce that.

We are indebted to all of the people and all of the organizations that have been helpful here, and I’d like to thank the state, I’d like to thank the city, I’d like to thank the county, I’d particularly like to thank the Las Vegas Convention and Visiting Authority, I further want to thank the University of Nevada Las Vegas, in whose building the game will be played. I always like to thank the police, because they are going to be helping us with traffic and other things. And I want to thank George Maloof, and the Maloof family. If Oscar is going to wind up being the father of All-Star in Las Vegas, the Maloofs were the Midwest, and I want to thank them for that.

We’re looking forward to what we’re positive will be the one of the best NBA celebrations of all-time. Thank you very much for having us.

Lorraine T. Hunt: Thank you so much. Good morning everyone. Commissioner Stern, Commissioner Reed, George Maloof and family, Mayor Goodman and staff, congratulations to all of you for making this happen. Good work.

It’s really a proud day for Clark County and the Las Vegas community. Once again, the eyes of the world will be focused on my hometown and a place many now call home, Las Vegas.

I was reminiscing as I drove her today, and I remembered as a young Las Vegas school girl, riding my bicycle through sand dunes at this very location. We’ve come a long way, from a dusty western town, to the NBA All-Star Game, wow.

No one knows how to celebrate better than Las Vegas. You all know that. The NBA and sports fans around the world will certainly see that. 2007 NBA All-Star Game is another jewel in the crown we all wear. And the most fun-filled and exciting destination in the world is here.

By the way, I’d like to say that over the years our Nevada University has sent a few players to the NBA. It’s nice to see the NBA return the favor. Thank you very much.

Once again, on behalf of the citizens of the state of Nevada, congratulations to everyone who helped make this happen. Thank you so very much.

Oscar Goodman: Commissioner, welcome. Folks, I can’t contain myself. I am the happiest mayor in the Universe today. Forget about this world stuff. I am so delighted that… I had a visit in my office from the Maloof brothers, and they said to me you know, we can get the NBA All-Star Game here. And I said, no, not Commissioner Stern. He loves Las Vegas, he thinks Las Vegas is the coolest, but there’s no way in the world that he’d ever bring the All-Star Game here. And they said, yes he will. And I called the commissioner, and the commissioner said that if we went out and we got the support from the gaming industry, which we did, that he would definitely consider it. The commissioner and myself go back about six years when I went back there with my Mayor Pro-tem Gary Reese, and we tried to entice him to have a presence here in Las Vegas, and the relationship has continued over this period of time, always very cordial, and he has always told us that he loves Las Vegas, that Las Vegas is a great city. And I’m very, very happy that we’re able to have this terrific game here. It’s going to take us to a completely different level as far as the world is concerned. The entertainment capital of the world just got a little bit better. A little bit bigger. A little bit glitzier. A little bit more glamorous. And it’s a result of the 2007 NBA All-Star Game coming here.

There are a lot of people who have to be thanked along the way. We couldn’t have done it without them. Of course, the Maloofs – in particular George. George got on the phone to talk to the gaming industry, and they behind him, and we were able to pave the way in order to get the All-Star Game.

I have to say as an aside, to the commissioner, that this is a bittersweet moment for me. I’m so delighted that we’re having the NBA All-Star Game here, but this is the first year I won’t be able to bet on it. And it’s the only game, commissioner, that I win every year. Take the over, take the over.

I want to thank my Mayor Pro-tem Katherine Brown, Katherine Weekly, because they have been unwavering in their support of everything this city is trying to accomplish, as far as making us into a major league first-class city, and one of the things that happens along the way to achieve that is to have an event like this appear in Las Vegas. And most importantly I want to thank the good commissioner. And I want to thank the owners for their wisdom in making the judgment that they did to consider Las Vegas as the place for the 2007 All-Star Game. And I want to applaud myself for being a cool mayor. Thank you.

Rory Reid: Good morning. This is a very dynamic community, and nine people move here every hour, and have moved here every hour for over a decade. We’ve been the fastest growing community in the country for 16 years in a row. And because we are so dynamic, everything seems new. Seems like every year we have new resorts, new roads, and new infrastructure on a continual basis. And on a consistent basis we seem to do things that we’ve never done before. We always do things that nobody has ever done before. Despite that, we do have a history. We have a rich history, particularly when it comes to sporting events. The first professional fight I ever saw was right here in Las Vegas Convention Center. I was very young. The winner of that fight was a man named Muhammad Ali. He fought here six other times. Jack Johnson fought here in 1912. Sonny Liston fought here several times. Larry Holmes fought here 18 times. Mike Tyson has fought here 17 times. Leonard, Hagler, Hearns, Holyfield, De La Hoya, Chavez all fought the major fights of their career here. Jimmy Connors played tennis here, Bjorn Borg played tennis here. Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles played tennis here. Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf play tennis here every week. NHL legends have laced up there skates here. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer teed it up here. This is the home of a major NASCAR event and I haven’t even talked about basketball. Why have we been able to attract all these sporting events? We know what we’re doing. We know how to market a product. This little patch of desert is a result of a marketing campaign that began decades ago and continues today. We also know how to produce an event. We noticed the NBA has similar qualities, and knows what it’s doing. And the result of combining our mutual talent, I’m sure will be remarkable.

Las Vegas will help sell the All-Star Game. And the All-Star Game will help us to continue to sell Las Vegas. The NBA and Las Vegas are made for each other. I want to thank everyone who has already been mentioned here, starting with Commissioner Stern and his entire organization, all the local people that deserve the credit for bringing the event here. And Clark County is glad to be a partner with the Convention Authority and the NBA in this event, and I’m sure this is just the beginning of a very long and mutually beneficial relationship.

Rossi Ralenkotter: Thank you. What an exciting day for Las Vegas, this is really unbelievable. A lot of thank you's need to go out, but first of all, on behalf of the entire Las Vegas resort industry, thank the NBA for selecting us for the 2007 NBA All-Star Game. We are a city of numbers, and 7s and 11s are important to us, so the fact that the ’07 game will be in Las Vegas is something that we’ll be doing a lot of marketing with. When you take the brand of the NBA and the brand of Las Vegas you have a tremendous winning combination, and you’re going to see that over the next 18 months.

As with a winning basketball team it takes a team effort to accomplish something, and we certainly had a team effort in putting together this bid and making sure that the NBA had all the requirements they needed. So I want to just thank a few people here. First of all, I want to thank the entire Las Vegas resort community. They have been very supportive of our effort. Also the UNLV staff, and the suite holders and advertisers as well. And especially my staff who have worked very hard.

So commissioner, we’re ready to go, in 18 month 13 days and six hours, it will be tip-off for the NBA All-Star Game, live from Las Vegas. Thank you.

Q & A:

Q: Are you concerned about combining the image of gambling with the image of the NBA?
Stern: The NBA historically has had no problems with the subject of gambling. We’ve work with state lotteries, we’ve worked with resorts that also have gambling. Our only issue has been with respect to basketball betting, particularly on our games and we don’t have an issue with All-Star. Our position is not about a moral crusade against gambling. It’s been persistently and consistently misreported in the media. It’s just about betting on basketball game, and we have not said any other than, historically, we have not had teams in cities that had basketball betting. It was a condition on us going into British Columbia and Ontario. The basketball lottery was taken off the books.

I am looking forward to the basketball capital of the world and the entertainment capital of the world being the same for a week in February of 2007. If I were concerned, I wouldn’t be doing it.

Q: How does the league plan to capitalize on the atmosphere?
Stern: Las Vegas does everyday what we do for All-Star Weekend, when you look at the entertainment spectacles, whether you saw Brittany Spears in that tape, or Mariah Carey or Elton John, you name it, there’s a long list of stars that have performed at All-Star Weekend, and they do that everyday here in Las Vegas. I think we’re going to basically give our guests the Las Vegas experience, which is what I think we’ll be showcasing in terms of the entertainment, the restaurants, all of the opportunity to be entertained. Everyone, media, players, owners, and particularly our guests, sponsors, licensees, will just be enjoying the hospitality of the city that’s known for its hospitality.

Q: Can you talk about what would it take for Las Vegas to secure an NBA franchise?
Stern: I’d rather not do that. I’m very appreciative that the gaming board took the All-Star events off the board. We think that’s an act of faith that we try very hard to reciprocate, and that’s where I’d like to leave it. I don’t know that the conditions are appropriately in place to have that discussion, and I would like, in the warmth of the moment, not to disrupt the event.

Q: Could Las Vegas become a city that’s in the All-Star Game rotation?
Stern: I think that’s a possibility. We’re very open to considering now, as we’ve done here, non-NBA cities, particularly, destination cities. We think that expands the pool of places we can consider, and I’m concerned that the way Las Vegas is going to treat our guests so well, our owners are not going to want to go anywhere else. The important step is to open this up to non-NBA cities. Many such cities, we’ve now heard from and we expect that will open up a larger pool.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Good, good... The first step of setting a Franchise near The Strip... The Entertainment capital of teh world should have a pro sports team...

[Jona]

Yeah, MLB or something...

[cyanide]

If a franchise does emerge in Las Vegas, half the team's gonna end up at Gamblers Anonymous, and it won't be so anonymous anymore.

[AlwaysWhat,NeverWhy]

Yeah, MLB or something...

I'd rather have a football team there, with an open stadium next to the desert...

If a franchise does emerge in Las Vegas, half the team's gonna end up at Gamblers Anonymous, and it won't be so anonymous anymore.

Hehe, nah, I don't think so... Half the proi athletes visit Vegas once or twice a year already anyway...