June 11, 2010

Vegas arena plans tumble after comptroller slams them

The Clark County commission hasn't even met yet to discuss building a publicly subsidized arena, and already one of the prospective arena builders has dropped out: The Las Vegas Arena Foundation says it's pulling out of the bidding, citing the "harsh reality" that "there is no appetite right now among the commissioners, we understand, to support any public funding for an arena."

This leaves two prospective developers, International Development Management and Olympia Development (I'm not actually sure what happened to Cordish Cos., which was rumored to be a fourth candidate last month — and the Las Vegas Sun says that Olympia may soon back out as well.

What's apparently causing all the sudden reticence is a report by county comptroller Ed Finger that notes that arena revenues wouldn't cover the public costs, and calls the need for a new arena "questionable," noting that "numerous studies have come to the conclusion that the economics of an arena with sports franchises are worse than without" and that "current arena owners report that existing arenas have excess capacity." It's still conceivable that a Vegas arena plan will rise from the dead, but don't count on it happening anytime soon.