It looks like someone's headed to Vegas

There was a lot of talk over the NBA All-Star weekend about whether or not an NBA team would move there. After the Donaghy scandal played out, I think we all naturally thought there was no way this could happen anymore.

Guess we were wrong.

From Yahoo Sports:

Casino giant Harrah's Entertainment announced Wednesday it is partnering with AEG, the company that brought David Beckham to the Los Angeles Galaxy to build a 20,000-seat arena capable of housing an NBA or NHL team. The arena, behind the Bally's and Paris hotel-casinos on the Las Vegas Strip, is projected to open in 2010.

"This arena is being developed with the capability of hosting an NHL or NBA franchise from day one," said Timothy Leiweke, the president and chief executive of AEG, which owns the Galaxy and the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

"We continue to have productive conversations with potential owners and are optimistic that either basketball or hockey, or both, will be played in Las Vegas when the venue opens," he said in a statement.

The arena to be built on 10 acres of land that Harrah's owns is to be privately financed. Construction is set to begin on the project in the summer of 2008.

I must admit I'm a little surprised by this. Hockey is essentially dead in the US and Las Vegas seems like an even weirder place for hockey than Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, the NBA All-Star game was a nightmare and with Donaghy set to name 20 refs who he said he'd seen gambling - which is against NBA regulations - this proposed arena seems like a money pit. Would Stern really let a team go to Vegas after the Donaghy fiasco?

Sure, why not. Despite what Stern or anyone else might say, money is always the bottom line. I would totally root for the Las Vegas Point Shavers.

-WCK