AEG could wield clout in Vegas’ ability to land sports teams
The powerful sports and entertainment company working with MGM Resorts International on building a $375 million arena on the Strip owns franchises in Major League Soccer and the National Hockey League and could influence Las Vegas’ ability to land expansion teams in MLS and the NHL.
Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group, MGM Resorts’ 50/50 partner on the 20,000-seat arena being built behind New York-New York near the front of Monte Carlo on the Strip, owns the MLS Los Angeles Galaxy and the NHL Los Angeles Kings.
AEG, which owns the Staples Center arena in downtown Los Angeles and runs sports venues around the world, knows the Las Vegas market well and is well-aware of the efforts to bring big-league soccer and hockey to city. AEG operates the Colosseum at Caesars Palace and The Joint at Hard Rock in Las Vegas.
As MLS and NHL team owners, AEG has a representative on the Board of Governors of both leagues and is, therefore, in position to be part of the discussion and decisions on whether Las Vegas is voted in as a host city for major league soccer and hockey.
AEG CEO Dan Beckerman sits on the MLS and NHL boards on behalf of the Galaxy and Kings, respectively.
In a Review-Journal interview last week, Beckerman said he is bullish on prospective MLS and NHL teams in the Las Vegas market.
“Las Vegas is a tremendous market. The community there wants and deserves professional sports. Both MLS and NHL would be successful,” Beckerman said. He noted his comments are as an AEG representative on the MLS and NHL boards and do not represent the leagues’ official sentiments.
COMPLEMENTARY SEASONS
Beckerman said the MLS and NHL seasons complement each other because the soccer league is played through the summer to early December and would be available when the NHL has its offseason during the summer.
Las Vegas soccer backers are lobbying MLS for a team and the city for a $20 million to $25 million subsidy for a $200 million downtown arena. They visited MLS New York headquarters Thursday to make their pitch.
Las Vegas is competing against Sacramento, Calif., and Minneapolis for the last expansion franchise as MLS grows from 19 to 24 teams.
Justin Findlay, whose family owns car dealerships in the Las Vegas area and other Western states, and Dean Howes, Findlay’s stadium adviser who helped build an MLS stadium in Salt Lake City, argue Las Vegas is primed to play host to an MLS team. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and City Manager Betsy Fretwell joined Findlay and Howes in New York.
Findlay is partnering with The Cordish Cos., a Baltimore development company, on the soccer stadium plan for Symphony Park. Cordish executives Blake Cordish and Zed Smith, with Findlay’s father, Cliff, also were part of the Las Vegas contingent making the pitch to MLS.
Opponents of the city subsidizing the soccer stadium say Findlay-Cordish should pay for the venue with their own money and not with any public dollars.
AEG has deep ties to MLS. AEG’s founder, Philip Anschutz, who lives in Colorado, also co-founded the MLS and helped keep the league alive when it was financially imperiled about 15 years ago.
Since 1996, Anschutz has held ownership stakes in the Chicago Fire, San Jose Earthquakes, New York/New Jersey MetroStars and D.C. United. The MLS championship team is awarded the Philip F. Anschutz Trophy.
Findlay met with AEG’s Beckerman during a recent Galaxy soccer game in Carson, Calif., to share his hope that MLS awards a team to Las Vegas.
“AEG is very influential with MLS. Mr. Anschutz founded MLS,” Findlay said. “They like the idea of a soccer team here.”
MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche declined to comment about AEG’s or Anschutz’s potential influence on the Las Vegas decision except to say in an email: “AEG has representatives on the MLS Board of Governors, and the Board votes on expansion teams. Thus, AEG — similar to all of our Board members — has a role in the decision of what city receives an MLS expansion team.”
LOCAL FAMILY HAS INTEREST
Meanwhile, the Maloof family, which owns 2 percent of the Palms in Las Vegas and is the former owner of the NBA Sacramento Kings from 1998-2013, is pursuing an NHL expansion team at the arena that AEG is helping build.
The Maloofs also owned the NBA Houston Rockets 1979-82 and have connections to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman because Bettman worked for the NBA starting in 1981.
The Maloofs declined comment.
Beckerman also sits as the Kings’ representative on the NHL Board of Governors, so he’s in the position to be involved in the conversation and decision about the league expanding to Las Vegas.
The site of the arena that AEG and MGM is building recently was visited by NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly while he was in Las Vegas for a sports lawyers conference.
Beckerman said he has talked with multiple ownership groups about bringing the NHL and the NBA to the arena. He declined to name them.
Daly did not respond to an email request for this story.
Contact reporter Alan Snel at asnel@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5273. Find him on Twitter: @BicycleManSnel