Vegas All-Star Weekend Roll Call

[*TT*]

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So when Oscar and the NBA come asking the casinos to please remove the NBA games from the lines

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I never thought of that. NBA wont be coming to Vegas for sure unless Casino Control changes the rules. And if they do there will be hell to pay.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[slamdunkpro]

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So when Oscar and the NBA come asking the casinos to please remove the NBA games from the lines

[/ QUOTE ]

I never thought of that. NBA wont be coming to Vegas for sure unless Casino Control changes the rules. And if they do there will be hell to pay.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

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There was a lot of discussion at the Mirage about this and the general thought was if they yield to the NBA and pull the Vegas team games off the boards it just gives the sports betting opponents something to point at and say "see, there must be a problem if they pull the home town games"

[52s]

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You have so many transplants here, they root for the team from back home.

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But having a local team would allow them to see the "team from back home" play at least once a year, and let them go out, instead of having to go to the sportsbook, or watch on DirecTV, or travel 4+ hours (be it LA or Phoenix) to see the team in person. I think a team would give the non-gambling locals (they exist, somehow) something to rally around.

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The Runnin' Rebels don't get a ton of support.

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Can't really use them, as college runs hot and cold and Las Vegas isn't in the Southeast US or Texas. The majority of New Jersey didn't give a flying f about Rutgers until this past fall. The Rebels were hyooge in the Tark days. The local minor-league teams complain about not getting alot of support, but I feel it's because they are... minor-league teams. In Greenville, SC or Oneonta, NY or Portland, ME, minor-league teams may rule, but in a world-class city such as Vegas, a major-league team is the only kind that'll get major backing.

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It's Paris or London or Rome in its own way.

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Paris, London, and Rome all house some of their countries' most respective futbol teams. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[52s]

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I'm sure the casinos will have a particularly hard time figure out what's in it for them. A Vegas sports team isn't going to generate much more tourist traffic and isn't going to fill the casinos.

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Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of freshly built owner's boxes, floor seats, club seats, tours, whatever you can think of, for the casinos to offer their whales. It may seem stupid but we're talking about a crowd that asks for specifics like "only green M&Ms in a specially designed crystal bowl on the nightstand", so it isn't far-fetched.

The removal of all "NBA Las Vegas team"'s games off the boards is pretty much an obvious concession that'll be made. I feel if the NBA demands that all games be off the board, then the topic of a team moving to Vegas is a non-starter. Surely Goodman wants MGM/Harrahs/Boyd to pitch in a good portion of the 300-400 million for a new arena while they're all splurging billions on new projects on the Strip (or soon will be).

[Temp Hutter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
So when Oscar and the NBA come asking the casinos to please remove the NBA games from the lines

[/ QUOTE ]

I never thought of that. NBA wont be coming to Vegas for sure unless Casino Control changes the rules. And if they do there will be hell to pay.

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

There was a lot of discussion at the Mirage about this and the general thought was if they yield to the NBA and pull the Vegas team games off the boards it just gives the sports betting opponents something to point at and say "see, there must be a problem if they pull the home town games"

[/ QUOTE ]

It is my understanding that you cannot bet on UNLV games. I remember it being a problem for the casinos when they had a good basketball team that went deep into the NCAA tournament and patrons could not bet on something as big as a final four game.

[kamelion44]

I went to a sheltered tiny private school from K-12, where literally the only black person who was there was on a scholarship for athletics, and everybody complained bitterly about it...and I still think you are all fuddies for freaking out about this past weekend. Perhaps it's because I am such a fan of basketball and rap, and have made alot of black friends in college because I play basketball, but I never once felt uncomfortable this weekend.

Funny story: this huge black guy who I am friends with from local games here in Austin flew out with us. His name is Pancho and he is really wealthy from a computer parts business he owns, plus some other ventures. He is an awesome guy, always dresses crazy (our first day there, he wore a bright yellow jacket, usually he wears throwback jerseys, plus he is like 6', 350 lbs.) I rescue him from a 10-20 limit game at the Mirage, and we head over to the Wynn. He gets on an Omaha H/L table, but I get stuck on a bunch of "interest lists," so I go get plastered playing blackjack. Eventually I stumble back in to the poker room and convince him to come with me.

We are doing shots and he starts to tell me about how he left all of his "bling" at home, including his Rolex watches and his huge piece and chain. He then lays out his plan for melting his chain and piece down, and turning it into pocket aces, which for some reason really gets me. I'm feeling his pain though, we're at all-star weekend, he's a big black dude, and he forgot all his bling at home, so to other black people he looks like a chump, even though he's fabulously wealthy.

I get firsthand viewing of this when we're in the cab line, and these two black dudes who are promoting their rap CD by giving them away to the taxi line come up to us, and the rapper gleefully shouts out, "Goddamn boy, I need you in my crew! You need to be wit' me. I need some big mother_____s like you rollin' wit' me!" It turns out he was 100% serious too. So I guess you better bring your bling with you to All-Star weekend, or you're going to be recruited by street prophets and wannabe rappers...even if you have a huge Cribs-style mansion and are a legit business owner.

[Cactus Jack]

$300 million is the take the sportsbooks get on the NBA. Combine that with highrollers leaving for four hours to go to a game. The casinos are unlikely to jump at the chance to support a local team.

[52s]

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Combine that with highrollers leaving for four hours to go to a game.

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This is a non-issue, IMO, as they highrollers also go to see the plays, musicals, boxing matches, UFC, whathaveyou. The sports team would just be another option.

The NBA action in the books is the big issue.