Thursday, May 01, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Backstory: Cashing out Cashman Field?

By Michael Green

While Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld says Iraqis must choose their own government as long as it isn't Islamic, Sen. Rick Santorum explains that homosexuals are fine as long as they don't have physical contact and House Minority Leader Tom DeLay argues that the most important thing to do during a war is cut taxes, let's discuss something serious:

Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Dan Evans said Las Vegas may lose its designation as his team's top minor league franchise unless the city improves Cashman Field. Other minor league complexes have indoor practice areas and better facilities than where the 51s play.

51s General Manager Don Logan said renovating Cashman or building a new stadium has been discussed. Mayor Oscar Goodman has been unenthused. He should get excited. This issue concerns not only an array of history, in Las Vegas and otherwise, but the city's future.

Las Vegas has a baseball tradition that hardly ranks with its fame for major boxing, tennis and golf championships. But after hosting the occasional major league exhibition game in its early years, Las Vegas gained its own minor league baseball team in the late 1940s--in Class C, a classification so low it no longer exists in organized baseball. The team played at the original Cashman Field. After a quarter-century absence, baseball returned to Las Vegas in 1983 with the Stars, the top farm club of the San Diego Padres.

When the Stars became the 51s and part of the Dodger family, it reflected an inescapable part of Las Vegas history: the city's connection to Los Angeles. From the railroad that built the original townsite and early casino operators to the tourists who brave heavy traffic and the Baker Bun Boy, Las Vegas has been an adjunct of Southern California. And while San Diego is part of that region, the most popular major league sports teams here have been based in Los Angeles.

In two decades, the name and major league connection for the Las Vegas team have changed, but not much else. Cashman Field was then--and is now--a fine venue for a ball game. But across the United States, cities have built new stadia for major and minor league teams. Some of these parks are stunning and have done a great deal of good for their areas and their franchises.

It's also worth noting that some of the revenue has come from selling ballpark names, and some cities helped with redevelopment, but several teams have used a combination of public and private funding.

Most cities have come out much the worse for wear when they make concessions to sports franchises that want them to build or renovate parks. But this situation involves neither a major league facility nor a major league team, meaning that the costs involved should be lower. And if the Dodgers feel this way about Cashman Field, other teams will, too.

Can the 51s provide some dough? While the team has some investors with a lot of change in their pockets, minor league baseball generates far less money than the big leagues. They probably lack the funds to build their own park. They are unlikely to finance renovations at Cashman Field, since it's a city facility. But they could contribute.

Goodman should want it done. The mayor sought a professional basketball or hockey team for those 61 acres downtown. He apparently came close to attracting the Vancouver Grizzlies, who looked like an NBA team except when they played. But, Goodman said, casino executives wouldn't agree to stop betting on Grizzlies games if they came here, and the team went to Memphis, where it may have been the only NBA team not to make the playoffs.

Goodman reportedly still has hope, since the NBA and NHL require smaller fan bases than baseball or football (and before you point out some major league cities have smaller populations than Las Vegas, remember that they have a hinterland; while Cincinnati has northern Kentucky, Las Vegas has Searchlight, and the different is significant). Las Vegas certainly won't attract a major league franchise if it can't keep its top minor league one.

Perhaps the 51s and the Dodgers would foot some of the bill for fixing up Cashman--and with the state office building, a cultural center, a natural history museum, a park, the library and a children's museum nearby, and the Mormon Fort expanding as a historical attraction next door thanks to you all voting for funding, that could be another major city corridor. And just as a sense of history builds a community, so does the baseball season--the only major sport that unfolds when school is out.

Or, if the city provides the acreage, the Dodgers and/or the 51s might kick in for the park. And it may be the mayor's chance to get more people involved in his plans to revitalize downtown. Strip hotel executives and suburban residents may not care much about Neonopolis, but he might be able to use the 51s as a magnet to draw their attention--and the Dodgers might be willing to help.

By the way, this analysis has nothing to do with the autographed picture of Dodgers announcer Vin Scully on my wall. Really.