How’s your jumper? If the Las Vegas Stars have scoring woes, you could come out of the owner’s box and suit up.
I will leave the basketball play to the Las Vegas Stars!
Vegas has a been a semi-pro sports cemetery. Any fears about your name being added to the epitaph?
I have a long-range goal in building the basketball arena in Las Vegas. We hope to provide some of the [UNLV] Runnin’ Rebels with an opportunity to showcase their talents in the professional arena so they can go overseas or get to the NBA. I have a five-year plan for this team, one that includes solid growth, as well as an addition of a women’s basketball team in 2009.
How’d you come to own the team?
I am a sports agent advisor, which means I work with athletic hopefuls in basketball, football, car racing, soccer, etc. So I decided that owning a team would allow me to run the program in a way that would garner respect.
With the Rebels’ rebirth and all the stuff this town has to offer, will semi-pro hoops ever be anything but a fourth (or fifth or sixth) entertainment option?
So many college athletes leave the court in their senior year and never figure out how to take that talent and make some money. Some of our guys play with us and then play international ball making $50,000-$200,000 for a few months of work. Las Vegas can provide the Rebels with a great opportunity to continue their basketball careers. We know that people have many choices in Las Vegas, so we decided to make our games fun and exciting with contests, including a car giveaway!
The Stars finished with the International Basketball League’s eighth-best record last year (out of 22 teams). Can they bring home some hardware this year?
We were second in the West. We broke records last year with 206 points in a game. I did recruit Keenan Payton, brother of NBA star Gary Payton. We have a few other additions that we are getting into contract. Trust me, you don’t want to miss an LV Stars game.