[Zen653]

The Las Vegas Sun isn't convinced that the NBA can survive in Nevada:

"Will we support an NBA team?"

That answer isn't as definitive.

For a year, yes, without question we will support it. But what happens when the novelty wears off and/or the team starts losing?

There are no guarantees a losing team will draw here. Heck, there's no guarantee a winning team will draw here. Why do you think the Maloofs are so committed to Sacramento? It can't be that the cocktail lounge at the Holiday Inn is a better place to impress chicks than Ghostbar at the Palms. But it might be those 17,310 seats “ 100 percent occupancy “ at decrepit Arco Arena that are filled every night the Kings pull off their warm-ups, regardless of how many shots they clang off the rim.

This is putting the cart way, way in front of the horse. But our ability to support an NBA or other major league franchise over the long haul, with the possible exception of the NFL (and you can forget about that because pro football isn't coming), is a concern that shouldn't be dismissed like a midweek game in Boston.

I recently came across an item that referred to a crowd of 14,914 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis as "sparse." Around here, UNLV coach Lon Kruger gets more excited than a Trekkie at a Leonard Nimoy convention whenever 10,000 show up for a Rebels game.

Here's something that's even more eye-opening. The Grizzlies play in a spectacular new arena and play to 80-percent capacity, or an average of 14,765, which sounds pretty impressive.

Not by NBA standards. The Grizzlies' average attendance is next-to-last in the league, part of the reason Memphis would be a prime candidate to move to Las Vegas were it not locked into a long-term lease on Beale Street.

Las Vegas SUN: Ron Kantowski on why the race for a Las Vegas pro sports team doesn't end after the first two hurdles have been cleared