FanHouse Oscar Goodman

You have to give Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman an "A" for persistence. Neither the bad economy, nor the bad publicity from the All-Star Game in 2007 -- or even the stepped-up anti-gambling push after the snake-like Tim Donaghy raised his head -- has deterred Goodman from continuing his push for an NBA franchise.

He does make a lot of sense. Las Vegas really would be NBA heaven.

Goodman at his weekly press conference Thursday brought up the issue again of moving forward with plans for a new downtown arena in hopes of luring an NBA franchise to his city.

For a while, it looked like the NBA was warming up to the idea of putting a franchise in Las Vegas -- they held the 2007 All-Star game in the city, and the biggest off-season summer league is run in the city. Unfortunately, it looks like the Tim Donaghy scandal might torpedo any chance that the league and the city might get together -- and not just for the reasons that you might think.

Yes, it's true that David Stern probably wants to distance himself from the only city in the country where sports wagering is legal, but have you considered that the city might not want a potentially crooked league in their city? From the Arizona Republic:

"We're one of the most highly regulated industries in America, and we live and die on our integrity," said Alan Feldman of the MGM Mirage Hotel and Casino. "We can do nothing to put that in jeopardy. If it turns out that the (NBA) is shown to be incapable of protecting the integrity of their game, it's not a league we need to have in Las Vegas."

Granted, that's not the tune that mayor Oscar Goodman is singing: he still desperately wants a franchise and thinks the fact that gambling is so tightly regulated might actually attract the league. He might be onto something. After all, it was an official in Las Vegas who unearthed the University of Toledo football point-shaving scandal earlier this year.