NBA cancels 2011 summer league in Las Vegas

The news local basketball fans were dreading arrived Friday: The NBA has canceled its Las Vegas Summer League for 2011.

The Summer League, which has operated at Cox Pavilion and the Thomas & Mack Center since 2004, is one of the first casualties of the league’s inability to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement with its players. The current CBA expires June 30, and this year’s Summer League, which was to have 23 teams, was scheduled for July 8-17.

NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver told reporters Friday: “We (also) told the union at the conclusion of today’s session that we would be canceling the Las Vegas Summer League this weekend, and we made clear to the union it was purely a function of the calendar and drop-dead dates with the hotels and the arena; no intent to send signals of any kind to players.

“But it was an unfortunate consequence of the fact that at this late date, we still do not have a deal.”

Warren LeGarie, who founded the Summer League and is its executive director, said he was hoping it would survive, but he had been bracing for Friday’s announcement.

“You hoped that cooler heads would prevail, but you could also sense it was coming,” LeGarie said. “It’s like any marriage. You sign up for the good and the bad. Right now, we’re dealing with the bad.”

LeGarie said while the July dates are lost, there are alternative dates of Aug. 12-21 or Aug. 19-28 that ultimately could be used should the NBA and its players reach an agreement. “We’re hoping for the possibility of the impossible that we’ll still have a Summer League in some form at some point,” LeGarie said.

The Summer League had the best year in its seven-year existence in 2010, attracting 40,799 fans over its 12-day run last July. It also generated approximately $300,000 in revenue for UNLV and employed more than 200 people.

“The trickle-down effect hits a wider footprint than anyone can imagine,” said Daren Libonati, who oversees booking of events at the Thomas & Mack. “You’ve got people who count on the Summer League to help pay their bills. You’ve got hotels that put the teams up and fans who come in from the various NBA cities and spend money to watch their teams play. That’s lost revenue. This negatively impacts a lot of people.”

Libonati said the decision not to begin selling tickets to this year’s Summer League proved to be a wise one. But he’s worried about the NBA’s next Las Vegas date — Oct. 13 — when the Los Angeles Lakers host Sacramento in their annual preseason game at the Thomas & Mack.

“I’m hoping we don’t lose that one,” he said. “We’ve had tickets on sale for that game for a while now. That would be really disappointing if we had to cancel the Lakers.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.