Bye Bye Bali Hai? The Inside Story--

I don't know whether to laugh or cry as I hear the story of Bali Hai golf course on the Strip.

The talk now is to tear up the course and turn it into an industrial complex. More cement and steel in a city with 20-30% vacancies for industrial buildings (I know, that number is probably low.)

The course is south of Mandalay Bay, in a part of the Strip where buildings have to be kept low because of the flight path of McCarran International Airport.

Oh---I have a long, and rather passionate connection with this story and that property. This should've long ago been a Formula One race track and golf course.

Let's take you back to 1998. I was the only TV reporter to sit down with Bernie Ecclestone, who is the owner of Formula One auto racing. Ecclestone was offering the race to Las Vegas because he wanted the US Grand Prix to be run on The Strip. The land would be a golf course with a race track running through it. 51 weeks a year it would be a Championship Course, one week a year Las Vegas would light up with the biggest sporting event in the world that we could ever hope to have (the Olympics and World Cup Soccer ain't coming here.) 150 million people around the world watch Formula One every week (that number is probably low as well.)

Could we use an event like this on an annual basis in Las Vegas? I don't know, you tell me how things are working in this city right now. Could we use an event that would bring in $100-200 million on a weekend? Formula One wanted Las Vegas, but the politics of Las Vegas did not want Formula One.

Those were good times back then, that we thought would never end. Economically we are now Detroit with neon lights.

The folks who ran Mandalay Bay Group at the time opposed the project because they said there would be too much noise and traffic. Noise and traffic? I recall a commentary that I did at the time on my local sportscast laughing at the idea that anybody would oppose an event because of noise and traffic on The Strip. "If we don't have noise and traffic, then we are in deep trouble in this town," is part of what I said at the time.

What do we hear now on that site? Crickets. Not much noise and traffic, and that's the problem. The County is making no money off tax revenue and the developer is almost 50 million dollars in the hole. Enter the industrial complex idea to try to salvage something out of the land. Once again, County Commissioners are going to be there to protect us all and make the right decision on this. (Note---this is actually a totally different County Commission this time because the people who made this first horrible decision have been term-limited out, or are in jail for taking bribes from a strip club owner----fate?)

Bottom line, and I said this at the time, an awful decision made by people who had selfish interests in mind and not the best interest of the people of Las Vegas. Mandalay Bay wanted the property for their own personal golf course (locals can play it, but the price for a round is 3 large.) Las Vegas Motor Speedway officials also opposed F-1 in Las Vegas because they saw the race as competition for their new NASCAR event that had arrived in Las Vegas 2 years prior.

An industrial complex? Are you serious? If I were a member of the County Commission I would call Bernie Ecclestone or his representative, Sig Rogich and beg them to reconsider and think about taking over that property and bring F-1 to Vegas. The US Grand Prix flopped in Indianapolis for a number of reasons, but it would work in Las Vegas. This city is made for an event like this, and F-1 is made for Las Vegas.

Yes---Resurrect this racing idea.