Jefferson looks at bringing in jai alai Game popular once in Arabi Saturday, March 29, 2008 By Richard Rainey Jai alai, the frenetic scoop-and-ball game once popular in some betting circles in Florida and other states, could return to southeastern Louisiana after an 80-year absence.

A former player and jai alai aficionado from Fort Worth, Texas, Evan Coleman, met with the Jefferson Economic Development Corp. this month hoping to resurrect the pari-mutuel sport in the metropolitan New Orleans area. While talks have not elevated beyond an initial whimsy, JEDCO Executive Director Lucien Gunther said Jefferson Parish business leaders were willing to entertain the idea.

"Is this a pie-in-the-sky thing that we should run this guy on his way, or should Jefferson Parish look at this?" Gunther said. "So we're in the process of at least letting him prove to us that this thing could be the advantage that he says it could be."

Coleman said jai alai would bring huge economic benefits to the area, but the true test of the sport's success probably will be how well its supporters can allay apprehension about its ties to gambling.

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if this thing moves forward, it's not going to be universally accepted in our community," Gunther said.

Jai alai evolved from several ball games first played in Basque country, the mountainous region of northern Spain. Players use a scoop, known as a cesta, to hurl a small rubber ball at more than 180 mph against the walls of a fronton, an enclosed arena reminiscent of an elongated racquetball court. Observers bet on the matches.

While it's played in 23 countries, jai alai's popularity in the United States has waned in recent years. Florida has closed some facilities and Connecticut shuttered its last fronton in 2001.

The sport disappeared from Louisiana in 1928, after three tumultuous years at a fronton in Arabi. During that time, Gov. Huey Long had made nearby gambling dens on Friscoville Avenue and North Peters Street prime targets for the state militia. One of the last raids sparked a brawl outside the jai alai fronton. A St. Bernard Parish court auctioned the property in 1929 for $120,000.

Talk of jai alai's comeback is far too nascent to even approach planning stages, JEDCO officials cautioned. Coleman, however, pitched Jefferson as prime real estate for a fronton because of the parish's historical ties to the Basque culture. He said he had tried to contact New Orleans officials, but there was no response.

Coleman's dream first would have to find supporters in the state Legislature. Betting on jai alai is prohibited by state law, according to the attorney general's gaming division. Coleman characterized that hurdle as no more than a tweaking of Louisiana's horse racing laws to include jai alai, but state lawyers cautioned that the process probably would be far more convoluted.

"If I could turn a profit without the pari-mutuels, I'd bring it anyway. But that's what drives the profits," Coleman said.

The only mention of jai alai in state law bans casinos under state jurisdiction from allowing bets on the sport. Other than that, lawmakers would have to start from scratch to accommodate the game. Horse racing laws usually apply to the horse's owner, a clause that muddies their application to jai alai players, state lawyers said.

Likewise, regulating the game could take two very different routes. Legislators could fold the responsibility under the Louisiana Gaming Control Board or create a separate agency for jai alai, lawyers said.

Despite the legal issues, Coleman said his group was eyeballing three possible sites for a new fronton: the New Orleans area, Tampa, Fla., and Sparks, Nev. He hopes to build a facility that would attract as many as 8,000 spectators a day from across the region.

"We're going to outdraw your football team and your basketball team combined," Coleman said.

His description of the arena he would build teetered on the mythical. It would include a video arcade flush with the latest technology, VIP sections, a Basque cultural center and eventually a school for new players. The building would be powered by solar energy and act as an alternative emergency shelter during hurricanes. Tickets for matches would sell for less than $4, he said.

Coleman did not offer a cost estimate for the facility, but said his group would not apply for any tax credits provided to other sports. That, coupled with his estimates of the influx of people and money to the region, certainly caught JEDCO's attention.

"That's a serious economic opportunity," Gunther said. "We want to find out more about it."