Better than Super?

What's better than super? How about ultimate? Organizers of a project called the Ultimate Sports Resort chose Super Bowl season to announce plans to construct a mammoth sports complex with reasonably-priced rooms in North Las Vegas, about a mile away from Las Vegas Motor Speedway. A $4 billion price tag has been attached to the proposal, roughly the same amount it will cost to transform the Stardust into something called Echelon Place. The sports resort sounds grand, with five-star restaurants, 10 separate venues (with seating for between 2,000 and 26,000) for everything from bowling to golf, swimming and ice skating, a world-class gym, rock-climbing walls, simulators, a 200,000 square-foot casino with a glass-enclosed smoke-free zone, a 100,000 square-foot retail complex and a majority of 5,500 rooms priced at $59 a night, with luxury suites set aside for special events. Plans also call for swimming and diving pools, racquetball and tennis courts, and even a "healthy buffet." A mission statement indicates the proposed resort would be "family friendly" and pursue the nearly 40 million tourists who visit Las Vegas annually plus the two million residents scattered across the valley. Sound too good to be true? Hmmm. While a company spokeswoman said money is in escrow to buy the land, none has been purchased and no target dates have been established, including one for groundbreaking. A press kit points out that America has some 700 sports associations and federations; many of their leaders are listed among the board of directors. The Ultimate Sports Resort also has been in contact with USOC officials, who reportedly have announced, "If you build it, we will come."