By ALAN SNEL
LVSportsBiz.com
Howard Hughes Corporation, the owner of the Las Vegas 51s (soon to be a new name) and the new $150 million Las Vegas Ballpark under construction, found a nice spot to sell season tickets for their Triple-A ball yard.
Howard Hughes Corp. probably got a nice break on the rent, too.
Texas-based Howard Hughes is using space in its own business district, Downtown Summerlin, to sell seats at their stadium, which will also be in Downtown Summerlin.
Talk about pure vertical integration. It’s clear Howard Hughes will use the ballpark, subsidized with $80 million from the local tourism agency, as a marketing tool to also sell its upscale Summerlin brand.
Full season tickets range from $650 for an outfield box seat to $1,500 for a home plate prime seat for 70 games. Howard Hughes is also selling quarter-season 17-game and 18-game plans, and half-season 35-game plans, too.
Annual suites cost $75,000 a year under deals that are five, seven and 10 years. There are 16 tickets per ticketed event, plus 365-day access for meetings in the suites.
The outdoor seats are air-ventilated mesh to be cool in the summer, while also being larger and more comfortable than the seats at Cashman Field.
And the ballpark’s club level will have its own private entrance.
Howard Hughes is receiving $80 million in public dollars from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) in the form of a “naming rights deal” for calling the 10,000-seat venue, Las Vegas Ballpark.
A new Major League Baseball team will be the parent franchise of the Las Vegas affiliate. The Oakland Athletics will have their Triple A team in Las Vegas and A’s logo gear is already being sold as the sales office.
Once the 51s are re-branded in possibly December, the sales center will likely be selling that new licensed logo gear there, too. The name could be Aviators.
Howard Hughes has not officially moved out of Cashman Field, though. The development company has paid Cashman’s landlord, the LVCVA, for the remainder of 2018 to be in Cashman. And it’s unclear whether Howard Hughes will hold Big League Weekend at Cashman Field or Las Vegas Ballpark. Or perhaps Howard Hughes might not even hold Big League Weekend. It’s still up in the air.
Howard Hughes executives typically do not talk with the media except at staged events.
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