It’s A Small World: Downtown Las Vegas Soccer Stadium Development Adviser Had Talked With Raiders About New NFL Stadium In Oakland In 2015

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

Las Vegas and Oakland. Oakland and Las Vegas.

Two cities joined at the sports stadium hip. The Raiders are leaving Oakland/Alameda County for a subsidized domed stadium near the Strip in 2020. The Oakland Athletics’ Triple A team began playing at a gorgeous ballpark in Downtown Summerlin on the west suburban end of the Las Vegas Valley in April.

And now another interesting Oakland/Las Vegas stadium connection: The development adviser who wants to build a 25,000-seat MLS soccer stadium at the 62-acre Cashman Center site in downtown Las Vegas was involved in a then-existent redevelopment idea to build a new Oakland Raiders stadium at Coliseum City in 2015. (It just happened to be the same year when the city of Las Vegas worked with two private partners in a failed bid to fund a $200 million Major League Soccer stadium in downtown LV’s Symphony Park.)

Meet construction management adviser Floyd Kephart of The Renaissance Companies from San Diego County who will be appearing before the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday in hopes of starting 180 days of negotiations to build a soccer stadium at the Cashman Center site while also starting the process of buying the Las Vegas Lights FC from pro soccer advocate Brett Lashbrook. Renaissance Cos is also proposing mixed uses at the Cashman site and land next to it for medical training, residential and commercial. 

Naturally, the Coliseum City project that involved a proposed new Raiders stadium in Oakland/Alameda County in 2015 and the new Cashman Center proposal that involves a proposed Major League Soccer stadium in downtown Las Vegas in 2019 are two very different concepts.

Kephart told LVSportsBiz.com Friday that the Raiders stadium proposal for Coliseum City was already in place by the time he entered the scene there. Here’s Kephart explaining the setting in Oakland and the Raiders stadium situation there at the time:

In Las Vegas, Kephart will be involved in a much different way. Back in Oakland, he inherited the Raiders stadium idea as part of a pre-existing mixed-use proposal at Coliseum City. But in Las Vegas, Kephart will be working with a team of financial and construction advisers, including Boston-based hedge fund Baupost Capital, LLC, which, through its The Baupost Group, would control an MLS team that is proposed to be part of the Cashman Center redevelopment.  Billionaire investor Seth Klarman is Baupost chief executive.  Kephart’s The Renaissance Cos has had an office in Las Vegas for four years.

In Las Vegas, Mayor Carolyn Goodman is continuing her husband/former Mayor Oscar’s longtime objective of bringing a major league sports team into downtown. Goodman is backing the “exclusive negotiation agreement” that will give Kephart/Renaissance 180 days to negotiate with the city of Las Vegas on a deal for Renaissance to acquire Cashman Center and some land next to it to build a mixed-use development that would include a 25,000-seat soccer-only stadium to house a Major League Soccer team. MLS wants to expand from 24 to 30 teams and Las Vegas wants to make a pitch to become the 28th, 29th or 30th new team.

This week, Goodman told LVSportsBiz.com that use of public money for a soccer-only stadium on the Cashman Center site will be “part of the discussion.” But Goodman noted, “Private money has to be the lion’s share.”

Kephart has told LVSportsBiz.com that he does not have a financing plan ready for the Cashman Center redevelopment/soccer stadium proposal, but the funding plan could emerge from the 180-day negotiating period.

LVSportsBiz.com expects the Las Vegas City Council Wednesday to approve the 180-day Exclusive Negotiation Agreement, also called an ENA, between Kephart’s Renaissance and the city. It simply opens the 180-day window for talks and doesn’t imply any done deal. LVSportsBiz.com asked Kephart what he learned from the ENA back in Oakland that could be applied to the Las Vegas scenario. Kephart wrote, “Make sure the entity that is entering into the ENA has the right to fulfill the terms of the signed ENA.”

Lights owner Lashbrook said he would step aside if the Lights of the Triple-A United Soccer League are sold and play any role that is requested of him if the Lights graduate to the Major League Soccer level. Lashbrook expects Mayor Goodman to attend an MLS expansion committee meeting in Orlando in July.

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