LVSportsBiz.com Analysis: Las Vegas Deploying Different Strategy In Quest For New Downtown Soccer Stadium

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

This time, Las Vegas’ quest for a new downtown soccer stadium and a Major League Soccer expansion team will be different from an unsuccessful attempt in 2015.

More than four years ago, Las Vegas officials led by chief soccer stadium advocate Mayor Carolyn Goodman tried to sell a $200 million stadium to the public as a stand-along project on empty Symphony Park land near the performing arts center. The city proposed to spend $3 million a year for 30 years from money designated for parks to help pay for the pro soccer venue under a public-private partnership with Baltimore developer The Cordish Cos and the local Findlay family that owns the car dealerships.

That plan crashed and burned when Major League Soccer didn’t pick Las Vegas as an expansion city at the time after the public stadium subsidy idea divided the city council.

Fast forward to 2019. The city is nearly three months into an exclusive six-month negotiating window with a development group called The Baupost Group headed by billionaire investor Seth Klarman. Klarman, CEO of hedge fund Baupost Capital, LLC, has hired Floyd Kephart of San Diego County-based The Renaissance Companies to engineer a potential agreement between the city and Baupost that would deliver a redeveloped downtown corridor segment along Las Vegas Boulevard, including re-building the Cashman Center site with a new 25,000-seat pro soccer stadium.

If there’s a city-Baupost deal when the six-month negotiating period ends in early December, Las Vegas Lights FC founder-owner Brett Lashbrook will sell the soccer team to the Baupost group.

And here’s how this soccer stadium deal is fundamentally different from the 2015 initiative: the proposed downtown soccer venue is not stand-alone project. It’s part of a broader redevelopment project that would run a mile long along Las Vegas Boulevard from Stewart Avenue to Washington Avenue and include  other development features such as a concussion research center, esports facility, commercial development and residential housing.

While the proposed 25,000-seat soccer stadium with a translucent fabric roof and a retractable field is the sexy headliner of this audacious urban redevelopment proposal, the sports venue is part of a much wider project that includes other elements that would potentially appeal to non-soccer fans.

 

Plus, expect the proposed agreement between the city and Baupost to not rely heavily on city general funds to help fund the redevelopment. The city will likely lean on economic development inducements and other redevelopment financing instead of using money typically earmarked for public needs such as parks.

The Baupost development group has hit the ground running with Major League Soccer as Kephart of The Renaissance Cos attended an MLS Board of Governors meeting in Orlando last month to represent Las Vegas’ bid for an MLS team, Lashbrook told LVSportsBiz.com during an interview at Cashman Field Wednesday.

Lashbrook explained that it’s conceivable that the city could approve a deal with The Baupost Group and Kephart without Las Vegas having an MLS team at the time as long as there’s language in the deal requiring Baupost and Kephart to continue striving to attain an MLS team for Las Vegas. The Lights play in the United Soccer League, the Triple A of pro soccer in the U.S.

LVSportsBiz.com spoke with Lashbrook about the moving parts of this soccer stadium story — and about the Lights’ next home game Saturday.

It’s hardly a slam dunk that Las Vegas will get an MLS team. The league just awarded St. Louis its 28th franchise and now there are several cities contending for the final two MLS expansion team slots. They include Sacramento, Detroit, Indianapolis, Charlotte, San Diego and Las Vegas.

There have not been much public comments about the soccer stadium and downtown redevelopment talks between Baupost and Las Vegas. Talks are confidential and behind closed doors.

But while the city has not encountered any public opposition — yet, anyway — Las Vegas does face competition in another form regarding attaining a big league soccer team.

The Vegas Golden Knights and VGK owner Bill Foley are exploring a bid for an MLS team. Knights President Kerry Bubolz said Wednesday the VGK did not send anyone to the MLS Board of Governors meeting last month in Orlando, but confirmed the team is still in the exploration stage of seeking an MLS franchise.

While Foley has literally turned everything he has touched into gold, winning an MLS team and finding a home to play pro soccer will be a daunting challenge for him.

If Foley wants to have an MLS team play at the Raiders stadium, he would not likely garner the lion’s share of the stadium-related revenues there because it’s the Raiders that run the show at the 65,000-seat domed stadium under construction that’s scheduled to be complete July 31, 2020.

In contrast, Foley owns 15 percent of T-Mobile Arena, where the Golden Knights play. But Foley has no ownership stake in the Raiders stadium. The public is contributing $750 million to build the Raiders stadium project on the west side of Interstate 25 across the interstate from Mandalay Bay hotel-casino.

Also, Major League Soccer prefers its teams to play in 25,000-seat stadiums designed for soccer — the specs for the downtown Las Vegas soccer venue at the Cashman site. The Atlanta Falcons’ stadium also hosts the Atlanta MLS team, but that’s because Arthur Blank owns both teams. Same with Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who also owns the MLS team that plays at the Pats’ home stadium.

So even with Foley’s VGK success, I would not bet on him getting an MLS team if Las Vegas and Baupost have a redevelopment agreement to move forward with a soccer-only stadium at Cashman. Then again, Foley might have a soccer stadium idea in mind that’s not the Raiders venue where he and a possible MLS franchise would control the stadium revenues. Never underestimate Foley.

It’s a little weird a market without a professional soccer team up until 2017 now has two legit bids for an MLS team. Las Vegas is a hot sports market, so MLS is paying attention. Mayor Goodman and MLS Commissioner took a selfie together at a Bellagio terrace last month when the city and the MLS announced a special soccer series that will match an MLS team against a Mexican League team in a final at Sam Boyd Stadium Sept. 18.

Whether MLS awards this market a team is a much more tricky question. For now, the Lights play Saturday when the team will invite fans onto the field at halftime to have a water balloon fight at Cashman Field. And the Lights are staging a helicopter cash drop at halftime of a game in September.

For now, fans can enjoy wacky Lights promotions in lieu of an MLS team.

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