By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
They’re going to talk about big-league soccer, redevelopment around Cashman Center and stadiums in downtown Las Vegas for another six months.
The Las Vegas City Council voted, 6-1, to have city workers continue chatting with representatives of an investment group, which wants a deal with the city to redevelop Cashman Field into a potential Major League Soccer stadium and the Las Vegas Boulevard corridor around the Cashman site with possible retail, housing and medical uses.
San Diego County-based The Renaissance Companies is representing an investor called, Baupost Group LLC, a hedge fund managed by Massachusetts billionaire Seth Klarman.
The dissenting vote was cast by Councilwoman Michelle Fiore, who explained that without a commitment from a Major League Soccer team she could not vote to continue negotiating.
The investor, Klarman, has not talked about soccer. The only public comments have come from Floyd Kephart of The Renaissance Companies. LVSportsBiz.com interviewed Kephart in June 2019 about the proposal. Soon after, Kephart and Klarman won a 180-day exclusive negotiating period to talk with the city about the ambitious MLS stadium redevelopment proposal.
Kephart appeared before the council this week. The approved extended negotiations run to April 2021. Kephart acknowledged the council’s action, but declined further comment in an email Thursday.
Cashman Field, the former home of a Triple A minor league baseball team, is now the home base for the Las Vegas Lights of the United Soccer League, a Triple-A level league one notch below MLS. The Lights are independent and not affiliated with with any MLS team. Las Vegas soccer advocate Lashbrook started the team and will sell the franchise if there is a deal between the city and Baupost/Klarman/Kephart.
LVSportsBiz.com’s looked at this proposal in an analysis 11 months ago.
Talk of trying to get an MLS team for Las Vegas is hardly new. City leaders led by Mayor Carolyn Goodman teamed with Baltimore development group The Cordish Companies and pro soccer advocate Justin Findlay of Findlay Automotive Group in an unsuccessful bid to win an MLS team for Las Vegas in 2015. The Findlay-Cordish team wanted public money to help build a soccer stadium at Symphony Park, but the proposal drew a mixed reaction in the city.
Plus, Vegas Golden Knights owner Bill Foley is also exploring the idea of pursuing an MLS team, which could possibly play at the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium. But typically, when an MLS team plays at NFL stadium, the MLS club is also owned by the NFL team. That would not be the case here in Las Vegas where the Mark Davis-owned NFL Las Vegas Raiders run the $2 billion stadium project on the west side of I-15 across from Mandalay Bay. Also, MLS usually likes its soccer stadiums to be in a downtown setting.
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