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Oakland Athletics President Checks Out 30 Sites For Ballpark In Metro Las Vegas, But Public Funding Sources Not Discussed

A's version of their proposed ballpark in Oakland. Team is looking at sites in Las Vegas, too.

“Howard Terminal or bust” for Oakland A’s. Will “bust” mean Las Vegas?

By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com

LVSportsBiz.com talked with Dave Kaval, president of the Oakland A’s, about his recent visit to Las Vegas look at prospective sites for a baseball park.

Here is a live stream video of Kaval answering my questions today. Kaval called in from the Texas Rangers-Oakland Athletics game in Texas.

Kaval’s audio quality isn’t ideal, but you should be able to understand his responses. The biggest non-answer was when I asked Kaval whether he is using his trips to Las Vegas as political leverage for an Oakland City Council vote July 10 on the Athletics’ Howard Terminal waterfront ballpark proposal.

Below the video are the top dozen takeaways from our interview.

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— Visited 30 sites during two trips to metro Las Vegas: Up and down the Strip and the hotel-casino corridor; in Summerlin including chats with Howard Hughes Corporation officials; Henderson; and downtown Las Vegas where Mayor Carolyn Goodman wants to redevelop the Cashman Center area.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman

— Looking at retractable-roof ballpark in the $1 billion range.

— Too early to talk about public contribution of funds.

— There will be an Oakland City Council vote on the $12 billion Oakland Athletics ballpark development project at Howard Terminal in a month.

— “It’s Howard Terminal or bust.”

— Team has worked 20 years to develop ballpark in metro Oakland.

— As of right now, “no point of view” on lining up public funding in Las Vegas market.

— A’s can co-exist with their Triple A team Las Vegas Aviators in same market. (He pointed to Vegas Golden Knights and Henderson Silver Knights).

Aviators’ ballpark in Summerlin
Henderson Silver Knights co-exist with their parent team in the same market here.

— A’s looking for $850 million in public contributions in Oakland market.

— He’s well aware that on some night the crowds at Aviators games in Summerlin are bigger than the crowds at the Coliseum in Oakland.

— The Howard Terminal ballpark proposal is modeled after the San Francisco Giants’ Oracle Park waterfront concept.

— He will be back in Vegas in early July for more chats and meetings.


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Alan Snel: Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.
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