By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The hard-working denizens of metro Las Vegas first got to know a glib-talking fella by the name of Dave Kaval when Kaval used that public digital megaphone called, “Twitter,” to say what a grand time he was having at a Vegas Golden Knights playoff game at T-Mobile Arena in May.
Many a sports fan have posted tweets about how mind-boggling it is to take in the Golden Knights Experience in Las Vegas.
But Kaval was not your ordinary, run-of-the-mill fan. Oh no, Kaval is the president of a Major League Baseball team back in Oakland and he’s having a rough time getting free money from the local government to help build a new waterfront ballpark in Oakland.
So, when major league sports teams run into government folks who are not too keen on forking over money to build stadiums, they stray outside the marriage with their hometown for a potential new stadium suitor.
And that’s where metro Las Vegas comes in and the drama starts with tweets from an arena on the Strip, at least three Sin City visits to check out stadium sites and talks of a ballpark without one word about where the $1 billion will come from to pay for any Athletics venue in Las Vegas.
Not only do the Oakland A’s want to leave the Coliseum, but their old roomies at the antiquated stadium — the former Oakland Raiders — hit the $750 million public subsidy/stadium construction jackpot here in Las Vegas.
Kaval must be thinking, “If Las Vegas is giving away free money to build stadiums to teams from Oakland, then hell yeah I’m coming over for that free grub!”
And he has. Kaval has visited three times already and he plans to be back again later this month to check out stadium sites.
Only one problem. Money. Kaval and not a single elected official or hotel industry representative have identified where the money will come from to build a $1 billion retractable-roof ballpark in the Las Vegas market.
Tour metro Vegas all you want. Chat with Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and Henderson Mayor Debra March all you want.
But here’s the difference between the Raiders and the Athletics coming to Las Vegas. The Raiders partnered with the richest, most-politically powerful person in Las Vegas, the late Sheldon Adelson, to create a hotel room tax increase that is funding the public money to build the NFL stadium that was just filled with 65,000 Garth Brooks fans Saturday.
Who is Kaval and the A’s partnering with in metro Las Vegas to get free money for a ballpark? Where is the money coming from? Just crickets.
It leads many observers to believe the Athletics are using Las Vegas for leverage in their talks with the city of Oakland about a Howard Terminal ballpark proposal on the waterfront. The A’s want $855 million from Oakland for infrastructure and it all comes to a head July 20 at an Oakland City Council meeting.
“They haven’t talked to me,” Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom told LVSportsBiz.com, “so I would say it (the visit to Las Vegas) is for leverage.”
It’s hardly a secret that the Raiders and the Athletics were not exactly pals as co-tenants at the Coliseum, the last sports venue in the U.S. to house both an NFL and MLB team before the Raiders played their inaugural season in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in 2020.
“I don’t even think of the A’s,” Raiders owner Mark Davis said two months ago. Check his comments at the 20-second mark here:
The A’s have played at the Coliseum since 1968 and their lease expires in 2024. The team, even with a low payroll and even less attendance, has been remarkably successful through the years, winning World Series titles in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1989 and making the MLB playoffs consistently.
Further enhancing the drama of the Oakland Athletics and talk of Las Vegas is that the baseball team’s Triple A affiliate plays at Las Vegas Ballpark in the west valley suburb of Summerlin.
The LVCVA public tourism agency in Las Vegas gave the Triple A team’s owner, Howard Hughes Corporation, a remarkable $80 million as part of a naming rights deal. The money helped Howard Hughes build the $150 million ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. The 10,000-seat venue led the minor leagues in attendance in 2019.
LVSportsBiz.com asked the Aviators president, Don Logan, who worked hard for years to get public money for the Triple A ballpark, about where the Athletics are going to get public money for a stadium in Las Vegas.
Logan responded, “Who knows. It’s an A’s initiative.”
LVSportsBiz.com also interviewed Kaval in June and asked him where is the public money coming from for a ballpark in Las Vegas. He sidestepped the question and discussed more general items.
He certainly has received lots of attention from the Las Vegas media.
But let me know when Southern Nevada’s elected officials and the Las Vegas hotel industry back a public funding source for an Athletics ballpark in this market.
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