Days Of Our Ballparks: Public Money For Oakland Athletics Ballyard In Las Vegas Is In Holding Pattern With This Year’s Gubernatorial Race In Nevada
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The last time LVSportsBiz.com talked with Gov. Steve Sisolak, he said there are no plans to contribute public money to help build an Oakland Athletics ballpark along the Strip corridor in Las Vegas.
You don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to see that Sisolak also enjoys hanging with Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis, who did not exactly have a lovey-dovey relationship with the Oakland Athletics back when the Raiders and Athletics shared an aging (I’m trying to be polite here) stadium called Oakland Coliseum. It’s officially called RingCentral Coliseum these days.
After several decades of spending self-control, Nevada and Las Vegas went on a sports spending spree, doling out public dollars for sports venues like $750 million to help build the Raiders’ NFL domed stadium and even $80 million in public tourism dollars for a local minor league baseball park in Summerlin.
In a rich dose of irony, the Oakland Athletics’ Triple A team, the Las Vegas Aviators, play in a swanky ball yard thanks to that $80 million naming rights deal between the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and Aviators owner/Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corp.
LVSportsBiz.com has learned that the Nevada governor’s race between Sisolak and Republican challenger Joe Lombardo this year means that any potential ballpark subsidy for an Athletics ballyard in Las Vegas is off the table until the November election. It doesn’t mean it would never happen. But the gubernatorial race that will be decided Nov. 8 means any commitment of public money for a Major League Baseball stadium is in a holding pattern.
The big-league A’s, which have been competitive despite playing in an amenity-challenged ballyard in Oakland, are battling through a horrible season. After the first 77 games, the Athletics have won 25 while losing 52 — MLB’s worst record.
Off the field, A’s owner John Fisher, who has owned the Bay-area ball team since 2005 and is the son of the man who co-founded retail clothing chain Gap, Inc., did get good news when MLB reportedly told Fisher the league office will waive any relocation fee if the Athletics migrate across the California-Nevada state line to Las Vegas.
A’s team president Dave Kaval, who used Twitter in May 2021 to burst on the Las Vegas scene with a tweet about the arena atmosphere at a Vegas Golden Knights playoff game, has said the team’s attempt at building a ballpark in Oakland is a separate but parallel process to the interest of moving to the Las Vegas market.
Back in Oakland, the Athletics have been pitching an ambitious $12 billion multi-use development at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal that would include their proposed $1 billion ballpark on 56 acres.
The current 54-year-old A’s stadium draws about 8,500 fans a game, while the team’s Triple-A team in Las Vegas draws an average of 6,992 fans a game through 39 home dates, including seven sellouts. A big crowd is expected Friday when the Aviators give away 2,000 free Top Gun shirts at Las Vegas Ballpark. (For you sportsbiz insiders, Success Promotions provided the design of the Top Gun shirts and helped with licensing for the Aviators promotion.)
At a Thursday meeting tomorrow, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) is scheduled to vote on a proposal to remove a particular port priority use designation at the proposed Howard Terminal ballpark site at the Port of Oakland to help clear the way for the possible Athletics venue.
The BCDC’s staff recommended giving a green light to removing the port use at the proposed ballpark site in Oakland, but 18 of the 27 commission members will have to approve the port designation being lifted.
Local Las Vegas resident Steve Pastorino, who worked in corporate partnerships for the Athletics in 2014-17, took to Twitter to root on the BCDC to remove the port designation to help pave the way for the A’s ballpark in Oakland:
Stay tuned for more Athletics ballpark news on LVSportsBiz.com as the saga continues.
