Eye Of Sports Hurricane In Las Vegas: Consultant Jeremy Aguero’s Fingerprints On Raiders Stadium, Athletics Ballpark Push, F1 Race Economic Numbers, Super Bowl Are Everywhere In Vegas
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By Alan Snel/LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
He’s the pied piper of Las Vegas’ sports parade, a nattily-dressed, Las Vegas-based go-to consultant who speaks in glowing terms at public business events — or anywhere, really — about the local sports industry renaissance here in Southern Nevada.
Jeremy Aguero, is a principal, or owner, of Applied Analysis, a data-research company of 17 employees. Aguero, a fourth-generation metro Las Vegas resident and father of three who founded Applied Analysis in 1997, is deeply involved in Las Vegas’ most high-profile sports projects from the Raiders stadium to Formula One race economic impact numbers to Super Bowl 58 at Allegiant Stadium in February 2024. Now, he’s a consultant for the Athletics on the Major League Baseball team’s proposed ballpark in Las Vegas.
Aguero is literally everywhere at government meetings, tourism sessions and business chamber luncheons where he talks effusively about Las Vegas’ explosive sports developments. Aguero speaks with such fervor about the sports growth that he could be mistaken for a local chamber president or a Las Vegas tourism marketing director. His enthusiasm is that unbridled,.
“Every committee I’m sitting, Jeremy is presenting,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said.
Aguero’s voice helps shape public perception of the Las Vegas sports industry. He published a column in the local newspaper called, “A Positive Outlook,” to address economic trends. It should be noted that the newspaper, the Review-Journal, published this tagline to Aguero’s columns: “Members of the editorial and news staff of the Las Vegas Review-Journal were not involved in the creation of this content.” He also is a common voice on local TV news, as well.
Applied Analysis’ tentacles extended to every big sports deal in Las Vegas for the past seven years. What makes Aguero unique in the sports economics world is that not only does he generate spending impact and fiscal numbers reports that are often used by public-policy makers to justify public dollars on sports he also is not shy about promoting the Las Vegas market to the world.
After Aguero helped craft the Raiders stadium bill that was signed into law by former Gov. Brian Sandoval in 2016, Aguero’s Applied Analysis was hired by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board as its consultant to guide the public panel overseeing the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium.
In 2022, Applied Analysis made $331,000 working as the stadium board’s consultant.
After working as the consultant for the public stadium board, Aguero took a job with the Raiders in October 2021 as the NFL team’s chief operations and analytics officer.
He stayed at the Raiders executive job for a little more than a half-year before returning to Applied Analysis in July 2022.
Applied Analysis and Aguero are also tied closely to the publicly-funded Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), with Applied Analysis on retainer for $8,000 a month.
Aguero is a friend of LVCVA CEO Steve Hill, who got to know Aguero well because Hill is also the stadium board chairman.
These days, Aguero is working for the Oakland Athletics in their attempt to win government help valued as high as $500 million to build a $1.5 billion ballpark on 49 acres at the old Wild Wild West site on Tropicana Avenue, just west of Interstate 15 and Dean Martin Drive. Aguero refers to the proposed public help for the ballpark of 30,000-32,000 as “incentives.”
In a previous email, Aguero told LVSportsBiz.com, “A’s are seeking up to $500 million in total public incentives . . . all the parties are working toward what is possible in terms of a sports and entertainment district.”
The Nevada Legislature might vote on an Athletics ballpark funding proposal before it adjourns this spring, with details still being hammered out in behind-closed-doors meetings that Aguero and Athletics representatives are attending.
Aguero was so busy working on the Athletics ballpark proposal that he was called into some state legislative meetings Wednesday and had to cancel a previously-scheduled interview with LVSportsBiz.com on that day.
The well-connected Aguero has a direct line to Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo as a member of Lombardo’s transition committee after the former Clark County sheriff defeated incumbent Gov. Steve Sisolak in November in the race for the state’s top executive position. Lombardo said he is navigating the opportunity for the Athletics ballpark and talking with everyone from state legislators to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.
Not only is Aguero involved with the Athletics ballpark funding proposal with the state, he has also been involved with the A’s in discussions with Clark County, LVSportsBiz.com has learned.
If the Athletics relocate from Oakland to Las Vegas, this market would be the smallest in the country with three major league teams.
The Athletics believe they can tap into the 40 million annual visitors of Las Vegas to bolster attendance at the potential A’s ballpark. But the only official statement publicly endorsing the Athletics’ proposed move to Las Vegas and their request for public help to fund a stadium has come from a group of six Las Vegas-area chambers of commerce.
“The team recently announced it had reached a Project Labor Agreement for the construction with the Southern Nevada Building Trades,” a press release explaining the chambers’ support said.
There is also no local civic or business group here in Las Vegas formed specifically to bring Major League Baseball to Southern Nevada like those in cities such as Orlando, Salt Lake City, Nashville and Portland. Former Athletics pitcher Dave Stewart is part of a group advocating for a new team in Nashville, for example.
In Orlando, where visitors totaled 59.3 million in 2021, former NBA team executive Pat Williams is part of a group pitching a $1.7 billion ballpark that would be funded, in part, by $975 million in tourist taxes. It should be noted that attendance at MLB ballparks in St. Petersburg and Miami ranks among the lowest in the majors.
Aguero’s Applied Analysis is also in the business of coming up with economic impact numbers for events in Las Vegas.
For example, Formula One,, which is staging the Las Vegas Grand Prix on a 3.8-mile circuit Nov. 18, hired Aguero for the economic spending numbers related to the road race. Applied Analysis arrived at $1.3 billion — a number promoted by the LVCVA and F1.
Applied Analysis and the LVCVA also came up with the Super Bowl 58 economic impact number of $600 million for the Las Vegas market, according to Sam Joffray, president/CEO of the Las Vegas Super Bowl 58 Host Committee.
These types of numbers often come under fire from economists around the country who argue they are inflated and fail to show the exact net amount of spending; don’t explain that some visitors are simply displacing those who would have been in the market on the same dates; or the amount of tourists who stay away from visiting because they don’t want to deal with an event’s traffic and crowds.
But these economic numbers are significant because public-policy makers cite these dollar amounts when approving millions of dollars in public spending. For example, the public LVCVA approved spending $40 million for Super Bowl 58 on Feb. 11, 2024. The Las Vegas host committee is charged with raising another $20 million for the Super Bowl.
Aguero, who voices the benefits of building the Raiders stadium, is also helping promote Super Bowl 58 as treasurer on the host committee executive committee.
Aguero plays so varying roles on the Vegas sports development landscape that sometimes the lines between jobs blur. For example, Aguero works as a consultant for the Athletics while also serving as an “analyst” answering questions for a local TV station about the A’s ballpark proposal.
Not too far from the domed NFL stadium, Formula One is ripping up Las Vegas Boulevard and other F1 race roads in Las Vegas and repaving the race route, causing traffic jams and congestion on those Strip-related roads for locals.
But residents are told by local elected officials and the LVCVA that the inconveniences are worth it because of all the money that will be spent by F1 race visitors in November. F1 has a 10-year deal with Clark County to stage the grand prix in Las Vegas to 2032.
Aguero’s likable and disarming personality creates a force field of friendliness that blocks the zingers, critics and naysayers who argue that big sports in Las Vegas has become too much of a top priority in this market at the expense of trying to improve schools, roads, health care, transportation and other public needs.
“He’s highly relied upon,” Goodman said.
