Nevada Governor Announces Tentative Deal For Athletics Ballpark On Strip; Deal Goes To Nevada Legislature
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Nevada’s governor says there’s a tentative deal for a $1.5 billion Athletics ballpark at the Tropicana hotel-casino site on the Strip that will receive government assistance to help build it.
The tentative agreement is in a legislative bill that will go before the Nevada Legislature in the coming days. A hearing might be as early as Saturday.
In a press release sent Wednesday morning, Lombardo was quoted, “This agreement follows months of negotiations between the state, the county, and the A’s, and I believe it gives us a tremendous opportunity to continue building on the professional sports infrastructure of southern Nevada. Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it.”
Clark County was mentioned in the governor’s press release. But in a bizarre reference, there’s no person named representing Clark County. Take a look:
LVSportsBiz.com has learned that the Clark County Commission is split on the stadium subsidy issue — and that could be a reason why there is no name linked to the quote in the governor’s press release.
Commissioner Tick Segerblom wrote in an email to LVSportsBiz.com about Clark County’s bond sale for the A’s ballpark: “It sounds like $120 million. I haven’t been briefed or seen the bill.”
Under the bill, according to the release, public financing is less than 25 percent of the construction cost for the retractable-roof venue that is slated to be built on nine acres of the 35-acre Tropicana hotel site, which is the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The release, however, did not break down the ballpark construction funding sources and left many unanswered questions.
For example, the public has seen neither an infrastructure/transportation/parking plan for the ballpark nor a rendering showing how a MLB retractable-roof stadium will fit on nine acres of a hotel site.
Without sharing this type of typical ballpark information with the public, the Athletics want state legislative approval so that the team can request approval from Major League Baseball in hopes of breaking ground in 2024 with a goal of opening in 2027.
The A’s have mentioned playing their games at their Triple-A affiliate’s ballpark in Summerlin while the 30,000-seat ballpark is built on the Strip.
While many sports markets have public votes on whether government assistance should be used to help team owners build stadiums, there has not been any mention of an election on an Athletics ballpark subsidy. As a result, that has allowed the A’s to hold meetings with state and county lawmakers behind closed doors while shutting out the public.
“We look forward to advancing this legislation in a responsible way,” Athletics team president Dave Kaval said in the release.
But Oakland Vice Mayor Rebecca Kaplan tweeted this out after the governor’s statement:
The tentative agreement includes the creation of a sports and entertainment improvement district. The release did not say how much this tax district is projected to generate in revenue to pay off the public debt on the ballpark.
The release said there will be a legislative bill that will be introduced that will be “publicly debated and considered.”
But the Athletics and their owner, John Fisher, a billionaire who is heir to the Gap retail store business, have not talked directly to the Las Vegas public.
Fisher attended a “Big League Weekend” spring training game between the Athletics and Reds in early March when LVSportsBiz.com attempted to approach the Aviators suite to talk with Fisher. But stadium staff refused to allow LVSportsBiz.com to get to the suite.
The release also did not include how much Clark County is expected to sell in bonds to help pay for the public contribution toward the ballpark construction bill. For the Raiders stadium, the public contributed $750 million to the $1.4 billion stadium construction bill. The Allegiant Stadium construction budget of $1.4 billion was the biggest chunk of money spent as part of the stadium’s overall $2 billion project.
Athletics consultant Jeremy Aguero told LVSportsBiz.com that Clark County will be asked to sell at least $100 million in bonds. But it could be more.
There are many opponents of using public dollars to help a major league sports team build a new ball venue in Las Vegas.
For example, Matt Ortega, a web designer who lives in the Oakland area, said, “This deal will prove to be a disaster for Nevadans, Major League Baseball and the A’s. When the novelty wears off, the A’s will struggle to fill the smallest ballpark in the 40th largest media market and own nothing but last place.
“Nevadans will be left holding the bag to cover the A’s losses and be saddled with a cheapskate billionaire owner in John Fisher,” said Ortega, who published a website called, “nonevadamoney.com.”
The next step?
Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager and Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro said the “tentative agreement” moves to the legislature for consideration.
“Over the time we have remaining during this session, we will give this proposal a thorough vetting to fully explore the opportunity and its impacts on Southern Nevada,” Cannizzaro said.
Added Yeager, “I am excited that we have finally received the A’s proposal and we are currently reviewing it.”
The legislature adjourns June 5.
While the proposed legislation was being drafted, the A’s switched ballpark sites.
A month ago, the MLB team pitched the former Wild Wild West site, a 49-acre location on Tropicana Avenue just west of Interstate 15 and Dean Martin Drive. Kaval heralded the construction of a proposed baseball village and related businesses surrounding the ballpark for that site.
Then this month, the Athletics were all in on a new ballpark site — the Tropicana hotel-casino site which is across the street from several MGM Resorts International properties like Excalibur, NY NY and MGM Grand on the Strip.
Las Vegas stadium board chairman Steve Hill said it’s being contemplated that the stadium board that oversees Allegiant stadium would also be charged with overseeing the Athletics ballpark.
Technically speaking, under the bill, the A’s ballpark would be publicly owned but for all practical purposes the team runs the venue and keeps the lion’s share of the ballpark-related revenues.
If the Athletics move to Las Vegas, this market would be the smallest in the U.S. to host three major league teams. Meanwhile, the A’s left a proposed waterfront ballpark on the table in Oakland at Howard Terminal where there were $375 million in infrastructure grants. Interestingly enough, 25 percent of the stadium’s $1.5 billion price is also $375 million. Lombardo’s press release said the public contribution to the ballpark is less than 25 percent.
For years, Las Vegas resisted building publicly-subsidized sports stadiums.
No more. Las Vegas is perceived as a pro-sports market willing to plow public money into everything from a Raiders stadium, Super Bowl 58 and Formula One car race on the Strip to sponsoring sports events like college basketball tournaments and college football games like the Pac-12 championship football contest. One of Las Vegas’ busiest sports venues, T-Mobile Arena, was built privately by MGM Resorts International and Los Angeles-based AEG without any public dollars.
Opponents of public money for pro sports teams say the Las Vegas market and Clark County are spending millions of dollars on sports when other public needs like schools, health care, roads, mass transit and parks/trails could use more public resources.
John Mehaffey, Vegas Advantage publisher, also questioned how a MLB stadium will be able to be built at such a small nine-acre site at a busy intersection.
