Athletics Ballpark Funding Senate Bill 509 Spells Out $380 Million In Government Assistance For A’s Venue Construction On Strip
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
It’s officially called Senate Bill 509, and the Athletics have a proposed baseball stadium public funding law in front of the Nevada Legislature.
The 44-page bill, called the “Southern Nevada Tourism Innovation Act,” was filed in Carson City Friday.
SB 509 was referred to the finance committee, according to the Nevada Legislature’s own link.
Friday was quite the day for the Athletics in Las Vegas and Carson City. The A’s made a splash with their public unveiling of ballpark renderings for the current stadium site at the Tropicana hotel-casino location at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue on the Strip.
The Athletics said the stadium would be built on a nine-acre section of the Tropicana hotel’s 35-acre site. But many commented the renderings show the proposed A’s 30,000-seat, retractable-roof ballpark and its related facility elements is much more than the nine acres.
On the same day, the A’s ballpark funding bill was also filed at the state legislature. Management, lobbyists, consultants and lawyers for the Athletics, owned by John Fisher, the billionaire heir to the Gap retail store fortune, talked with state lawmakers this year. The Nevada Legislature meets every two years. The Athletics began talking exclusively with Nevada in April after they spent five years negotiating with the city of Oakland since May 2018.
Legiscan reported the A’s ballpark bill this way.
Some highlights of the proposed $380 million public subsidy for the A’s ballpark:
There would be a sports and entertainment improvement district
Clark County Stadium Authority would oversee the stadium
Creation of a resort corridor homelessness prevention and assistance program
Total amount of transferable tax credits must not exceed $180 million
To read the entire bill text, click here.
Here’s a look at the Tropicana hotel site from a visit by LVSportsBiz.com Saturday
Generally speaking, Las Vegas likes the idea of a Major League Baseball team in the market, which would be the smallest in the U.S. to host three major league sports teams if the A’s relocate from Oakland to Las Vegas. To win approval from MLB owners and league officials, the A’s will have to show their new host community is willing to support the team with government assistance to help construct a ballpark.
But there is also fierce opposition by many to designating $380 million in public aid for a billionaire team owner who has the smallest player payroll in the majors so that he can build a stadium on the Strip.
It should be noted that SB 509 was not site specific regarding a baseball stadium.
The public also has not seen a mobility/parking/infrastructure plan for the proposed ballpark on the Strip after the A’s pitched the old Wild Wild West casino-site on Tropicana Avenue on the west side of Interstate 15 and Dean Martin Drive in April.
