Former Nevada Legislator Who Backed Athletics Stadium Subsidy Bill Takes Offense To ‘Corruptively’ In Social Media Post, Tells A’s Fan To ‘Get Off Your Mom’s Couch, Leave The Basement And Learn To Live’
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
Former Nevada lawmaker Scott Hammond, who supported the Athletics baseball stadium funding bill, got into a recent social media scrap with Oakland Athletics fans over the controversial stadium bill during the past few days.
Hammond, a former state senator named the executive director of Nevada Governor’s Office of Workforce Innovation only two months ago, did not appreciate comments posted by A’s fans Sunday. The A’s won a $380 million public subsidy from the Nevada Legislature in June to build a $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat stadium at the Tropicana hotel site on the Strip for the 2028 baseball season. Major League Baseball in November then approved the A’s move to Las Vegas.
It should be noted that the stadium funding legislation, known as SB1, requires the A’s ballpark to be built at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
It began when Hammond was tagged in this post Sunday:
Then Hammond lobbed back, advising the fan to, “Get off your mom’s couch, leave the basement and learn to live.”
Then another Athletics fan dropped into the social media fray with this, calling Hammond’s post “an embarrassing reply.”
Well, Hammond was not going to take that lying down either. So, the former state senator who represented a district in suburban Las Vegas countered with this, referring to that fan as “an idiot.”:
That sparked another response from a fan who said the original post “hit a nerve” and then another Hammond response Sunday.
Hammond said he typically ignores the stadium funding comments from what he described as “keyboard warriors.” But he told LVSportsBiz.com Monday that he decided to counter the A’s fans’ post because it used the word, “corruptively.”
“It doesn’t sit well when someone accuses you of doing something corrupt. There was nothing corrupt with how we did it,” Hammond said of the state legislature approving the $380 million public funding bill in a special session that would help Athletics owner John Fisher build a stadium on nine acres of the Tropicana hotel site at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
Hammond said he also understands Athletics fans “lashing out. They’re angry they’re losing their team.” He added, “I feel bad for them and they want to express their frustration.”
Hammond to LVSportsBiz.com: “I know how they feel. They feel attacked. This gentleman said, ‘Corruptively.’ I’ll hit back a little.”
The Athletics postponed a stadium renderings unveiling event that was set for Dec. 4 in Las Vegas. The A’s have not said when the renderings will be revealed to the public even though the team has privately showed the stadium drawings to hotel company executives in Las Vegas.
