Amid Noise Surrounding Athletics Stadium Renderings In Las Vegas Is Strip’s Most Powerful Player — MGM Resorts International
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
It seemed like everyone had something to say about the Athletics’ renderings for their planned stadium on the Strip after the Major League Baseball team publicized its drawings of the 33,000-seat domed venue on nine acres in Las Vegas.
So the team itself probably figured it would write a press release with its stadium backers offering nothing but the nicest things about the baseball stadium that looked like the Sydney Opera House in renderings released Tuesday.
The A’s released statements Wednesday that were attributed to Nevada/Las Vegas government luminaries such as Gov. Joe Lombardo, LVCVA CEO/stadium board chairman Steve “Man of Many Hats” Hill and Clark County Commissioner/LVCVA Chair Jim Gibson.
Lombardo signed the state stadium subsidy law that designated $380 million in public dollars for the $1.5 billion A’s stadium, Hill argued for the stadium bill before state legislative panels and Gibson approved the $120 million in county bonds as part of the $380 million government assistance package.
But LVSportsBiz.com is keeping an eye on the stadium opinion of a certain company that stands to potentially gain a lot from the stadium at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
MGM Resorts International, which owns hotel-casinos (MGM Grand, New York New York, Excalibur) at the other three corners of this busy intersection, is Las Vegas’ biggest employer and the Strip’s biggest hotel owner. More than anyone, MGM Resorts wields the biggest hammer and most clout on the biggest decisions for Las Vegas and the Strip.
An A’s stadium on the Strip is a trigger for so any fans in the Bay area who have seen the MLB team float unsuccessful stadium plans for San Jose, Fremont, Howard Terminal, a community college district in Oakland and the Coliseum site. They say A’s owner John Fisher lacks the financial firepower to bring more than $1.1 billion to the table to build a stadium in Las Vegas.
Yes, the skeptics and doubters exist.
But the compass for whether this stadium project will be realized is MGM Resorts International — along with the A’s partners at the stadium site, Tropicana hotel-casino owner Bally’s Corporation and landowner Gaming and Leisure Properties, Incorporated (GLPI).
They’re all in on the A’s stadium project.
Listen to their statements about the A’s stadium.
Those quarterly earnings calls and analyst questions on the stadium will be must-listen material.
The Athletics will be in Las Vegas Friday and Saturday for Big League Weekend spring training games as the A’s play the Milwaukee Brewers at the Triple-A stadium, Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin.
Plus, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board meets March 21 at 3 PM at the board meeting room on the east side of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
