Make No Mistake: New A’s Stadium On Strip Is Tourism Play And Vegas’ Hotel Owners Are Running The Show
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
Nobody in Las Vegas asked the Athletics to move to Sin City.
There was no grassroots business or fan group lobbying MLB or the Athletics to move to Nevada.
Frankly, most people thought the NBA would follow the NHL (2017) and the NFL (2020) to Las Vegas.
Arena builder Tim Leiweke wants to build an NBA arena at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road and Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, who owns 15 percent of T-Mobile Arena, is open to allowing any future NBA team in Las Vegas to use his arena until Leiweke’s NBA arena opens about three miles to the south.
But A’s owner John Fisher came to Carson City because Gov. Joe Lombardo and the state Legislature opened up Nevada’s checkbook to the tune of $380 million in government assistance to build a $1.5 billion stadium.
It’s a simple equation: Major League Baseball wants host cities to show teams the stadium construction money. It’s pay to play and Nevada and Clark County were happy to pay in June.
But what would be the sales pitch?
It was an easy one.
A stadium built with a $380 million subsidy would be a tourism attraction and help Las Vegas’ one-trick pony hospitality economy.
Don’t take my word for it. “Tourism” is literally included in the name of the stadium funding bill, SB1 — Southern Nevada Tourism Innovation Act.
The A’s are here because Clark County and the LVCVA tourism agency love pro sports. And they’re willing to pay up. The $380 million stadium construction subsidy includes $120 million in Clark County bonds.
And it’s one-stop shopping when you want to open a subsidized stadium in Las Vegas.
Steve Hill is the CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority AND the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board. And Hill’s LVCVA agency supplies the administrative support work for Hill’s stadium board. And Hill presented the Athletics’ case for stadium funding before state legislative committees in June before the Legislature approved the funding legislation and Lombardo signed SB1 into law.
Then, there’s Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson. His district includes the A’s stadium site at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The A’s plan to build their 33,000-seat stadium on nine acres of the Tropicana hotel’s 35-acre site.
The Tropicana hotel, run by Bally’s Corporation, is closing shop April 2 to make way for the buildings’ demolition later this year because the A’s want to have a groundbreaking in the first half of 2025. The Athletics’ aim is to have the stadium ready for MLB’s 2028 season.
This is a tourism play.
The stadium will feature the highest percentage of premium seating in the majors and with only 33,000 seats in the ballpark it’s expected that ticket prices will be costly.
Las Vegas is an outlier market. It’s a small market for major league sports, but the town is built for tourism with its airport, main artery of the Strip, hotels and Raiders stadium/T-Mobile Arena all within a few miles of each other.
The Athletics have begun connecting with local Little Leagues, handing out free A’s caps to fans and kids.
The A’s are staging their first spring training camp since MLB approved the franchise’s move to Las Vegas.
They played two games against the Milwaukee Brewers during Big League Weekend Friday and Saturday. It was a split squad team for the A’s in Las Vegas — the first A’s games in Las Vegas. Fisher, Kaval and stadium designer Bjarke Ingels talked with the media before Friday evening’s game.
