Las Vegas Stadium Board Returns To Action Thursday To Hear About A’s Stadium On Strip
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
With the Tropicana hotel reduced to rubble on the Strip Wednesday morning and the A’s stadium site ready for cleanup, it’s the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board’s time to take a swing at some stadium paperwork at a board meeting Thursday.
It’s been 16 months since Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed a state bill authorizing $380 million in government assistance to help the A’s build a $1.5 billion domed stadium at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
But Southern Nevada and the state are still waiting for A’s owner John Fisher to submit an official stadium funding plan that would legally bind the heir to the Gap retail empire to the more than $1 billion he needs to bring to the table to complete the stadium financing package.
Here’s a look at Thursday’s agenda:
As you can see, there are some formality resolutions that will likely be approved by the stadium board like creating a new fund called the “Baseball Stadium Capital Projects Fund” as a capital projects fund, effective Nov. 1.
The board will also hear about the new stadium tax district called the “Sports and Entertainment Improvement District” that will encompass the stadium’s nine-acre footprint on the hotel’s total 35-acre site at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd, and Tropicana Ave. The tax district will allow taxes and fees to be charged on purchased items like beers and Uber/Lyft rides.
Here’s a description of the types of taxes that will generate money to help pay off the debt on Clark County’s $120 million of general obligation bonds that are expected to be approved by the county commissioners in 2025. That $120 million is part of the $380 stadium construction subsidy bill approved by the Nevada Legislature in June 2023.
Clark County has earned a reputation for allowing sports promoters, team owners and event organizers to get whatever they want in the Strip corridor.
County Commissioner Jim Gibson said he’s confident the tax district will generate enough money to cover the county’s debt repayments on the $120 million in bonds. Take a listen:
The A’s want to finish the stadium for the 2028 season and will play in Sacramento in 2025, 2026 and 2027 while the stadium is built in Las Vegas. The historic American League charter team played its final game in Oakland in September after 57 years in the East Bay. The A’s also played in Philadelphia and Kansas City before Oakland.
The A’s plan to keep their brand, colors and logo in Las Vegas.
The A’s failed at building a stadium at five different locations in the Bay area. Fisher said he and his family are prepared to pay the $1.1 billion toward building the planned A’s stadium in Las Vegas even if he does not draw local investors.
It’s unclear why Fisher just didn’t spend the $1.1 billion on an open-air A’s waterfront stadium in Oakland. But the answer likely rests with the $380 million in public aid he’s receiving in Nevada to help build the ballpark in Las Vegas.
Fisher has an ally in LVCVA head Steve Hill who first sold the state Legislature on the $380 stadium subsidy bill in June 2023 and continues to be the stadium’s biggest public booster as chairman of the Las Vegas stadium board.
During the Tropicana implosion ceremony in Las Vegas early Wednesday, Fisher made a rare public appearance, saying Hill has helped him with the Vegas stadium project “every step of the way.”
