LVSportsBiz.com Roundup On Mark Davis, Raiders, Aces, Cashman Field On Auction Block, UNLV Sports Economics
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — It was only a year ago when things were much better at the Las Vegas Raiders and the Las Vegas Aces for Mark Davis.
In early November 2023, the Raiders/Aces owner was still celebrating the Aces’ second consecutive WNBA championship and enjoyed the Raiders’ big win over the New York Giants in the first game under then-interim coach Antonio Pierce in the first Sunday in November after Davis fired former Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels on Halloween day in 2023.
But this year, the Aces lost to the eventual WNBA champion New York Liberty five weeks ago before firing their general manager, Natalie Williams, while the Raiders are in freefall with five straight losses and a 2024 record of two wins in nine games. The Raiders play the Miami Dolphins in South Florida Sunday.
But don’t feel too bad for Davis.
The value of the Raiders was pegged at a stunning $6.7 billion by Forbes business magazine.
Davis also welcomed the Raiders’ new part-owner, Tom Brady, a month ago.
Here’s the LVSportsBiz.com advice for Brady: quit the FOX Sports NFL broadcasting job and focus on rebuilding the Raiders into a competitive team.
Brady is a bright guy with a good football mind, but he does not have chemistry in the broadcast booth. Davis needs Brady’s help to turn around the Raiders, a once-proud franchise that has two winning seasons in the past 21 years.
City of Las Vegas puts Cashman Center on the auction block: Poor Cashman Field.
The Triple-A minor league Aviators fled the ballpark for Summerlin as the baseball team’s owners said they did not like the downtown neighborhood of Cashman.
The former XFL Vegas Vipers were one year and out at Cashman. The city even used the Cashman site for a COVID homeless center in 2020.
At least the city-owned Cashman complex is hosting a winner — the USFL Lights under new owner Jose Bautista is playing in the conference final.
But now Las Vegas wants to sell the Cashman Center, which includes the sports stadium, a theater where the late Tony Hsieh used to have quarterly Zappos meetings and even convention center space. The city is auctioning off the 1940s-era Cashman Center, with bids starting at $33.95 million.
Here is the city of Las Vegas’ comments on social media:
“We are officially accepting bids for Cashman Center. The opening bid is set at $33.95 million. At the Dec. 4 City Council meeting, they will consider whether to accept any of the bids. Cashman Center is a 50.25-acre mixed-use complex at 850 N. Las Vegas Blvd. adjacent to downtown Las Vegas. The property includes a 9,213-seat stadium, a convention center (over 130,000 sq. ft.), and a 26,000 sq. ft. theater, all brimming with redevelopment potential. Bid are being accepted through Nov. 19.”
The redevelopment plans have come and gone at the Cashman complex.
Now the city of Las Vegas is taking charge, hoping to unload the downtown mixed-use development.
UNLV Athletics say they add money to Las Vegas economy: Another day, another sports organization crowing about the money it adds to the local economy.
This time, the UNLV Athletics Department emailed a press release that says UNLV sports adds $109 million annually in added money to the Las Vegas economy.
The press release, however, makes no mention of the Athletics Department’s annual budget. LVSportsBiz.com asked UNLV for the annual sports budget and if we receive it we share it here.
Sports events, organizations and teams routinely claim economic impact numbers without factoring in many impacts like expenses, public dollars, displaced spending and losses to impacted businesses.
LVSportsBiz.com did not receive the annual athletic budget at UNLV, but we did find this from a Nevada System of Higher Education meeting in 2024 that showed the annual budget was about $60 million.
