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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Really, did you actually think there was any chance Clark County’s governing board this week would deny a special use permit for the MLB Athletics to build a $1.75 billion domed stadium on the Strip?
The starry-eyed county commissioners like Jim Gibson are like kids loose in the candy shop. There is nothing these seven elected commissioners won’t approve when it comes to major league stadiums.
After all, this is the world-famous Strip and if you think local government and elected commissioners will stand in the way of an A’s stadium then you also think MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will ban torpedo bats.
Ain’t gonna happen.
This is Stadium 2.0 for Clark County. The county commissioners were all in for the Raiders stadium that opened in 2020 and they’re all in again for A’s stadium, a venue capable of hosting 33,000 fans at the former Tropicana hotel-casino site that crumbled to the ground in the early hours of a day in October.
Clark County rules required the A’s to provide 7,500 parking spaces, but they got away with having to provide only 2,470 spaces in a nine-level parking garage. The A’s stadium will be built on nine of the site’s 35 acres at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue with the parking garage built on the southeast side of the ballpark.
The A’s included an engineering study conducted by Kimley-Horn and Associates — the firm that has done other stadium studies in Las Vegas — and the report said there are other ways to get to the stadium like walking, taxis, shuttles and limos. Here’s the county’s summary of that outlook:
“The report states that event attendees of the baseball stadium development will have numerous travel options to attend an event other than driving and parking a personal/rental vehicle. These options include the following: Transportation Network Company (TNC) vehicle (Uber/Lyft), Taxi, RTC transit, Shuttle busses, Limos, Vegas Loop (The Boring Company), and walking. The 2,470 spaces are anticipated to satisfy the expected parking demands of the project due to: 1) attendees’ increased utilization of taxi, TNC, and other transportation modes . . . ”
It was a repeat performance of the Raiders stadium approvals, complete with Marc Badain leading the charge for the A’s as team president exactly like he did as former team president of the Raiders.
On hand at Wednesday’s county meeting was Tommy White, Laborers Union Local 872 leader and Las Vegas Stadium Board member who also repeated his love for building stadiums.
Once the state Legislature approved in 2023 the $380 million subsidy to help the A’s build their stadium, it’s been a done deal ever since. The Las Vegas stadium board, under the guidance of LVCVA chief Steve “Man of Many Hats” Hill who lobbied for the stadium public funding before the state lawmakers, has rubber-stamped the A’s stadium agreements.
And Wednesday the county commissioners had their rubber stamps at the ready when the special use permit was routinely approved.
Las Vegas may be a big growing market, but it functions like a small company town. The hotel companies like MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Las Vegas dictate public policies. The county commissioners rubber-stamp the approvals. The LVCVA uses public money to advertise the Strip. And consultants like Kimley-Horn and Jeremy Aguero make money off the sports-entertainment growth.
The Las Vegas market’s health care, education and public transportation rank low compared to similar-sized markets. But at least Las Vegas has the best stadiums around. The A’s say they will hold the groundbreaking in either April, May or June and build the baseball stadium in 30 or 31 months for the 2028 MLB season.
PROMO