Economic boost or big business hand-out? Nevada lawmakers consider A’s stadium financing

The A’s plan would authorize up to $380 million in public assistance for the potential $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium in a special tax district, mainly through $180 million in state transferable tax credits and $120 million in bonds mostly from Clark County. The county also would contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs. The proposal would not directly raise taxes.

Presenters projected $900 million in annual construction wages and $17 million in tax revenue from operations each year in a study run by firms including Goldman Sachs, and funded by the Athletics. They said the state’s general fund would increase from the project.

“This is a good investment,” said Steve Hill, president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, adding that Las Vegas’ tourists would help fill the stadium. “There will be more money available at both the state and local level, if this deal is done then if it’s not.”

Lawmaker questions from a multitude of concerns in the bill that lawmakers said could have an outsized effect on their communities. This included how a lack of recent success from the Athletics could affect attendance, traffic along the Strip, compatibility with the nearby airport and the integrity of the metrics that they used to gather projection numbers.

A’s, Nevada legislators close to finalizing Las Vegas ballpark deal

The Oakland Athletics and state lawmakers are inching closer to a deal that would see up to $380 million in public money go toward the team’s planned $1.5 billion Las Vegas MLB ballpark, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Review-Journal.

The public contribution would include $180 million from the state in transferable tax credits, of which $90 million would be repaid over time from stadium revenues.

Clark County would contribute $150 million. Of that total, $125 million would come from bonds taken out by the county and repaid from a tax district set up around the proposed Tropicana Las Vegas stadium site. The county also would agree to pay for $25 million in infrastructure improvements to the stadium site.

The total public funding commitment would fall between $350 million and $380 million, depending on when the bonds are purchased and the interest rate tied to them.

The A’s would be responsible for any amount that surpasses $380 million, the source indicated.

A’s reach agreement to develop Las Vegas site for stadium

The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement with Bally’s and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a potential stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip.

Bally’s Corp. made the announcement Monday for a 30,000-seat stadium on the 35-acre site. The project is expected to cost about $1.5 billion, and the A’s are asking for nearly $400 million in public support from the Nevada Legislature, which could vote on a proposal this week.

The A’s previously previously signed an agreement to build a stadium also on Tropicana Avenue but on the other side of Interstate 15 that runs alongside the Strip. They were expected to ask the Legislature for $500 million in public funds for the 49-acre site that would have included much more than a stadium.

The new agreement is a scaled-down proposal, but the location is in closer walking distance for fans who are staying in hotels on the south end of the Strip. “We are excited about the potential to bring Major League Baseball to this iconic location,” A’s president Dave Kaval said in a statement. “We are thrilled to work alongside Bally’s and GLPI, and look forward to finalizing plans to bring the Athletics to Southern Nevada.”

A’s revisit other Vegas stadium sites as legislative process lags

Three weeks after confirming they had a “binding agreement” on a 49-acre site west of the Strip for a $1.5 billion baseball stadium, the Oakland A’s have reached out to owners of Southern Nevada sites the team previously considered as a potential backup plan should the team fail to secure legislative support for a $500 million tax package, property representatives told The Nevada Independent.

Sources connected to the A’s and close to the negotiations said Monday that the A’s are still focused on acquiring the former Wild West Casino site bordered by Tropicana Avenue and Dean Martin Drive from Red Rock Resorts for an undisclosed price for the 35,000-seat retractable roof stadium and a surrounding entertainment district.

However, they also confirmed the A’s reached back out to ownership of the Rio Hotel & Casino, which offered the team 22 acres of the resort’s 90-acre site, for just $1. The A’s had rejected the deal that could have greatly reduced some of the costs associated with the land acquisition because the team was concerned about traffic access.

With no concrete proposal and touch-and-go negotiations ongoing, sources spoke to The Nevada Independent on the condition of anonymity. An A’s spokeswoman declined to comment on the record.

Oakland A’s enter binding agreement to buy Las Vegas ballpark site | Las Vegas Review-Journal

The Oakland Athletics have zeroed in on Southern Nevada, signing a binding purchase agreement for land just west of the Strip where a major-league ballpark could be constructed.

The agreement is for 49 acres at Dean Martin Drive and Tropicana Avenue, owned by Red Rock Resorts, parent company of Station Casinos.

“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” A’s President Dave Kaval told the Review-Journal on Wednesday. “Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”

With the announcement of the purchase agreement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred concurs with Kaval and hopes the A’s shifting their efforts solely to Southern Nevada will lead to the end of the team’s yearslong quest to leave crumbling Oakland Coliseum.

Manfred: Athletics owner focusing on move to Las Vegas

Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred says Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher has focused on Las Vegas of late as a new home for the franchise.

Manfred, speaking Wednesday at baseball’s Cactus League media day, isn’t closing the door on the team remaining in Oakland.

“I think Mr. Fisher wants to make the best deal to secure the future of the A’s, whether it’s in Oakland or in Las Vegas,” Manfred said. “They need a new stadium. I think that’s kind of beyond debate.”

The A’s have played at the Coliseum since 1968, and their lease expires after the 2024 season. After withdrawing plans for ballparks in Fremont and San Jose, the team announced in November 2018 it had found a waterfront location for a new ballpark at Howard Terminal, close to the Jack London Square neighborhood.

But the Howard Terminal proposal has been stalled by money and concerns about affordable housing in the area.

“I don’t think they are in agreement on the affordable housing issue,” Manfred said. “The threshold issue right now I think in Oakland is how to handle the funding for the infrastructure.”

A’s appear to be down to 1 potential Las Vegas ballpark site

Bally’s President George Papanier, who oversees the company’s land-based casino operations, confirmed to the Review-Journal in an email that talks with the A’s regarding the Tropicana site remain ongoing.

All of this, of course, is contingent on the A’s deciding not to remain in Oakland. In the Bay Area, the A’s have a waterfront development at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal in play. The $12 billion mixed-use development would include residential, commercial, hotel and public space centered around a $1 billion waterfront ballpark.

The process has a new twist now with newly sworn-in Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao replacing former mayor Libby Schaaf. Thao’s comments to Bay Area media seem to mimic Schaaf’s, with the desire to keep the team in Oakland, but not while putting taxpayers at risk.

Thao and her team haven’t responded to multiple requests by the Review-Journal to discuss her stance on Howard Terminal.

In Las Vegas, Ruffin’s executive assistant Alicia Crockett told the Review-Journal in an e-mail that there has been no recent contact between Ruffin’s group and the A’s. Crockett did not go into further detail or note when the last time talks with the A’s occurred.

Ruffin owns the Las Vegas Festival Grounds site located on the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue. The 40-acre site was looked at early on by the A’s, but their focus shifted elsewhere. That was until last summer when the two sides began to talk again.

Last year, a source told the Review-Journal that that the A’s had narrowed their stadium search in Las Vegas to the Tropicana and the festival grounds sites.

The A’s didn’t immediately respond when asked to comment regarding the negotiations in Las Vegas, but team President Dave Kaval has spoken many times over the last year about the team’s desire for a ballpark built in the Resort Corridor.