The Athletics’ efforts to secure public funding for a Las Vegas stadium project has been pending in the Nevada legislature for the past few weeks. Reports in late May suggested the organization and lawmakers had reached a tentative agreement that’d see around $380MM in public funding committed to the project via tax credits, exemptions and county-issued bonds.
They’re still awaiting formal approval from the legislature, though, and the process has slowed down substantially. Nevada’s standard legislative session only runs through June 5; the A’s stadium bill didn’t come up for a formal vote in that time. That’s not a death knell for the project, as the governor’s office called a special session this morning to keep legislators in Carson City.
Both Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent (Twitter link) and Mike Watson of 8 ABC report that the A’s stadium proposal will be up for debate. Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal tweets the A’s stadium is not scheduled for tonight but could be heard tomorrow at 10:00 am PDT. It’s not clear whether there’ll be a formal vote on the proposal within the next 24 hours but there should soon be more clarity about the project’s chances of getting off the ground.
The A’s are hoping to construct a 30,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof on the Vegas Strip. If their stadium plans are greenlit by Nevada officials, the A’s could then formally apply to MLB for relocation out of Oakland.
They should hope it doesn’t go thru, why go to the 40th ranked marketing city, when u could do better.
Isn’t Vegas a fast growing city? I’d rather go there than such cities that already have teams say Detroit, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Cleveland which are in a 50-year long population decline. Better would be the A’s in Charlotte or Nashville, but I think the MLB prefers expansion to those cities.
most people who move to vegas are retirees with limited income. most of current residents either don’t have time or money to support a mlb team.
As a Vegas resident you’re wrong on all counts. Our residents bought out the Golden Knights season tickets in minutes. There’s TONS of $$ in Vegas.
Now whether or not they would spend their money on the A’s is another matter
The median age of Vegas residents is 37. There are 200,000 ppl at least working in the strip casinos. The Golden Knights sold out their season ticket allotment in minutes when they came to Vegas.
As a Vegas resident you are wrong on all accounts
That’s your opinion and it’s not accurate
Looks like on a “percentage of seats filled” basis, pro hockey teams and pro football teams in greater Miami and Tampa Bay draw well as well. BUT historically not their pro baseball teams. I see Vegas like a Miami and Tampa Bay. Residence not from there that moved there. These relocators prefer following the baseball team they grew up on.
That’s mostly because the people in Florida with the most money actually live there during football and hockey seasons but not most of baseball season. Vegas at the very least does not have that Snowbird problem.
As for the relocators, they should at least be willing to go a game when their own team is in town, which now happens every season for every team.
I just doubt that will be enough given Vegas’s overall market size and the fact that the plans are for a reatively tiny 30,000 seat stadium.
There’s no state tax so players will spend less on those multi million dollar contracts. State tax is paid by the casinos in Vegas.
I’m glad it’s a dome like stadium because in the summer months being a 100 degrees in the middle of the night suck.
Oakland is in the San Francisco Bay Metropolitan area. That alone, when combining San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, and maybe Stockton together makes it way more valuable than Las Vegas/Henderson. Which is probably most likely why for the past 50 years, the Athletics have been “stuck” in Oakland and only the glitz and glam of Vegas can attract businessmen like John Fisher and Mark Davis to extend their net worth, not give a dookie about the team’s performance, and have fans like you and “JoeBrady” fill their pockets while they cash out the team, leave the said team in a potential 5th relocation yet again because of their new better net worth, and move on to other money-making ventures…
It’s only valuable in the Bay Area if the area supports your product. With no plan for renovating the Coliseum or building a new ballpark who cares how many deep-pocketed companies and individuals are there. As a franchise the Athletics have ALWAYS followed the money in order to survive — a move to Vegas and out of Oakland is no different.
A’s can have their 50% territory Santa Clara County restored
by voter of owners.
Walter Haas (Levis Strauss) gifted it to the Giants to save them from moving to Tampa. Strauss, according to MLB Commish Selig expected the territory to be restored to the A’s after the Giants built their new stadium.
Vegas keeps the A’s an American League west team. Charlotte and Nashville would take them out of that division.
Vegas keeps the A’s an American League west team. Charlotte and Nashville take them out of being in that division.
Most likely, that is true, but there are precedents with moves and realignments where teams didn’t move to the correct geographical divisions or conferences, at least not immediately. In baseball, after the institution of divisions, the Braves were in the NL West for many years, though none of their locations were west of the Mississippi. In the NBA, divisions still exist but have less importance than conferences now. The Grizzlies moved from Vancouver to Memphis but remained in the Western Conference. They did move from the Pacific Division to the Midwest, as did the Sonics/Thunder. The NBA played some games with Charlotte and New Orleans through a move and an expansion to have one team in the East and one in the West.
In the NFL, to preserve division rivalries, the Cowboys and the Dolphins remained in the NFC East and AFC East, respectively, though that wouldn’t make the most sense geographically compared to other available divisions.
I couldn’t explain what happened to the divisions in the NHL (Metropolitan?) since I don’t follow it closely enough, but the conferences have more importance than the divisions there, too.
Yeah, that was odd when the Braves and Reds were in the NL West, but that was because the Cubs refused to go to the Western division and play a whole bunch of late games that didn’t start until after 9 PM local time, and the Cardinals refused to be separated from the Cubs. The Braves and Reds were willing to have a bunch 10 PM starts in their stead.
Ever since the realignment in ’94, MLB has done its best to keep the division geography consistent.
Even a shaky future in Las Vegas has a stronger upside than staying in Oakland. If the team stays on the coast they still have no real plan for a new ballpark or even renovations to make the place workable. Teams in Vegas will always have the luxury of corporations splashing money in big projects and trying to keep things like a ballpark in the best shape to keep drawing in the customers.
That wouldn’t be true if they actually got a new stadium in Oakland and Fisher sold the team to someone who cares. Unfortunately, neither of those things are likely to happen anytime soon.
Good riddance Oakland. What a dump. Would have rather seen them move to San Jose, (thanks greedy Giants) but Vegas is better than nothing.
Giants own the rights to San Jose and they’re not giving it up. A’s already tried.
A’s can have their 50% territory Santa Clara County restored
by voter of owners.
Former A’s Owner Walter Haas (Levis Strauss) gifted it to the Giants to save them from moving to Tampa. Strauss, according to MLB Commish Selig expected the territory to be restored to the A’s after the Giants built their new stadium.
Expensive toilet for a doodoo team
How old are you, 7?
Sucker’s bet.
Hope they’re serving the legislators free drinks when they vote for this boondoggle.
It’ll be quite a legacy marker for the governor.
Montreal should get another club.
The Montreal Athlétiques would be interesting.
If not Montreal, the A’s should relocate to Portland, Oregon.
I think the Athletics would be embraced by the “weird” city of Portland and it would strengthen their AL West rivalry with the Seattle Mariners.
Portland deserves better than Fisher.
All markets deserve better than Fisher.
Don’t need a salary cap. Need an equivalent to the luxury tax tiers on the floor.
Portland, land of riots and crime, is almost as bad as Oakland. Portland, San Francisco, ….poop.com….
Las Vegas is a better choice, but the dome or retractable roof stadium had better have a really good air conditioning system. Vegas has over 130,000 hotel rooms, so the A’s will draw double to triple the attendance from visitors who are tired of gambling and shows.
No way Montreal should get another team. EVER. They didn’t support the Expos. Besides, MLB players really don’t like paying Canadian taxes.
Let’s all cry a river for millionaires paying taxes.
There are plenty of players in their first three years of service who are not millionaires.
Like with the A’s, they had a lousy stadium, a bad team, and an owner who screwed them over. MLB should at least investigate if enough interest is there to give Montreal a second chance.
Portland is a small area. I can see the A’s doing ok in Vegas. 3/4 f the tickets sold will be tourists.
I think that is a complete misnomer. People do not go to Vegas to go to sports games. and before you cite the Raiders and Golden Knights, those 2 teams collectively play 49 regular season home games in Vegas. That is barely a third of the season for a baseball team. They are 1 off games, not series. This is why the proposed stadium is the smallest in baseball. They don’t expect people to come.
John – I am a 13 year resident of Vegas and executive and you are incorrect. The A’s will draw great. Fans from visiting teams like Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers…will be eager to see ‘their’ team in an easy accessible venue near the Strip!
49 is 1/3 of 81?
Portland couldn’t support a AAA team, and then evicted an A short-season(!) team in favor of soccer at their old ballpark. A’s would feel right at home.
Portland is the 25th largest metro area in the U.S. Las Vegas ranks 29th.
Give it time. I suspect Montreal will be in line for an expansion team after they firm up plans for a new ballpark. I’m wondering if the two expansion teams MLB has in mind couldn’t come from two non-US cities. Think Montreal and Mexico City.
@misterb71 Vancouver could get more looks than Montreal. Gives them another west coast team with Mexico City
30,000 seat stadium would be the smallest stadium in MLB and would be the total opposite extreme as the A’s currently play in the largest stadium capacity wise.
I don’t know what the answer is, but if Oakland is a lost cause and San Jose is off the table the team has to play somewhere
the best place would be san jose. commish should have done more to facilate the move. second, oakland with small to mid-sized tech companies moving in. it is just the dumb politicians messing it up. vegas would be my third choice.
I hate to be the relocation type of guy, but Portland, OR and San Antonio, TX I’d see would be great relocation/expansion cities than Vegas, just my humble and honest opinion.
It’s been a couple of years since I was at the ballpark, but San Antonio seemed to only fill their small AA stadium on $1 beer night.
The commish is a joke, cares only for the owners pockets not the players and certainly not the fans. Ticker prices are outrageous
The commissioner works for the owners. The players have union reps that work for them. Maybe you don’t work in a union but they sit at opposite sides of the table during negotiations.
salary cap and it is much easier to fill 17,500 sears than 30,000.
A 30,000 seat MLB stadium proposal should be a non-starter. Time to look elsewhere.
A’s can have their 50% territory Santa Clara County restored
by voter of owners.
Walter Haas (Levis Strauss) gifted it to the Giants to save them from moving to Tampa. Strauss, according to MLB Commish Selig expected the territory to be restored to the A’s after the Giants built their new stadium.
I live in Henderson. A stadium on the strip would be good for tourists for sure, locals less so. Now if it was an expansion team in Vegas I think the formula would be different. Most Dodgers fans, Cubs fans, Yankees fans would not buy a Las Vegas Athletics hat but very well might buy a Las Vegas Black Jack’s, Rollers fill in the blank expansion team hat. Just look at the Raiders home games versus the Knights home games. Knights have a great local following and Raiders games are home games for the away team.
NV should say no.
A’s should build a new stadium on the current very convenient coliseum site or SFG should do the right thing and give up San Jose media rights and let the A’s move to South Bay.
It was just 2 years ago the A’s were a good, young talented team. Fisher and his cronies bled that team to force this money grab move. To shame
You just said that the A’s wouldn’t have local support if they get that stadium on the strip but then say the Knights have a good local following playing on the strip. What’s your reasoning for the difference?
I believe his point is that the Knights do well because they are an expansion team as opposed to a relocated team that people already have opinions and biases about. Taking into account team histories, It’s an interesting theory.
To that point, if the Mets were to relocate to where I am for some hypothetical reason, I definitely wouldn’t become a fan and would continue to root for who I root for. The only reason I would go to games is to see the teams I was already a fan of, which is what he says happens at Raiders games and why he says the Knights experience is better.
I suppose completely rebranding the team would solve that problem, but I don’t think many people want to see that happen to the A’s..
That’s an interesting theory for sure but the Diamondbacks show that it is hard to get residents from “outside” to support the “new” local team.
first off, i think you mean “territorial rights”. thing is, everyone asking the giants to “give up” territorial rights just say that and don’t realize what’s involved.
there are around one million residents in san jose alone; not including thousands of residents in neighboring cities like santa clara, milpitas, down to morgan hill, etcetera. these residents (translation – consumers who spend money) may decide to skip the trip up 101 from the south bay to the city if they can stay closer to home next to a shiny new park (and spend part of their salaries there).
business-wise, if the giants lose, for example, 10% of annual attendance because south bay residents stay local and stop going to giants games, that translates to millions of dollars annually lost.
another example, if you owned an el pollo loco and made decent coin and then a taco bell opens up a block away and you lost a double-digit percentage of your business (less money earned), you’d be sweating bullets trying to make up all that money you’re bleeding out due to the brand new competition.
yeah, the giants could play nice and waive territorial rights. but, if it comes down to being nice and lose millions annually or keep things as-is, pretty sure you know the answer.
Move to meheeco Puerto Vallarta athleticos
No one should want the A’s. They are the lowest of low, and clearly Vegas is questioning why a team that doesn’t even bother to contend at this point should demand tax payers money for their project is a laugh. They really expect tourists that are fans of a visiting team would be willing to go to three games in a row while on the most exciting city in the world? Not to mention the intense summer heat. This has fail written all over it.
And to those suggesting their cities or non market cities… you should be hoping for an expansion team, not this once proud now putrid franchise.
oh and also asking the residents of Vegas or any city that wants a team to support this franchise is like asking them to believe a leopard can change their spots. you should be suggesting cities you hate for them. Like any skid row filled city in california.
Someone said this above but I liked it; Just Say No To The A’s.
“Not to mention the intense summer heat.”
The Diamondbacks play in Phoenix. The heat isn’t going to be an issue with a dome or retractable roof.
The most exciting city in the world? You haven’t been around much, have you.
Yeah yeah Hyberbole, maybe i should have a said a town with lots of options and things to do at all times.
Moving a MLB team to the desert with the inevitable water crisis looming is a terrible idea. Good luck with that.
Wait, doesn’t Vegas already have a minor league baseball team?
Yes, the A’s AAA team is already in Las Vegas and among the asinine “numbers” presented the A’s said the AAA team would remain in Las Vegas…which makes absolutely no sense.
The A’s AAA team in Vegas (The Aviators) currently outdraws the A’s MLB in Oakland in attendance, even without a roof.
One problem as a local in Vegas is I despise going to the strip and I’m definitely not going 81 games a year.
The last time I went on the strip was like 7 years ago for a Tech N9ne concert. I’m glad I don’t drive anymore. The strip is a PITA. I rarely go there. I would definitely go to Cubs and A’s when they come here.
Actually makes a lot of sense. The Twins and M’s have similar set-ups.
That’s not that uncommon. The Mariners AAA team is in Tacoma
Move the AAA team to Henderson.
Nah. They should build the A’s stadium right next to the Aviators park. If someone is sent down or called up. They can literally walk across the parking lot and they’re at theor destination.
Fisher is a terrible owner whose method of running a business alienates fans and civic leaders.
Is this jerk the person Las Vegas wants to deal with?
Memo to the city and the Nevada legislature: wait for an expansion team if you want baseball to succeed in Vegas.
Nevada… 49th WORST state in education… but they have 380 million to commit to funding MLB. Taxpayers bailing out billionaires with tax funded socialism = Idiots.
Hey, don’t bother the sheep with trivialities like education! Fleecing and exploitation are the exact reasons why the rulers want to keep their chattel dumb and docile.
The 1740 Negro Act already stipulated that slaves weren’t allowed to be literate. You see, we’re talking about a great American tradition here.
They’re not giving tax money to the A’s, they’re investing tax money. Nevada has high sales tax and low other taxes. That means the additional economic activity associated with the stadium will go efficiently right back to the state. They’ll come out far, far ahead financially. The only question is whether local residents want the additional traffic. But this is a done deal.
“They’re not giving tax money to the A’s, they’re investing tax money..”
Hahaha… good one! Must be the reason why ALL billionaire sports franchise owners pass on these fantastic investment opportunities.
It’s been proven over and over again that professional sports venues are a massive drain on public funds.
usnews.com/opinion/economic-intelligence/articles/…
A stadium is only in use for a few days/weeks per annum, which makes any sales tax revenue negligible, while the owners siphon off the profits. Most jobs, connected to sports venues, consist of temporary low-paying employment, that often won’t even get the respective workers off welfare.
The city of Glendale, AZ ended up PAYING its local NHL franchise over $30 million each year to stay in their taxpayer-financed arena.
Thanks to the Diamondbacks, taxpayers are now on the hook for over $100 million in Chase Field renovation expenses.
sports.yahoo.com/arizona-approves-ballpark-sales-t…
Imagine believing that giving tax money to billionaires is a better investment of public funds than spending it on educating a country’s population.
County-issued bonds. More junk IOUs from another bankrupt city poured into the financial market. With the dollar’s decline as a global reserve currency, the U.S. will have to start another world war sooner or later. And I’m afraid they will.
Vegas should not give the A’s a dime to move there. Easily the worst/cheaply run team in baseball now wants to build the tiniest stadium – and still wants taxpayer funding. Gtfo lol. Vegas lawmakers and citizens (the actual people that matter) should laugh them out of the room. This owner should get what he deserves – and that is staying in Oakland for better or worse.
Why on earth would Nevada say no? Great deal. Sucks for the three A’s fans out there, but life goes on.
The Nevada Legislature is saying NO! Hundreds of millions in subsidies for the A’s and Nevada taxpayers on the hook for losses when Fisher messes it up in Las Vegas. Governor of Nevada told legislators that NEVADA WAS BROKE AND HAD ZERO FUNDS FOR EDUCATION, THE HOMELSS, MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMS.
At least the A’s will contend within a few years.
It doesn’t take long from them to emerge from a rebuild if you take a look at the team’s history.
Unlike Detroit, who has been in a failed rebuild for 7 years and now has to tack on another several seasons of horrible baseball for this Tigers fan.
Move the team to Mexico City. The AL needs a high elevation park. At the moment, KC is the highest elevated park in the AL.
Oakland A’s manager, Mark Kotsay, trashed Las Vegas last week. He said the organization is having a difficult time evaluating talent in Las Vegas because the atmospheric conditions allow their players to do things at AAA that will not work in the major leagues. Every player they have brought up from AAA that was hitting around 300 has failed in Oakland. he also discussed the problems of evaluating pitchers in Las Vegas.
The same could be said for the PCL at large. Offensive numbers have always been inflated. And the coliseum is a huge expanse with copious foul territory. The LV Ballpark is completely different. Mark Kotsay isn’t that stupid is he
I agree this team would be much better off in San Jose for a few reasons. They should have never given up those rights to the greedy Giants. Should have moved there years ago
A’s can have their 50% territory Santa Clara County restored
by voter of owners.
Walter Haas (Levis Strauss) gifted it to the Giants to save them from moving to Tampa. Strauss, according to MLB Commish Selig expected the territory to be restored to the A’s after the Giants built their new stadium.
Yeah, the Giants giving up territorial rights is a pipe dream that would not benefit them in any fashion but more realistic I suppose is them being mandated to do so by Manfred in the interest of keeping the As in the bay.
And yes as elmedius says the difference in local acceptance for an expansion team would be far more wide reaching than an existing team moving here to this town of ex pats with already established fan allegiance. Dodgers fans in LV are not gonna root for the A’s but they might root for an expansion team. LA Kings fans in LV switched hats really quick when vegas got an expansion team. If the sharks moved I doubt they would have
A’s can have their 50% territory Santa Clara County restored
by voter of owners.
Walter Haas (Levis Strauss) gifted it to the Giants to save them from moving to Tampa. Strauss, according to MLB Commish Selig expected the territory to be restored to the A’s after the Giants built their new stadium.
Will they be called the Las Vegas Aces? Has this been discussed yet?
The wnba team in Las Vegas are called tbe Aces. It would be perfect for the A’s to be renamed the Aces. They would still be abbreviated to the A’s.
No one watches the wnba. Until this year. I didn’t know there was a wnba here in Vegas.
While still better than playing in that awful Colosseum, I still don’t get how the A’s are going to solve their financial woes with only a 30,000 seat stadium unless they can really jack up the ticket prices and still get enough people to buy them. It’s like they’re admitting that they’re moving to a very small market for an MLB team and aren’t even going to try to draw well.
This. 100%. He covers it all.
“Fisher has realized that he can fund his lifestyle to the tune of $60 million in profit per year just by HAVING a team, not fielding a winning team. As long as there is revenue sharing, he makes money.. The A’s are his cash cow. His only significant source of cash flow.
Fisher’s reported $2.2 billion in wealth is mainly the A’s and the San Jose Earthquakes MLS team. His shares in GAP are at $9 per share and are worth around $400 million total. 2 Years ago they sold at $35+ and were worth $1.5 billion. He could take out loans on them, but as volatile as GAP stock has been the last 2 years the loans would not be on favorable terms.
His salary as a director on the GAP board is just $179,993 per year. You are not flying around on private jets at $15,000-$50,000 per hour like Fisher does on that salary.
How does Fisher benefit?
In Las Vegas he would be given 9 acres of land worth $180 million on which to build his stadium and Bally’s would share the cost of the infrastructure needs. .
In Las Vegas he would get at a minimum $36 million per year for 5 years, $180 million, as a direct tax credit from the state.
In Las Vegas he would get a 30 years of tax money being used to pay for his teams use of the ballpark. The tax on every penny spent in the stadium district would go to fund the ballpark AND ballpark maintenance and upgrades. Once its built he doesn’t pay a dime for upkeep or improvements.
The taxpayers would also be on the hook for cost overruns in stadium construction.
In Las Vegas he can honestly say that the team plays in a small market and his revenue is low so the other MLB owners will subsidize the team with revenue sharing. .Market ranks 41st in the US. The stadium he is proposing only holds 30k so it’s impossible to even have 2.5 million tickets sold. Many of the biggest possible sponsors in Las Vegas are casinos that are prohibited by law from investing in even tickets to games because they accept betting on MLB games. His local revenue will be smaller in Las Vegas.
Because of the money from revenue sharing and national TV and streaming deals, Fisher really doesn’t have to care if the team ever wins a championship or even has a winning season or if he even sells a ticket because that doesn’t affect his opportunity to draw great profits out of the team.
In Las Vegas he has guaranteed revenue from MLB that is greater than his MLB, MILB, FO, baseball operations, and ballpark operations payrolls before a ticket is sold. He has no costs for ballpark maintenance and upgrades.
For a Las Vegas stadium Fisher will be taking out loans, not paying from his bank account. The mega-tif that is part of this funding bill means that much of the loan payments will be made out of the tax money on anything sold in the stadium district.
When Fisher sells in a few years, the A’s franchise will be worth much more money. Not due to a new stadium or moving to Las Vegas. The reason is scarcity. There are only 30 MLB teams.
In Las Vegas Fisher wins and everyone else loses. This is 100% a grift by Fisher, Koval, and Aguero.”
Hopefully when they break ground it’s next to Las Vegas Ballpark. It shouldn’t be on the strip.
The A’s need to take the offer from the billionaire Mogul who offered tbe land for free if they relocate to Vegas. Don’t know how that’s such a hard decision to make.
The improved financial situation would be marginal at best. In a 30,000 seat stadium if they sold out all 81 games per season they would draw just over 2.4 million for the season. In the last 30 seasons the A’s have drawn at least 2 million in attendance 7 times and in only one of those seasons did they draw 2.2 million (2003). It would seem like selling a lot of tickets isn’t a concern as it doesn’t sound like they care about attendance.
The big picture in how this benefits John Fisher is smallest ballpark in Baseball/40th tv market guarantees he keeps receiving revenue sharing money
Is there any other entity on the planet who would want a retractable roof in a desert? What a waste of money. No way does MLB insist on this if they’re paying.
Assuming there’s A/C, of course you want a retractable roof in the desert! Just ask the Diamondbacks. Those things are for more than just keeping out precipitation, you know.
While it’s not a desert, it’s the same reason the Texas teams also have retractable roofs.
“You’ve all called us in here for a special session, and are asking, minimally, for the state to give you all $36 million per year for the next five years for a taxpayer-funded stadium, at the same time that the governor has vetoed funding for summer school, a bill to support children’s mental health, a bill requiring paid family leave — all because the governor said we couldn’t afford them,” State Senator Rochelle Nguyen said early in a three-hour back and forth with two advocates of the bill.
“Can you explain to me why we need to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for a billionaire team to come to the Las Vegas Strip, on some of the most valuable property in the world, if we can’t provide funding for critical resources?” Nguyen continued. “Can you explain to me why this is such a good deal that we should agree that no taxes generated on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana should go to these critical state and local services for the next 30 years?”
Nevada stadium deal makes zero sense business wise and for taxpayers of Nevada.
Live testimony from Nevada Legislature’s Special Session indicates widespead criticism of the A’s Stadium deal and lack of Legislative and public support.