Oakland A’s Have Tentative Agreement With Nevada To Bring Team To Las Vegas
Stop if you’ve heard this before. The Oakland A’s are announcing the team has tentatively agreed to move to Las Vegas.
On Tuesday, Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo announced a tentative agreement between his office, the Oakland A’s, Nevada state treasurer and Clark County to move a bill forward to bring the MLB team to Las Vegas.
In a statement, Lombardo said:
“This agreement follows months of negotiations between the state, the county, and the A’s, and I believe it gives us a tremendous opportunity to continue building on the professional sports infrastructure of southern Nevada”
He continued, saying that “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it.”
This is just another step forward in the long process of the A’s exploring a move to Las Vegas.
The tentative agreement is being drafted into legislation. This will be introduced in the legislature in a few days.
This announcement follows the A’s signing an agreement with Bally’s to build a 30,000-capacity ballpark on land where the Tropicana has operated since 1957.
The missing part of the recent A’s announcements has been a lack of financial assistance from Nevada to help pay for the baseball stadium.
Public funding assistance
The Oakland A’s have been planning to spend $1 billion to build a 30,000-capacity retractable roof stadium in Las Vegas. The projected cost of the stadium is closer to $1.5 billion. The A’s are looking for financial assistance to cover the rest of the expenses.
In the announcement, Clark County officials said:
“Clark County has been working diligently to negotiate a deal that will protect the taxpayers of Clark County as well as the finances of Clark County government in our negotiations with stakeholders, and in reviewing this proposal, we believe it is reflective of the prudent financial practices of Clark County.”
Since the bill hasn’t been completed, there isn’t too much specific information about how Nevada will assist the A’s.
Lombardo says Nevada will contribute 25% of the stadium cost. According to the statement, this is the third lowest public contribution in 14 Major League Baseball stadiums built this century.
“This tentative agreement minimizes the risk to Nevada taxpayers in the most fiscally responsible manner,” Treasurer Zach Conine said in a statement. “I’m also pleased that this project will leverage the most private investment of any baseball stadium in the country.”
Fox 5 Las Vegas is reporting that deal will include $180 million in bonding and tax breaks along with $25 million in infrastructure expenses. Additionally, Clark County would have $125 million in bonds.
This is still just a tentative agreement. Specific information about the deal will be announced when the bill is crafted.
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