It’s the final day of the Nevada legislative session, and it sure looks like the legislation to give $500 million in tax kickbacks to an Oakland A’s stadium in Las Vegas isn’t going to get a vote, thanks to the renewed standoff between Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo and the Democratic-controlled state legislature over a budget bill. That would push any stadium vote to a special session this summer, but Lombardo isn’t winning any friends for his stadium plan at this point.
Meanwhile, news broke this weekend of a previously unreported wrinkle in the Vegas A’s stadium plan that isn’t likely to help matters:
Concerning @MLB removing a relocation fee the @Athletics would pay for moving to Las Vegas – consultant Jeremy Aguero told the #NVLeg Commissioner Manfred said it could only be waived with a "public-private partnership" – i.e., approving the $380M in public financing.@TheNVIndy
— Howard Stutz (@howardstutz) June 4, 2023
So let’s unpack this: Jeremy Aguero, the A’s paid consultant, warned the Nevada legislature during his endless testimony last Monday that if it didn’t approve public money for an A’s stadium, Major League Baseball would require A’s owner John Fisher to pay a relocation fee, rumored at $300 million. But if Nevada sent Fisher $500 million in tax proceeds, MLB “could” tear up Fisher’s relocation bill, saving him even more money!
This is … not really how one does a threat? If you don’t send this unlikeable billionaire a whole of money, his billionaire pals won’t either! doesn’t exactly make a great magazine cover, and it’s honestly not clear what Aguero was thinking here. Though “not clear what they’re thinking here” has pretty much been the vibe for this entire Vegas move threat, so really it’s par for the course.
In other Nevada Independent Vegas A’s news, the paper asked a bunch of stadium economists (plus me) last week what we thought of Aguero’s argument that assessments that public stadium subsidies don’t pay off is “100 percent wrong” for cities like Las Vegas with lots of visitors, and it didn’t go well for Aguero:
“People will always say, ‘Oh, but this one is different.’ Every single stadium deal I’ve ever looked at the people who are supporting this say, ‘This one will be different.’ And when we look at it 15 to 20 years later, it’s exactly the same as they always are,” [Kennesaw State University economist J.C. Bradbury] said…
Though [College of the Holy Cross economist Victor] Matheson said that baseball can generate some additional tourism, even up to “a few hundred additional hotel room nights” in baseball cities such as Minneapolis and Cleveland because tickets are affordable, he said games could actually contribute to a loss in tax revenue because someone could spend $25 to see a baseball game versus “spending $200 going to Britney Spears or spending way more than $200 losing the money in the casino.”
“To the extent that this just shifts around where the existing tourists are spending their money, this could be a pretty big net negative,” he said. “And again, it’s not clear to me that people are saying, ‘Hey, you know, I never thought about going to Vegas, but now that they have a baseball team, I might.’ That doesn’t seem like a very good argument.”
Nevada has pretty easy recall rules, not California easy, but with something this unpopular- I’m sure the legislators are thinking that it’s just not worth the risk to help Fisher.
SportsNet.ca had a piece about this that presents the economist consensus that these deals are bad, but it still manages to be a bit “both sides” and lets the A’s ridiculous numbers stand unchallenged.
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/las-vegas-ballpark-pitch-revives-debate-over-public-funding-for-sports-stadiums/
Those evil MLB danikins!
What dastardly decision
will they next deploy!!??
I always knew if I waited long enough someone would enact the “Doug & Dinsdale Piranha” brothers Python sketch in real life.
It figures it would be dumb and dumber that finally proposed the “other, other” operation…
Nevada Dem leaders say no stadium bill during special session.
https://twitter.com/JaclynFOX5Vegas/status/1666018279880822784
Looks like Kaval and Fisher need to go back to Howard Terminal….or maybe sell the team??
Why would Nevada want a lousy franchise such as the A’s in the first place when it could actually get something better down the road a few years either by another team with better owners than John Fisher running the team. There’s a team in Tampa Bay area that doesn’t get good fan support despite being in the 2020 World Series along with having the best record in the league this year and several 90 plus win seasons with a low budget operation.
John Fisher couldn’t run a lemonade stand despite having 2.5 billion dollars to work with and with a competitive franchise in the A’s provided its properly managed would make a lot more money. At 12 wins and 50 losses for 2023 the A’s management including John Fisher and his lackey Dave Kaval are responsible for dismantling a 86 win team along with a team that in 2019 won 97 games and competed for the division title until they fell short to Houston. Maybe its time for new management in Oakland and then figure out the stadium situation what can be worked out instead of letting a carpetbagger haul off to Vegas. Nevada itself ought to have more self-respect than another carpetbagger franchise.
Hey wait! Oakland had finally gotten to the point that it was about to rid itself of Fisher and Kaval once and for all and along you come and expose the shell game!!! Not cool man!!!
I agree. Whomever ends up with Fisher and his apparently portable MLB franchise is the biggest loser.
His move seems entirely about continuing to farm the MLB subsidy… which if you are his alleged partner in the cartel, well, you really have to think about that. He is actually leaving a better market to occupy a lesser one and continue receiving MLB welfare checks.