The Las Vegas Stadium Authority is meeting on Thursday, and according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mick Akers, on the agenda is a development agreement that “will break down how the stadium will be financed by the A’s and the construction plan for the 33,000-seat stadium.”
Huge if true! Ever since Oakland A’s owner John Fisher won league approval to move to Las Vegas last November, there has been rampant speculation about whether he actually has any idea how he intends to pay for the rest of a $1.5 billion stadium after using his $600 million in state and county tax money, $380 million of which would be in cash and the rest in tax breaks. So what does the stadium authority agenda actually have to say about what will be presented on Thursday?
Off we go to SB 1 sections 18-35, the most relevant portion of which says this:
So it’s not entirely clear whether “set forth the sources of financing” means Fisher actually showing where he plans to get the money or just saying “I’ll cover that billion dollars or so, don’t worry, I’m good for it.”
Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz, you have anything to add that will shed light on this?
Even though the Nevada Legislature approved a bill designating the stadium construction resources more than 13 month ago, there are still unanswered questions.
— Why has A’s owner John Fisher not submitted his stadium funding plan to the stadium board?
So are any financial details going to be presented on Thursday or not? Schools Over Stadiums organizer Alexander Marks?
Guess we’ll have to wait until Thursday to see what, if anything, is actually presented to the board. Until then, the Vegas A’s stadium plan will remain in a quantum superposition of alive and dead.
So what are the chances that this includes an equity sale of a minority stake, just a small one, don’t worry, to an as-yet-undisclosed outside partner? It’s still in negotiations, you see…
Maybe the homers in the Vegas media have access to some magical math that the rest of us don’t. But to the rest of us, the unavoidable issue is:
$1.500 billion = estimated cost of MLB ballpark on Tropicana site
$380 million = public money available for ballpark construction
—————————————
$1.120 billion = money that Fisher has to come up with in order to get a Vegas ballpark built
Again, I’m not a math wizard, but the obvious conclusion is that one of three things will happen:
(1) Nevada and/or Clark County kick in far more money than already promised, or
(2) Fisher sells the franchise to someone who has the wherewithal to put up enough money to build the proposed ballpark, or
(3) The A’s do not move to Nevada
What’s interesting is since Nevada agreed to the $380 million- several pro sports teams have received much bigger subsidies. The Orioles received $600 million plus development rights and then were sold for $1.7 billion.
Yes they’re very different circumstances, but if the orioles with a $600 million reno budget for an already nice facility are worth $1.7 billion, then I would guess that the A’s with a mere $380 million subsidy, over a billion in obligation if they build on the trop site, and 3 + years of earning a pittance at the gate before the Vegas move have to be worth significantly less then that. Obviously there’s only 30 of these teams, but seems like a financial disaster for Fisher completely of his own making.
Good fucking riddance.
Did FOS exist when Fisher bought the ballclub? If not, I flamed him first when he tarped the third deck. The writing was on the wall, wasn’t it? This was before Blez cashed AN into the SBN franchise.
Kinda sucks to be ahead of the times, there’s no payoff.