A's in search of a Sweetheart Deal
A’s president Dave Kaval while visiting Las Vegas said, “There are no other trips planned to other cities.. The only location we’re actively making trips to is Las Vegas.”
The sweetheart deal with the Raiders has turned Las Vegas into a magnet for Professional Sports Franchises in search of new homes. The Raider deal created a situation where most of the financial responsibility is on the backs of Nevada taxpayers. The Raider Franchise in the meantime increased in value by over $1 billion. The Raiders were in a similar situation, as the Oakland A's, a Sports Franchise with nowhere to go.
Kaval: "Think of the ballpark like a Disney amusement park. You go on Matterhorn, you go on Space Mountain and then you go to Fantasyland and ride the twirlers or whatever."
What When asked about a public-private partnership for funding a new stadium?
Kaval: "I wouldn’t rule anything out at this stage, (but) I think what we’re more focused on is understanding who would be willing to partner on the public side — there’s all these different folks who could come together to make something like this happen. The Raiders did it one way, and it included a trip to Carson City and something at the state level. We have no idea if that’s what our path would be or not."
Similar to their roughly $12 billion plan to build a ballpark with surrounding development at the Port of Oakland, the A’s are interested in a site for a stadium in Las Vegas that also features mixed-use development.
Kaval told the Review-Journal that a new stadium in Las Vegas would cost approximately $1 billion and have around 30,000 fixed seats and could feature a retractable roof or be domed.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman told the paper the two sides did not discuss financial details, although she added that the A’s were “certainly were very enthusiastic” about the possibility of a new stadium.
Among the 2021 Legislatures there appears to be little appetite to commit public money for a new baseball stadium to woo the Oakland Athletics to Nevada.