Nevada Legislature Approves $380M Public Financing Package For A's Stadium In Las Vegas
The Oakland A's attempt to relocate to Las Vegas cleared its biggest hurdle yet.
The Nevada state legislature passed a bill Wednesday authorizing $380M in public financing for the construction of a $1.5B, 30,000-seat stadium on 9 acres on the Las Vegas Strip, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports. The bill now heads to the desk of Gov. Joe Lombardo to sign or veto.
Other than the governor's signature, one of the main procedural hurdles left to make the A's move official is for Major League Baseball's other 29 owners to approve the move. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has indicated they will do so, ESPN reports.
The version of the bill that was passed — with neither party's unanimous support — includes a $2M annual contribution from the A's to community initiatives in Las Vegas, a seat for the state treasurer on the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board and an increase in state funding to Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, for homelessness prevention, the Review-Journal reports.
Of the $380M in public money, $180M is set to come from the state and $145M from Clark County, the Review-Journal reports. Tax revenues generated on the site are supposed to repay $90M of the state's contribution and $120M of Clark County's contribution.
The site is on land owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and part of the 35-acre parcel containing the Tropicana Las Vegas casino. The land is owned and operated by Bally Corp. as part of a ground lease deal with GLP.
In May, GLP, Bally and the Oakland A's announced a deal that would transfer the 9 acres to either the team or a stadium authority, and come with a $175M commitment from GLP toward site improvements in exchange for a rent increase on Bally's ground lease. Bally will continue to operate the Tropicana for the foreseeable future and control the rights for potential development surrounding a stadium, an increasingly common element in sports-centric development.
The A's initially announced the acquisition of a different site on the Strip in April, but the site that was specified in the state bill is adjacent to Harry Reid International Airport. The 30,000-seat proposal would make the A's new stadium the smallest in MLB.
