there’s a Web site<\/a> that says, “The Las Vegas Stadium Authority is responsible for the ownership and oversight of the NFL stadium project created by Senate Bill 1 during the 30th Special Session of the Nevada State Legislature. The Stadium Authority is also responsible for the ownership and oversight of the MLB stadium project created by Senate Bill 1 during the 35th Special Session of the Nevada State Legislature.”<\/p>\nWe assume that clarifies everything.<\/p>\n
This body is responsible for overseeing sports venues built with public money. You know, safeguarding taxpayers 24\/7. Taxpayers gave $750 million to a billionaire to build the Raiders stadium. The guy who heads up the Authority, Steve Hill, also runs the LVCVA (Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority), the agency charged with promoting Las Vegas for the casinos (funded with tax dollars via a room tax). It’s Las Vegas, absolutely nothing to see here.<\/p>\n
The A’s are forced to interact with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority because if all goes to plan, $380 million in taxpayer money will go toward building a new ballpark on the Tropicana site.<\/p>\n
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority is very invested in the A’s move, as it’s perceived an MLB team will move some serious needles in Las Vegas (visitation, tax revenue, jobs, prosperity, the whole nine), at least based upon projections (largely untethered from reality) by consultants hired by the A’s.<\/p>\n
At the meeting, A’s executive Sandy Dean laid out the financing details for the new ballpark.<\/p>\n
By “details,” of course, we mean unmitigated horseshit.<\/p>\n
Here’s how it went.<\/p>\n
Confirmed: The A’s don’t have investors investing. They hope to, but if they had investors, we’d have heard about them. No smart investor is going to contribute $850 million (or any portion thereof) based upon some magical future projected value of the team. That value is a complete fabrication (just like projections of 28,000 fans attending every game), as is the assertion there are a number of interested investors. The A’s even hired a high-powered firm (Galatioto Sports Partners) to find investors, but none have surfaced. Not one.<\/p>\n