VICTOR JOECKS: A’s new Las Vegas ballpark shouldn’t receive a taxpayer subsidy

It’s exciting to think about the Oakland A’s becoming the Las Vegas A’s. It’s much less exciting to think about the public subsidy the team looks ready to demand.

On Wednesday, news broke that the Oakland A’s had signed a binding agreement to buy land west of the Strip. The site is just north of Allegiant Stadium and across the freeway from T-Mobile Arena. A pedestrian bridge over Interstate 15 is possible. In all, it appears to be a terrific site. Locals can get there without taking the freeway.

A’s President Dave Kaval said the team plans to build a 30,000-seat stadium. Importantly, it will have a retractable roof so attending games in July won’t feel like sitting in a furnace. He said the team also wants to build out other development on the site.

All of this is great. Professional sports are fun. Baseball is wonderful for families and friends. There are civic benefits to having a community team to for which to cheer. But it’s not all upside.

The A’s have more than a 15 lobbyists in Carson City. Kaval said that the team is looking “to put a package together that hopefully can work for all parties and that can be a positive return on investment.”

Translated: The A’s aren’t moving here without a massive handout.

Nevada shouldn’t go along. There are depressingly few politicians who seem to care about principles, but there’s one at stake here. Nevada politicians shouldn’t give a California billionaire hundreds of millions of dollars. The more generic version is that government shouldn’t subsidize a private business.

The government’s job is to provide a level playing field, not pick winners and losers in the economy. It’s also unjust. The government shouldn’t be allowed to take money from one business and give it to their competitor. Amid all the excitement of professional sports and talk about jobs, that’s what would be happening here.

Kaval said he expects around 70 percent of fans to be locals. People have only a limited number of entertainment dollars. If they’re going to the ballpark, they will have less to spend at other local attractions.

At least with Allegiant Stadium, there was a credible case that Las Vegas needed a place to host mega-events. Those added concerts and shows would draw new tourists to Las Vegas, boosting the overall economy. It’s much harder to make that case here. The MSG Sphere and T-Mobile Arena also show that building large venues doesn’t require subsidies.

Gov. Joe Lombardo appears open to providing public funding. I’m not optimistic Democrats in the Legislature will offer much resistance. It’s likely they will act somewhat skeptical to ensure the deal includes a project labor agreement to benefit their union allies. That will make the project more expensive than it would have been otherwise.

The A’s win because they’ll still get a subsidy. Politicians win because they get media attention and credit from bringing the team here. It’s the public who will strike out.

Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on Twitter.