A’s ballpark would likely be overseen by Stadium Authority
If the Oakland Athletics receive the hundreds of millions of dollars in public funding they’re seeking from the state to construct a MLB ballpark in Southern Nevada, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority would likely oversee the planned $1.5 billion facility.
The A’s are expected to file a bill in the Legislature this session that would request up to $500 million in public assistance. That funding would be generated by a special tax district set around the 49-acre site, located on the northwest corner of Tropicana Avenue and Dean Martin Drive.
If any portion of the A’s public assistance request is approved by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo, Steve Hill, chair of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, said the plan is for the board to serve a similar role as they did with Allegiant Stadium.
“It certainly would go through a similar process where we have to negotiate a development agreement. We have to negotiate a lease agreement and we have to negotiate a non-relocation agreement,” Hill said. “Those were the three main documents (with the Raiders and Allegiant Stadium). So we’d have to go back through that process, because the stadium authority has been required to do that.”
In order for the Athletics’ potential Las Vegas ballpark to be overseen by the stadium authority, there would need to be a change to the law passed tied to the $750 million in public funding the Raiders received for the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium.
“Right now the authority that we have is from the law that was passed in 2016 with Allegiant,” Hill said. “That bill would have to be modified for us to oversee a potential baseball stadium.”
If the A’s Las Vegas ballpark comes to fruition, after it is constructed the team would transfer ownership of the facility to the stadium authority. That was also the case with Allegiant Stadium and the Raiders.
The stadium authority is comprised of nine voting members, including Hill, who also serves as president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority; co-chairman Lawrence Epstein, senior executive vice president and chief operating officer for the UFC; Mike Newcomb, director of the Thomas &Mack and Cox Pavilion; and Jan Jones Blackhurst, former Las Vegas mayor and Caesars Entertainment board member.
Applied Analysis serves as staff for the stadium authority, whose principal, Jeremy Aguero, is serving as the A’s financial analyst as they prepare their stadium bill. Aguero was also a key figure during the process that saw Allegiant Stadium become a reality.
Brian Gordon, principal of Applied Analysis, noted that there has been no final definitive determination about what role the stadium authority would play in the construction of the A’s potential Las Vegas ballpark. If the stadium authority was involved, however, he said it would be modeled after the Allegiant Stadium process, featuring regular meetings to approve and be updated on various aspects of the stadium construction process.
“In the event, the Stadium Authority is ultimately the owner of the project, meetings similar to those held during the development of Allegiant Stadium may be considered,” Gordon said in an email.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.