The Oakland Athletics are negotiating with Clark County to cover a $75 million shortfall in public funding for a $1.5 billion Las Vegas Ballpark project.
As the A’s and lawmakers try to finalize a draft bill that would dedicate tax funds for stadium construction, state and county officials have pledged $320 million of the $395 million requested by the Major League Baseball (MLB) baseball team, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The remaining funds would come from the county. The two sides are trying to resolve their differences, the source said.
Due to ongoing negotiations, the A’s stadium financing bill will be introduced in Carson City next week, the source said.
Representatives for the A’s could not be reached for comment.
Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom said via text that he did not have any information about negotiations with the A’s, but said the source’s information about the funding gap that could delay legislation “sounds good.”
Commissioners Michael Naft and Commission Chairman Jim Gibson did not respond to requests for comment.
The team has proposed building a 30,000-seat stadium on nine acres on the site of the Tropicana resort, located south of the Strip, with the A’s financing about $1.1 billion of the $1.5 billion cost. The A’s are pushing to move to Las Vegas because they have been unable to get approval for a plan to replace the dilapidated Oakland Coliseum, the sport’s worst stadium, with a Bay Area waterfront ballpark.
Under the A’s funding proposal, tax revenue from the project would be generated by a special district encompassing the stadium. The various taxes generated in the district would amortize the bonds issued to finance the construction. The bonds would be repaid over 30 years.
Transferable tax credits would also be used to finance part of the public contribution.
Bally’s Corp, which owns the Tropicana, and Gaming & Leisure Properties Inc, which owns the land on which the resort sits, said they would provide the A’s with about $180 million worth of land at no cost, pending the legislative approval of the team’s public funding request and MLB approval of the move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
Soo Kim, president of Bally’s Corp., told the Review-Journal last week that the companies hoped the free land transfer to the A’s would spur lawmakers to continue pushing for the team’s arrival in southern Nevada.
“We would love to see some kind of similar commitment from the county and the state,” Kim said. “That’s a collective community effort to attract all these franchises and all the economic activity that comes with it. …We are planting the flag and hope everyone gets there.”
2023-05-19 16:17:28
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