Mounting Complications Over Funding Hit A’s Ballpark Effort In Las Vegas

It sounds like a broken record, but the Oakland A’s have run into snags on their nearly 20-year effort to get a new ballpark funded, this time in Las Vegas.

The complications are multi-faceted, with everything from the Nevada legislature’s clock running down, concerns over meeting debt obligation, and a sizable gap in public funding that A’s owner John Fisher is seeking.

Legislative Clock Running Down

The Nevada legislative session ends on Friday, which depending on how you look at it, is a blessing and a curse. If the funding is rammed through there leaves little time for public debate, which is an advantage for the A’s.

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Should the funding bill not meet the Friday deadline it may not mean that the ballpark funding package is dead for the year. It is possible that a special session could be called to address the matter. While Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo has spearheaded the effort to lure the A’s to Las Vegas, it’s unclear based on the sizable gap how far he will go to make it happen, setting up questions of vetoing any bill that doesn’t align with his priorities.

Sizable Funding Gap

Jaclyn Schultz of FOX 5 in Las Vegas is reporting that there is a sizable funding gap between what the A’s are seeking and what Nevada lawmakers have verbally said they would cover. The A’s are seeking approx. $395 million but at the state level, but reports are $195 million max lawmakers are willing to go to bat over, leaving a $200 million gap. A discussion has taken place in which Clark County would bridge the $200 million, but that comes with its own complications.

If Clark Co. issues $200 million in general obligation bonds, the A’s would be on the hook to service the payments. Should they not be able to meet that obligation, Clark Co. would need to dip into debt service reserves. Should those reserves tap out, the county would have to tap into the general fund or raise property taxes to bridge the obligation. The latter would assuredly raise the ire of taxpayers as property taxes were raised to cover bond payments for the Raiders’ Alligent Stadium bonds.

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Questionable Attendance Would Become Critical For A’s To Meet Payments

When the partnership between Bally’s and the A’s was announced for the 35-acre development at the Tropicana Las Vegas property that would see the ballpark as part of it, several numbers from consultants jump out that have broad implications for Clark County taxpayers. Attendance would be a critical revenue stream to meet the debt obligation.

The ballpark would have a capacity of 30,000 which would be the smallest in Major League Baseball. The press release also said that “the ballpark is expected to welcome more than 2.5 million fans and visitors annually,” a figure that seems exceptionally lofty – if not impossible — to meet. Doing the math, if the A’s sold out every game it would take 84 dates to reach 2.5 million. The A’s would host 81 regular season games, meaning every regular season game would have to sell out, plus it assumes the A’s reach the postseason each year. Yes, the facility would host other activities such as concerts, or events such as Supercross, but even then the numbers are vastly overstated given the competition for discretionary dollars at the local level when competing with the NHL’s Golden Knights and NFL’s Raiders. Major League Baseball, with it’s high number of regular season games requires more local interest than other sports.

Could the A’s sell out a series with the Cubs, Yankees, Dodgers, or Red Sox? Maybe. Could they do so with the Marlins, Mariners, Rockies, or Guardians? Seems very unlikely.

All of this sets up a “same as it ever was” scenario for the A’s. They backed out of talks in Oakland with a funding gap that was considerably smaller ($88 million). Even if the funding at the state and county level goes through with high risk, will the A’s bridge the gap, and not burn taxpayers? For the 2023 season, the A’s are currently averaging just 8,695 per game in paid attendance. That ranks them not only dead last of the 30 clubs in the league, but the only one averaging under 10,000. To place A’s attendance in perspective, the Miami Marlins currently rank 29th with a per-game attendance average of 12,289, or nearly 3,600 more per game than the A’s.

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