UPDATE: Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed a Las Vegas stadium funding bill into law, marking yet another step forward for the Oakland A’s to move to Las Vegas.
Lombardo approved $380 million in public money to build a $1.5 billion, retractable roof baseball stadium for the Athletics.
The 30,000-seat stadium will be built on land currently occupied by the Tropicana Hotel & Casino, one of the oldest casinos in Las Vegas. It will be demolished to make way for the ballpark.
“I’m excited to officially sign SB1 this afternoon,” Lombardo said. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring the A’s to Nevada, and this legislation reflects months of negotiations between the team, the state, the county and the league.”
Major League Baseball owners still have to approve the move from Oakland. The A’s lease in the Bay Area runs until the end of 2024. They will play their games in a Triple A affiliate’s stadium in Las Vegas until the new ballpark is built in Las Vegas.
EARLIER: The long-running saga of a potential move by Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas has another milestone. A bill introduced late Friday in the Nevada legislature would provide up to $380 million in public funding for a potential 30,000-seat, $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.
The breakdown would see the money coming from $180 million in transferable tax credits from the state and $120 million in county bonds. Clark County also would contribute $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs. To pass, the bill needs a simple majority in the state Senate and Assembly.
The new ballpark would be build on the site where the Tropicana Las Vegas resort now sits. The existing structure would be demolished to accomodate the new ballpark. At 30,000 seats, it would be the smallest stadium in MLB.
Besides the bill’s passage, MLB owners still must approve the move from Oakland to Las Vegas. They meet June 13-15 in New York.
The public funding is by no means guaranteed. Democratic legislators have threatened to be a roadblock if Republican Governor Joe Lombardo nixes other spending proposals.