By Kirk Kern
It looks like “Major League” baseball is coming to Las Vegas.
But is it really?
The Oakland A’s have signed a term sheet to purchase 49 acres of land near Tropicana Boulevard and Dean Martin Drive from Red Rock Resorts. It’s not quite binding as the team is going to request $500 million from the state legislature that will be generated from taxes levied from this specific area to help pay for a $1.5 billion retractable roof stadium on the property.
So, technically, the general population of Nevada won’t be footing this bill, but residents also won’t benefit from revenue generated directly from this project for 30 years while a bond is paid off.
The team would be responsible for the other $1 billion, which is a bit ironic since the ownership of the Oakland A’s has been one of the lowest spending teams in all of Major League Baseball for quite a few years now, at least when it comes to player payroll.
There was a number thrown out a couple of weeks ago that the New York Mets were paying pitcher Max Scherzer more than the entire A’s roster. Sportac.com lists the A’s current payroll of its active roster at $39,920. Scherzer is making $43.33 million. The highest paid A’s player is Trevor May, who will earn $7 million this year but is currently on the injured list for “personal reasons.”
This year isn’t a one-off, though, as the A’s have regularly traded away their top players as they’ve approached their arbitration years when they actually earn more than the league minimum. The A’s have started this season at 4-17 and are already 9.5 games out of first place in the American League West Division.
Someone mentioned they believe the team will increase its payroll once they make the move. But what gives anyone the idea that that will happen? Even when the team was pretty good a few years back, they still had a low payroll. In the last couple of years as the team had lobbied the city of Oakland for a new stadium there, they didn’t even try to make the team better.
I remember back in the late 1990s when the San Diego Padres were working to get a new downtown stadium built. The actually went out and spent money on players like Kevin Brown and Greg Vaughn and traded for big name players like Ken Caminiti and Steve Finley and put together a team that went to the World Series.
The November after their World Series run in 1998, San Diego voters approved Proposition C to approve construction of Petco Park. For the team, the added roster cost was money well spent.
The A’s have been seeking public support, and money, from the City of Oakland to build a new stadium near the waterfront because their current stadium is almost uninhabitable, except maybe for the possum that has taken residence in the visiting radio booth.
But while wooing the city to build a new ballpark, the team did absolutely nothing to make the team better. They have even doubled ticket prices for what few fans they actually had.
So now they want to come to Las Vegas. They think a shiny new stadium will help them draw locals and visitors alike. The number 2.8 million was bandied about for spectators at baseball games and “other events.” I hope they’ve got a boatload of “other events” on tap as a last-place team with a no star players won’t draw flies.
Baseball could definitely work here. But it would have been better to hope for an expansion team without the baggage the A’s ownership brings. Las Vegas was probably highest on the list for a new team.
But it’s looking like we’ll get the A’s. Good luck with that.