Oakland A’s Move to Vegas Is Costly Gamble for Nevada Taxpayers

Oakland A’s Move to Vegas Is Costly Gamble for Nevada Taxpayers(news.bloombergtax.com)

5 points by leahey 3 years ago | 6 comments

lacker 3 years ago |

This opinion piece is a little light on details - I thought this was a more useful article:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10076136-athletics-reach...

Basically the plan for the stadium is $1.5B, with $400M of that public financing, but there isn't even a specific bill in the legislature, so the debate is kind of just beginning.

It's interesting to compare that the valuation of the A's is "only" around $1.2B to begin with:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbes_list_of_the_most_valuab...

I don't know much about Nevada politics so I don't know if this is likely to pass or not. The A's don't seem to have a great alternative lined up for staying in Oakland, so my personal guess is that they do end up going to Vegas, perhaps with the public funding negotiated down from the current request.

bryanlarsen 3 years ago | |

If the Ottawa Senators are worth $1B, I'm sure the A's are worth a lot more than that.

bruceb 3 years ago | | |

The reason one might argue Senators could be near-ish the A's in value is Canada has only 9 top level pro teams. 7 NHL, 1 MLB, 1 NBA. Or one pro team per 4.3m people. US has 115 top level pro teams. 25 NHL, 29 MLB, 29 NBA, 32 NFL. Or one team per 2.9m people. Plus big time college football and majority big combat sports matches are held in the US.

The US market is much bigger but also has more options. NHL is Canada's "home sport" and their are only 7 teams, even though NHL has less revenue than MLB by a lot.

Are the A's worth more of course, but I can see how it might be closer than one might initially think.

LorenPechtel 3 years ago |

Sports teams are always a bad deal. I didn't like it when we brought the Raiders here, I oppose bringing the As. Of course these things never show up on the ballot.

chrismcb 3 years ago | |

Bad deal for whom? While I wish fewer tax dollars go into stadiums, they do bring money into the economy. But it isn't just about the bottom line. Cities also try to provide value to their citizens. A pro team can add value to a city. It gives the locals another avenue of entertainment. Why didn't you like when the raiders were brought? What is your reasoning?

LorenPechtel 3 years ago | | |

It adds value but never what it costs.