A’s owner demands right to play home games outside Vegas, could this imperil stadium bonds? (SPOILER: no) (2024)

There is a new stumbling block in the potential move of theOakland A’s to Las Vegas, and before going into details, I need to warn you that it is very, very dumb. I know that the entire history of this saga is filled with incredibly stupid things, so you may be saying to yourself right now, “Is this really dumber than the time A’s owner John Fisher delayed releasing stadium details for three months in order to honor two state troopers who were killed by a drunk driver, then accidentally released them a day early because his staff forgot to embargo the images, then had his own architect say the design looked like a ‘spherical armadillo,’ apparently without irony or cracking a smile?” And the answer is, I am happysad to say, yes, it is even dumber than all that:

The Oakland Athletics are requesting to play up to eight home games a season away from the team’s future $1.5 billion Las Vegas ballpark, a move that could significantly undercut the financial projections presented last year when the team sought $380 million in public financing for the project.

You surely already have questions, so let’s take them one at a time:

Requesting what where now? In their proposed non-relocation agreement with Clark County, A’s officials are demanding an allowance that “no more than [seven (7)] MLB Home Games may be played outside the Stadium in any single Championship Season.”

That’s seven (7) games. You said eight. Beats me, man, take it up with Nevada Independent reporter Howard Stutz.

Why are the A’s even asking for this? “A’s President David Kaval said the idea of holding eight games outside of Las Vegas was a way to build the team’s brand, promote the club and attract players and sponsors.”

Huh? Maybe the A’s are planning on getting free agents to sign with them by promising to play one game a year in their hometown? Going on a barnstorming tour of world cities whose residents might be encouraged to visit Las Vegas and see this “baseball” that the A’s allegedly play? Again, Stutz does not seem to have investigated further.

What does any of this have to do with the public money for the project? Nothing, really: The county’s $120 million in bonds (along with $420 million in other public subsidies) were approved based on kicking back sales, income, ticket, liquor, and property taxes from the district around the stadium, but if that money falls short, the county will just pay the difference out of its general fund. Yes, the A’s and their fake economist did promise that all the new stadium spending would make the project pay for itself, but that was always nonsense — if there are fewer A’s games in Las Vegas, it’ll just mean people in Las Vegas will spend their money on something else those nights, so it shouldn’t have much effect on the county’s overall tax receipts.

Did Jeremy Aguero have something stupid to say on all this? “Aguero suggested the 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium exceeded its preliminary projections by filling dates with different ticketed events, including international soccer matches, rugby tournaments and concerts.”

Rugby tournaments? Rugby tournaments.

Why is this even a controversy? Because Stutz found the relevant clause in the non-relocation agreement, presumably, and decided it made a good gotcha on the tax revenue implications. It makes a better gotcha on “Why does John Fisher want to be able to play 10% of his home games outside of Las Vegas if he loves the city so much?” but that maybe isn’t as juicy a headline, especially when one considers how many A’s games one person would really want to go to in a season anyway.

Can I go now?To an A’s game? Why would you — oh, you mean stop reading this post? Absolutely, I’m not sure why you’re even still here. If anything else entertainingly dumb happens, I’ll be sure to post an update.