Joe Lombardo Offers Disingenuous or Misinformed Update on A's Ballpark Project in Las Vegas

The Nevada Governor is boasting that the county will own the A's ballpark 30 years after it's built. Here is why that's flawed

If you're getting reminded of the mob in watching the latest couple of days of A's relocation news come out, you're not alone. On Tuesday morning, it was confirmed that Milwaukee Brewers ownership being on the A's relocation committee was not an accident. Sure, we all figured as much, but for it to actually be spoken aloud is a little shocking. 

Per News/Talk 1130 in Milwaukee, "Putting him [Brewers' owner Mark Attanacio] in charge of the relocation committee was definitely intentional, even if it wasn't like, 'Oh you're going to be the next owner to have to go through it,'" the source explained. "It was more about having him familiar with the process just in case."

Another owner on the three-person committee, Kansas City's John Sherman, is also looking to build a new ballpark. While about one-third of the teams in baseball are looking for new stadiums at the moment, MLB isn't even attempting to hide potential conflicts of interest. It has appeared as though the fix has been in for awhile with the A's move from Oakland to Las Vegas, but allowing two owners that are actively searching for either facility upgrades or new ballparks entirely in on providing information to the other 26 owners is highly suspicious, and that is by design. 

MLB wants to strong-arm cities, counties, and states into paying for their ballparks while using the A's process as an example. They want it to look like they'll just do as they please so that their demands are met or even exceeded. 

In other news, the Nevada Independent got a couple of new quotes from Nevada governor Joe Lombardo on Monday, and he is either intentionally spreading lies or completely misinformed when it comes to the ballpark project that he helped push through the legislature in June. 

“I think people look at it from a lens of a short term, we're giving away money to a billionaire,” he said. “I look at it from a lens — this is long term, and how are we going to benefit from the tax base and expansion of the economy that we're trying to achieve in the long term.”

Growing the economy in the long-term is a great goal, but funding a facility for a billionaire isn't necessarily the way to do it. By their own admission, the A's are banking on one-third of the attendees to games in Las Vegas being from out-of-state each and every game while also nearly selling out every day for 30 years. That's a huge ask, and if they were to reach those sky-high projections, then the project would meet its goals, not exceed them. On that piece of land, basically anything would have a good shot at success, but you could argue that an attraction that is open year-round would be more valuable to the Vegas economy, if that is really the end goal here. 

Lombardo went on to say, "And here's the coup de grâce: in 30 years at the end of that contract with Clark County and the state, the county owns that stadium.”

Oof. 

The governor must not be up on the news, because A's owner John Fisher said just last week of his eight-year-old soccer stadium in San Jose is "outdated."

"And, according to Fisher, the eight-year-old PayPal Stadium in San Jose is already outdated compared to newer MLS stadiums — he mentions LAFC, St. Louis and Austin — and lacks the capacity and premium seating that drives the kind of revenue needed to compete for championships.”

If John Fisher ends up selling the team once he gets the project in Vegas going, or even shortly after it's built, do you think he's going to spare no expense to build this ballpark, or, as he's done with every other venture, will he cut corners to save money and secure more profit once he does decide to sell? Seems like an obvious answer. 

That is the ballpark that Joe Lombardo is happy about owning. The cheapest one John Fisher could build. 

You can understand the excitement of attempting to bring Major League Baseball to Las Vegas, but the more you look at it, this just isn't a good deal for Vegas. The governor, who won't be in office anywhere near the end of the 30-year period he's talking about, and could even be voted out of office before the stadium is finished being built, doesn't seem to understand the current climate when it comes to baseball ballparks.

They need upkeep. Nevada will be on the hook for at least some of those, adding to the total cost. They also don't last terribly long, either. American Family Field, where the Brewers play, opened in 2001. We're not even at the 30 year mark and they are planting the seeds for a potential relocation if the city doesn't help pay for upgrades. The upgrades costs being sought by the Brewers are more than the $380 million that Vegas is pitching in now, sitting closer to the $448 million range. 

Owning a ballpark in 30 years isn't something you gloat about. By the time it's 20 years old, the A's (if they relocate to Nevada) will be looking for a new "modern" facility. They may very well get that facility from Las Vegas, but it wouldn't be at the Tropicana site, which means Lombardo's "coup de grâce" will be empty, outdated, and taking up valuable space. 

But hey, it's a good thing Vegas is different.