So long, Tropicana Las Vegas. Say hello, National Basketball Association and Major League Soccer. And let’s not forget lacrosse and badminton. Since there is no stadium deal for which the Nevada Lege will not bend over and grab its ankles, it appears to be a lead-pipe cinch the public subsidies to attract the worst team in MLB to Sin City are all but signed, sealed and delivered. Already the Nevada Independent, abandoning its vaunted independence, is shaking the pom-poms for bringing the Oakland Athletics to the soon-to-be-former site of the venerable Trop. And where one stadium deal is, albeit not as rich as that gifted to the Las Vegas Raiders, others will follow as night segues day.
The Lege is putting the finishing touches on a package that would combine $180 million in tax credits, $90 million in cash and all manner of goodies from Clark County. Those would include a 30-year (!) property tax exemption worth $55 million, $25 million in credit toward infrastructure upgrades (sounds low to us), plus $120 million in bonds. Gov. Joe Lombardo (R), who postured as an opponent of publicly subsidized ballparks to get elected, rationalizes his cave-in by saying this would be “the third-lowest public share” out of 14 21st century baseball parks. Bottom line: Lombardo wants baseball, period, and the negotiations are mainly a fig leaf for him. At least Howard Stutz had the good sense to put that “binding agreement” between Bally’s Entertainment and the A’s in quotes: He’s seen how “binding” the team’s commitment to Station Casinos was.
For the moment, Assembly Speaker Steve Yeager (D) and state Senate Majority Leader Nicole Cannizzaro (D) are at least pretending to scrutinize the gift basket but we’re darn sure they’ll fall in line by June 5. Major League Baseball has until New Year’s Day to sign off but Commissioner Rob Manfred has made it clear where he wants the A’s and it ain’t in Oakland. Someone else who wants a deal is Gaming & Leisure Partners Inc. CEO Peter Carlino. His company is offering $175 million for “certain shared improvements within the future development.” That money may be coming out of Bally’s hide, as a ballpark would mean rent adjustments for the casino boss. It would also offer GLPI the not-inconsiderable chance to vary its casino-heavy revenue stream.
Station, meanwhile, is trying to discern a silver lining to having been left at the altar by the A’s. They’ve found one in the argument that the value of their Tropicana Avenue land is now better appreciated. “Losing the deal for the Oakland A’s relocation site was painful for Red Rock Resorts, management acknowledged,” said Stifel Financial analyst Steven Wieczynski. Station is also out the lucre it would have received from the A’s (GLPI and Bally’s are so desperate they’re giving nine acres away). As for Station, “They have recently seen increased interest from buyers now that it is back on the auction block.” In fact, Station is thinking of walking away from all 100 acres, a huge reversal for the company but one that would go a long way toward underwriting future development.
By the way, Stutz also reports, score one against Sahara owner Alex Meruelo. Voters in Tempe, possibly fed up with Arizona Coyotes dysfunction, have nixed a $2.1 billion vanity park for Meruelo and his NHL team. Alex wanted the public to pay to dig up and relocate the refuse from a landfill that (aptly) occupied his chosen site. Since public assent was necessary, Meruelo’s own, $1.9 billion contribution went for naught. He’ll have to take out the trash somewhere else in the Phoenix area. Good luck, Alex, and don’t let the Tempe doorknob hit you on the way out.
We used to work for a publisher who died suddenly and left unpaid markers all over Las Vegas. That won’t happen in Colorado, where Gov. Jared Polis (D) vetoed a bill to extend unlimited credit to casino players. It’s probably a good idea, as it will inhibit irresponsible play. “Thus, just as there would be issues with gaining the consent of a person with a substance use disorder who is under the influence, there are also serious issues regarding the ability of a person with a gambling disorder to freely consent to a loan while on a gambling spree,” the guv wrote.
Colorado is still a somewhat nascent state, as gaming goes, and while the public has been OK with things like large losses and longer operating hours, there are some safeguards that should probably be kept in place. The bill itself was snuck through by proponents in the literal dead of night, the sort of thing that raises an understandable stink. The rationale was that the bill would attract high rollers to the Rocky Mountain State’s (isolated) casinos. Uh-huh. Tell us another one.
Added Polis, who’s not beholden to Big Gaming, “If the purported target of this bill is out-of-state ‘high rollers,’ then the credit line should be geared specifically to those patrons. However, as currently written and passed, I worry that the bill would contribute to problematic gaming activities and hurt Coloradans, in particular those of limited means.” So he’s left the Lege a tiny bit of wiggle room—but not much.
Quote of the Day: “Understanding that there is a high comorbidity between smoking and problem gambling, the city council of Shreveport, Louisiana, has clearly taken the position that while smoking damages the health of guests and employees, keeping our problem gamblers happy is important.”—former casino executive Richard Schuetz.