LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — The 8 News Now Investigators, via a source familiar with the negotiations between the Oakland A’s, Clark County and the Nevada state government, explains that the A’s deal will look nothing like the Raiders’ deal when they moved here from Oakland.
In that case, Clark County raised hotel room taxes to pay for the bond for Allegiant Stadium. In this case, the county will take the taxes earned from sales in and around the ballpark to pay off — or service — those bonds, the source said.
That’s because Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo says he won’t allow any new taxes to fund the A’s new stadium. And that stadium most likely will take over the land where the Tropicana Las Vegas Casino Resort now stands.
But the 8 News Now Investigators also learned that the previous land deal the A’s struck just a couple weeks ago with Station Casinos was killed partly because the powerful Culinary Union wouldn’t support that site. Some of that company’s casinos aren’t unionized.
The Culinary Union has said Tropicana workers will be protected when the property closes. Workers will have “additional compensation, health care coverage, and pension benefits while the property is closed for development,” according to a union statement this week. The closure will last 18 to 24 months, and will affect about 1,200 employees.
The source also told 8 News Now that the A’s will ask the state to waive the Live Entertainment Tax, which tacks on 9% to the price of concerts and sporting events. Lawmakers also used that exemption to make it more palatable for the Golden Knights hockey team and the NFL’s Raiders organization to come to Las Vegas.
The A’s have the lowest payroll in baseball for 2023 and own Major League Baseball’s worst record. And it’s been a few years since they made the playoffs. Of all MLB franchises, the A’s have the fewest number of fans attending this season.
