LAS VEGAS — The last day of the current Nevada Leglative session came to a conclusion at midnight pacific time Tuesday morning. The Oakland Athletics’ bill for a brand new venue in Southern Nevada did not come up for a vote during the closing session.
For some, this has to be considered a pretty big surprise given that Governor Joe Lombardo and other political leaders had thrown their weight behind a bill that would require $325 million in public financing.
Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independant, citing Democratic leadership in the state, was the first to report that the bill wouldn’t be moving forward before the end of the legislative session.
There are now major questions about how the bill will move forward and whether public financing would be used to help fund the stadium. There is a chance that a special session could be convened during the summer months to get the votes for public financing. If not, things become even more convoluted.
It was back in late May that the Oakland Athletics and state leaders announced an agreement for public funding of the $1.5 billion project, leading to a potential 2028 completion date.
“This agreement follows months of negotiations between the state, the county and the A’s, and I believe it gives us tremendous opportunity to continue building the professional sports infrastructure of Southern Nevada,” Gov. Lombardo said in a statement. “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it.”
There had been a ton of public pushback in Nevada relating to public financing being awarded to the Oakland Athletics and owner John Fisher, the latter of whom continues to be criticized for overseeing the sinking ship of an organization. It remains to be seen whether this played a role in no vote being conducted in the legislature ahead of the midnight deadline.
What we do know is that this complicates things for the A’s. Their “leadership” was hoping for a quick resolution to the matter within Nevada, ultimately sending final approval to the MLB Relocation Committee.
At the very least, this is going to be delayed some. At worst, the bill dies and relocation to Southern Nevada becomes extremely unlikely. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred had gone on record indicating that a vote could take place at some point in June with a final resolution by the end of the 2023 calendar year.
“We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year,” Manfred said back in April.
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For the A’s things are not going to get any better in Northern California. Negotiations over a new venue at the Howard Terminal location in Oakland broke down ahead of the A’s turning their attention to Las Vegas.
As of right now, there’s no sign that officials in Oakland will come back to the negotiating table with the A’s should things not come to fruition in Las Vegas.
On the field, the Oakland Athletics currently sit at 12-50 and are on pace to post one of the worst records in MLB history. Add in how the fanbase views the Fisher-led ownership group and the A’s average attendance of 8,675 this season, and things are not going to improve on that front.