Michael Ramirez: Bush League
From America's Premier Editorial Cartoonist
BUSH LEAGUE Nevada lawmakers balk at a major league opportunity by Michael Ramirez, June 11, 2023
Las Vegas has landed the Oakland A’s… or maybe they haven’t. It will depend on whether the Nevada State legislature (and Nevada taxpayers) can rustle up $380 million to fund the $1.5 billion “state-of-the-art” stadium.
As a free market capitalist, I’m not crazy about using public funds for private enterprise, especially sports franchises. But the question that comes to mind here is, whether Las Vegas would benefit from having a Major League ball club? Now granted, we are talking about the Oakland Athletics. Calling them a major league anything is kind of a stretch.
They remind me of my Miami Dolphins. Friends always ask me if I’m a fan of professional Football? I always tell them, “No, I’m a Miami Dolphins fan, and they haven’t played professional football in 23 years.”
The 2023 A’s are the worst team in baseball this season. The A’s team ERA is 6.40. They may even contend for the worst team in baseball history. They tied the 1932 Red Sox and the 1897 St. Louis Browns for the fourth worst 50 game start in MLB history.
The only team with a worse record of accomplishment would be the Nevada legislature. Democrats dominate the legislature. If I started on their record of losers, it would take all day. Having them reject government handouts is something new.
What S.B. 509 proposes is a sports and entertainment district in Clark County that will allocate “no more than $380 million” from general obligation bonds and transferable tax credits to build a 30,000-capacity stadium with a partially retractable roof, in the heart of the Las Vegas strip on 9 acres of land on the site of the Tropicana Resort. The taxes would primarily come from the existing hotel tax and $90 million of the tax credits would be refundable. The A’s would come up with the other $1.1 billion in funding.
It would take the A’s from the fifth largest stadium in Major League Baseball to the smallest one.
Not that that would make a significant difference at this point, since the A’s have had record-low attendance this year. Last month, they had a night with just a little over 2000 attendees.
According to the MLB 2023 attendance report, Oakland was at the bottom of the list of stadiums with an average of 8,675 people in attendance. Dodger Stadium had the best average attendance with 47,915. The league average is 26,753.
To put that into perspective, the Aviators, Las Vegas’ minor league team (and triple-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics) prior to COVID, led all Triple-A Baseball in attendance with an average of 9,299. Last year, they led the Pacific Coast League in attendance in 2022 with an average of 6,910.
What it comes down to is baseball.
I love baseball. There is nothing like going to a baseball game. I usually fast for two days before I go. I buy everything the vendors bring around…. Hot dogs, peanuts, and Crackerjacks…uh, and popcorn, nachos, more peanuts, drinks, and Pepcid… I wear the ball caps, official MLB merch, t-shirts and bring my glove to the game just in case a foul ball comes my way.
I hate corporate welfare.
But having a Major League Baseball team is no small feat. Only 30 cities have MLB teams. The opportunity to field an MLB team only comes around on the rare occasion and this deal already has the largest amount of private funding in MLB history. The Globe Life Field for the Texas Rangers in 2020 had 42% in public funding and a cost $500 million.
It comes down to the question, do you want an MLB team or not? If the opportunity comes up again in the future, if it comes up again for a market the size of Las Vegas, what will that cost be?
Would Las Vegas benefit in the long run? I think so. Down the stretch, the A’s will become a better team. Really, there is nowhere to go but up, and unrealistic projections aside, I think a major professional sports franchise can succeed in Las Vegas. The Golden Knights have shown that. The average attendance for the Golden Knights is 18, 027. The average attendance for the Raiders is 62,045.
I don’t blame Oakland fans for abandoning the team. I don’t blame the team for abandoning Oakland… Have you been there? I do blame the Nevada legislature for their lousy record but I will blame them more for missing a great opportunity.
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Help me understand why the taxpayers should "contribute" so much as a dime to a profitable private enterprise. I'll wait.