Las Vegas LATEST: A's, relocation, ballpark, politics [Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com]

Alan Snel discusses all things Las Vegas, and the A's potential relocation.
Visit his site: www.lvsportsbiz...
Including: A's ballpark challenges, the timeline for public financing, and how competitive the Las Vegas sports market is about to become.
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#mlb #oakland #vegas

[@long-time-first-time]

I'm not an A's fan, and only visit Las Vegas once every few years, but I am absolutely fascinated with this topic. Every night I drive home looking forward to Brodie's videos. This was another great one and I'm already following Alan on social media.

[@alecomeara7929]

Great video

[@michaelvaughn6145]

MLB wants that Tv revenue from the Bay Area cash cow

[@michaelvaughn6145]

@@Vegaslocal Spot on! The A’s wanted San Jose and hit a wall and they would’ve exploded down there. This would be a good time for San Jose to climb into it and challenge that $hit

[@bobbowie9350]

I guess my only problem with the location is, seems like the city and owners doesnt feel confident that locals will support it, hence the near the Strip location.

[@wongleebruce]

The A's are making a horrible business decision they need to consider their in the sixth largest media market and they need to go back to Oakland Mayor Thao and revisit Howard Terminal and staying in Oakland. There is way too much competition for the sports dollar in Vegas and the people of Nevada are not fired up about paying $500 million in tax credits. The A's minor league team the Aviators and their fans don't want the A's. Three or four years down the road Alan is right the honeymoon will be over.

[@ldfreitas9437]

I wonder what would have happened in 1960 if the City of San Francisco told the Oakland Raiders you aren't going to play here (Kezar and Candlestick) until you have a field in the East Bay, as Cal told the Raiders no to Memorial Stadium. Fast forward fifteen years to the 1975 NBA Playoff Finals. Warriors can't play at the Oakland Arena. The Cow Palace, where the Warriors had been playing when they first moved to the West Coast, is where it's played. What if they said to the Warriors then: "You left us in 1971, go play at the San Jose Civic!" KARMA!

[@medlord9958]

These two guys know what they are talking about

[@Mr.Ed_Wayner]

Great work Brodie. You need to bring this guest again down the line.

[@powerfuldreams]

Love Alan he knows vegas sports

[@alfredoescalante7418]

Thank You Brodie Brazil , Finally your brought in someone from Vegas who knows what he is talking about .Now I said before I have spoken from conversation with season ticketholders to the other teams , they will not support another transplant team , especially from California. Everything Alan said was spot on, Namely what he said about the Super Bowl coming to town

[@tram84mvp]

Vegas is guaranteed to get an expansion team so why do anything for the A's. I'll bet that 500M gets shot down.

[@ddddirge]

They used to, but now with Portland and SLC joining the fray, and probably San Antonio/Austin, their hopes are dwindling... Especially if the negotiation fails and the big impact probably gonna push Fisher to sell and Manfred to step down... Although I think A's gonna be relocated somewhere else anyway even with new owner, I don't think the new commissioner gonna have passion to put expansion in Vegas... 🤔🤔🤔

[@travisvaughan567]

Guaranteed to get an expansion team??? 😂

[@dorothygale1104]

If Las Vegas is not willing to provide the $500M to the A’s they have zero hope of ever getting an expansion team. MLB will require any potential expansion market to provide at least $500M in public funding towards stadium construction. Las Vegas has dug themselves into a hole by negotiating with the A’s because they can’t decline to provide public financing for a new stadium and have any hope of subsequently getting an expansion team if the A’s don’t/can’t close a deal with LV. If LV wants an expansion team, they shot themselves in the foot bu negotiating with the A’s. LV will have to approve the $500M and then hope the A’s can’t close the deal and have to walk away, as that is the only hope they have of getting an expansion team at this point.

[@jmac1466]

Most players want to play in their hometown. He did everything he could to make sure that he never plays for the A’s and Fisher in particular.

[@TheGarthokslair]

A's Fans should not give another dime to this team. The owner is pulling a real live Major League. Given us nothing but broken promises and shipped off all of our talents.

[@superninja252]

Orlando interest and NBA will make sure A´s dont get the new Stadium A´s should stick with Howard terminal or the land next to Coliseium instead, those are more easier projects to get than the Las Vegas,

[@madfx8058]

Vegas absolutely deserves an expansion team. They have plenty of young neighborhoods with kids growing up to see something that belongs to them. The A's need new owners and they belong to the postwar blue collar story that is Oakland.

[@mreppen1]

You are all in denial. Oakland is dead.

[@Johnmartins648]

Fisher and Kaval should do an interview on “Ace’s High”.

[@PCSPounder]

MLB isn’t NFL or NHL. NHL is still, to a substantial degree, funded by ticket buyers. We talk much less about TV revenue, and a good portion of THAT is generated from Canada. NFL is funded by NATIONAL TELEVISION. Games once a week, so it’s massively easy to travel for games. MLB has been funded by a combination of national networks and, more importantly, regional networks devoted to sports. You may have heard that most of the RSNs are in trouble. We have yet to really know what kind of impact that will have. Thing is, pre-RSN, a franchise like Kansas City made money from a regional collection of local TV stations from Nebraska to Oklahoma and Iowa to western Kansas. Vegas has NO opportunity to cobble that together because the distant surrounding markets are already taken. The one saving grace is that 6 current franchises have a presence in Vegas, so in a financial-political sense, it’s easier for those franchises to let Vegas go than it is for, say, Seattle to lose Portland.

[@dorothygale1104]

RSN’s won’t be replaced by pre-RSN type tv deals with local broadcasters. Streaming is what is going to replace failed RSN’s when they go under. MLB will put a streaming package together comprised of all teams from failed RSN’s and make all games from those teams available to subscribers with no blackouts to deal with. Ideally, MLB would like to package all 30 teams into a streaming package that would make every MLB game available, but teams with big RSN deals (like Dodgers & Yankees) won’t give up their big money RSN deals, as those RSN’s aren’t having problems. RSN’s are having troubles for the same reason cable tv is in decline…..streaming is in the process of putting them out of business.

[@PCSPounder]

@@dorothygale1104 That seems to be MLB’s initial reaction. But there’s an important question here. How much money will they lose going direct to consumer? BTW- your answer has been my answer to similar questions. Thing is- that’s what I want to see. I won’t be signing up for that. And I don’t care if MLB loses money that way, because they have made a lot of money off carriage fees by bundling for cable providers and getting a premium price that every cable subscriber was paying. MLB will lose money going direct-to-consumer. But there’s the other side. Streaming had been the purview of independent startups; now the major media companies have muscled their way in. OTA broadcasters in local markets are scared to their bones… so one can see how these forces align to rebundle. Maybe this will fail, there’s usually a new entrant into a market that nobody was expecting. But it’s hard to believe that these forces will give up easily.

[@dorothygale1104]

@@PCSPounder MLB is going to lose money anyway when the RSN’s go under. Streaming provides less of a loss compared to the alternative of doing a tv deal with a local channel.

[@northernsurferboy]

@21:50 correction Blue Jays travel with the team and would show up for a Blue Jays series in Vegas dude

[@troywoods9523]

Toronto is a huge market. Probably bigger than Chicago

[@kirkangel525]

great interview Brodie!

[@UncleGabe216]

Orlando should just get the Rays since Tampa is having stadium issues and is only 45 minutes away, Vegas should wait for a expansion team

[@mustbtrouble]

Havana

[@dorothygale1104]

If Orlando gets an expansion team, MLB gets a $2B franchise fee from the new owners, which gets split among the 30 existing owners. If the Rays move to Orlando, the most MLB would get is a $500M relocation fee, with a probability of having to waive that fee since it was waived for the A’s. MLB won’t give up a valuable expansion location for the relocation of an existing team unless the Rays situation becomes dire.

[@mustbtrouble]

@@dorothygale1104 commissioner already waived the expansion fee for Las Vegas

[@monica93304]

Awesome interview.

[@raulingaverage]

Definitely preach on "Transient environment" of fans. Teams only tap into a SMALL subset of fans, ruining home-team advantage in competitive games (e.g. Playoffs, Rivalries) when it comes to moving away from (high % of) core fans

[@konmann1]

​@@togoandmoss💯👌🏾

[@atombomb31458]

This guy..Alan Snel--brilliant

[@jacobbuchenauer3744]

What a great interview, thank you!

[@atombomb31458]

A's are gonna make a mint in LV

[@rvegas3240]

Great interview, Brodie!!

[@georgegomez5654]

I'm a Giants fan from the 408 and don't know why the A's can't come to SJ fuck the territorial rights to the giants. A's need to stay in the Bay period

[@mustbtrouble]

👀shame the Giants don't feel the same way

[@bartphlegar8212]

Las Vegas is not - and should not be - desperate for a team. For any sport. It is one of the two untapped "glamour markets" left in the United States for baseball and basketball - the other being Nashville. Both cities will eventually get teams. The allure of having celebrities pop up on television, in the stands, at televised games will induce MLB to take risks that in other prospective markets might be seen as intolerable. Mr. Snel broke it down well. Comparing the Broncos in Denver to the A's anywhere is like comparing apples to cumquats. The Broncos have been perennial sellouts since I was a child. (Talking AFL days. And I am older than the Broncos.) As long as the numbers were solid in the beginning, a stadium in Denver was almost a sunk cost. Not so for the A's. It might have been possible if Howard Terminal could have gotten done during the Charlie O years, but that ship has not only passed - it is sunk in the harbor...Clark County and the State of Nevada will demand a thorough financial audit which will bear this out. Price Waterhouse, Andressen, or some other Big Five accounting firm will uncover that the past three decades of A's owners - from Schott on up - have devalued this franchise (relative to the market) so badly that any future owner will have to climb two mountains in order to get this team back on track, no matter where they end up. I also agree with your guest that in Vegas the A's are up against a slew of entertainment options - including the far superior VGK franchise - that would also not be present in other markets...Honestly, if the A's screw this up, and baseball is determined to abandon Oakland - which at this point is almost a fait accompli - MLB should just put the A's franchise out of its misery and liquidate it. Retire the franchise with what trappings of history and glory that it has left, and reserve the naming rights for Oakland and the East Bay for future use. Put up three expansion franchises instead of two...Greed is its own downfall. While Fishwrap is pocketing the profits and not re-investing in the team, he is concurrently devaluating the team in the process. Running an interleague farm team for the Yankers will bite them in the end. Las Vegas and MLB should take note...Karma is a bitch, man...

[@dorothygale1104]

Your presumption that any baseball team’s value has any relationship to the revenue or income it may or nay not generate is wholly false. The value of a baseball team is based upon the same valuation principles that dictate the value of, say, a Picasso. A sports franchise is worth what another billionaire is willing to pay for it and currently there are significantly more wannabe billionaire owners than there are available franchises. The Marlins sold for $1.2 billion even though their performance has been horrible and their attendance is weak. The A’s ownership is doing what any business owner would do in the face of limited revenue….cutting expenses (primarily payroll). If ownership increased payroll to, say, $80-$100 million, there would not be an increase in ticket revenue to cover that increase and there never will be enough of a revenue increase to support such a payroll until they get into a new stadium, whether that be in Oakland, Las Vegas or anyplace else. A’s management isn’t cutting payroll to out more profit in their pickets, but just the opposite, they are cutting payroll to minimize losses. Lastly, your idea that MLB can take away the A’s from current ownership overlooks a little legal detail called private property rights. MLB could but the A’s at fair market value if ownershio is willing to sell, but MLB can’t take the team nor compel a sale.

[@bartphlegar8212]

@@dorothygale1104 I will address your assertions in reverse order. "Private property rights" gets trumped by the status of being a "franchise". Any professional sports franchise has boilerplate agreements with their respective leagues to operate said franchise for the benefit of, and upholding the welfare of the league as a whole. The A's are not doing that. They are running a con game. And if you think that a league can't force an owner to sell, I refer you to the case of the NBA Clippers, who divested one Donald Sterling of that team after he was caught making racist rants...The A's constant payroll dumping is gaming MLB's revenue sharing system. The reason the A's are doing this hat dance is to keep from getting kicked out of revenue sharing in 2024...The Marlins' valuation has everything to do with two facts; one, they have a venue (even if it isn't paid for they get to claim some book value for it), and two, they are in one of the top six television markets in the country. The A's are trying to abandon the 10th largest TV market for the 40th. Hardly a value enhancing move...If public money weren't involved, I wouldn't care so much. Oakland loses a team? Oh well, that's life. But the way Fishwrap is going about this, and the way Nevada and Clark County (may be) buying into this scheme with legally ambiguous - if not fraudulent details or lack there of - is flirting with violation of Blue Sky Laws for the issuance of revenue bonds or other securities required to finance a stadium that Fishwrap, his fading Gap empire, and his two already mortgaged sports franchises clearly can't afford...Vegas will get a team, but trust me - you don't want this one...

[@rp26-oc8di]

The discussion of moving the A's vs an expansion team was very interesting. One thing that's missing in the discussion is where is the group of investors with $2B that is pushing to get the new Vegas franchise? I haven't heard of some group like what Dave Stewart is working with in Nashville in Las Vegas. Who would the new owners be? What stadium and where are they looking to build?

[@johnfarr2738]

Kind of reminds me of 2005 when the Montreal Expos announced they were moving to D.C. however they move as well was contingent upon the DC city council passing a stadium financing bill for a new stadium. The council was split on the matter but what ultimately got the deal done was tue city council had capped the financing for a new stadium at $600 million.

[@michaelmarkowski204]

What if Nevada simply told Fisher that if he wants to move to Las Vegas, he gets no public money and must pay for the whole thing himself, including any cost overages. Fisher is already getting a break from MLB re. no relocation fee, so he can use that toward the building of the new ballpark and related expenses.

[@michaelmarkowski204]

@@805fillmore The Vegas Golden Knights didn't ask for any taxpayer money when they built T-Mobile Arena. If Vegas is such a great location for the A's, why is multi-billionaire Fisher asking for 500M...? The City of Oakland already agreed to pay around 350M of the cost to build the Howard Terminal development, but it wasn't enough taxpayer money for Fisher, was it.

[@dorothygale1104]

@@michaelmarkowski204 Your strategy would have merit if it weren’t for every other MLB market (except LA) getting big public subsidies for their baseball, football & basketball venues. Even an expansion team going into Lad Vegas would require a public subsidy for a stadium. LA is the only market that has never put any public money into financing construction of its pro sports venues. Keep in mind that public money doesn’t mean income tax revenue is the financing source. For example, the public money that went into the Raider’s stadium was in the form of municipal bonds that are paid from a .88% hotel tax increase. In the case of the proposed A’s stadium, the public component would come from the waiver of property taxes on the improved value of the stadium and other fees, as well as $500M in municipal bonds paid from revenue generated by the stadium itself. So, the public money for this stadium isn’t coming from income taxes paid by Nevada residents.

[@michaelmarkowski204]

@@dorothygale1104 It has already been demonstrated that sports stadiums have been built with zero tax revenues / tax credits / public financings in places other than L.A. T-Mobile Arena right in Las Vegas is Exhibit A. - zero public financing or taxes of any kind with Golden Knights owner Bill Foley on record as saying no public financing or special tax goodies should be given to build any pro sports stadiums period. Scotiabank Arena (Leafs and Raptors) was also built with no public financing or tax gimmicks. The citizens of Tempe just rejected three proposals in a citizens referendum for a new arena for the Coyotes which included special public / tax assistance. Bottom line: Billionaire owners should not be asking for special goodies for stadiums designed for their privately-owned teams to play in. They are capitalists after all, right....?

[@omarbaca3435]

The perfect guest for this topic, indeed

[@jscott2482]

Brodie you're my hero for real, great interview with awesome insight

[@00negative]

Don't forget, Oakland also lost the Warriors.

[@fleabaglane]

Why would LA teams San Diego go for move

[@taunton613]

@@matthewgreen8628 They want to be in the Las Vegas market. This might be too bold but I think that VGK has actually been good for the NHL.

[@TG-hr7sk]

the athletics may indeed move but its not going to be Vegas. its obvious

[@ddddirge]

Somehow if the Vegas deal fails, I wanna them swap cities with River Cats... I heard River Cats share the ownership group as the Kings from NBA, so if he's interested (or can be persuaded) he can buy... Or maybe just auction the A's if the Vegas deal fails, just make sure the new owner to keep the name A's... 🤔🤔🤔

[@TG-hr7sk]

@@ddddirge sac would be a good option forsure.

[@extremeredtv5728]

The A's moving to Vegas will boost the teams value and will make it a destination for free agents. I would just hope that Fisher will start spending money on players.

[@pool__boy]

That was cool. Dude was chatty but insightful as all hell

[@someguy7222]

Is there a chance that they stay? Or is this more or less just decided where to bury the casket?

[@ericmadison4653]

Las Vegas does deserve a baseball team what Nevada should do is lobby for the Las Vegas Aviators to be the Major League Baseball expansion team main reason it builds a Oakland Vegas Rivalry and many other reasons

[@ldfreitas9437]

Oh, the irony of saying Las Vegas can't handle more than a few teams. Oakland, in the late 60s, with that new stadium and arena, went on a poaching streak, stealing the As from Kansas City, the hockey Seals in 1967 from San Francisco and Warriors from San Francisco by 1971. The hockey team left pronto, as did the other basketball team, the ABA Oakland Oaks. Then the Raiders, who can't claim Oakland as their original place, as they played in 1960 and 61 in San Francisco, SF being gracious hosts, left in the early 80s, only to come back. Now Oakland is going to be left with no teams!

[@patrickwdoyle]

Good interview but it would have been truly great if at the end when Alan gives his message about bike safety Brodie chimed in ‘watch for scraper bikes’

[@ldfreitas9437]

Portland would be a better city than Vegas for the As. Portland tried to lure the Raiders and failed. Also, Sacramento would be a great place for the As. The AAA Vegas team plays there and does well, however. So, the As should be able to attract fans in Vegas. If fans to go a minor league game, they'll go to a major league game. Brodie should realize that.

[@ldfreitas9437]

Here's a factoid: the old Pacific Coast League Oakland Oaks did not play in Oakland, but in Emeryville, in a very small park. They sometimes used Seals Stadium in San Francisco for games when they knew they'd have a bigger crowd. There's already a baseball park in the Bay Area that is one of the best: Oracle. There already is a big football stadium in the Bay Area, Levis. If the Raiders and As really wanted to stay in the Bay Area, they could have made a deal to play in those venues. The Football Giants and Jets share a stadium. At one time the Yankees shared with the Mets when Yankee Stadium was being remodeled, and a century back and before, the Yanks and Giants shared the Polo Grounds. There is a whole history of teams sharing places to play. The Celtics and Bruins share the Boston Garden. If the fans want their team to stay and play in the Bay Area, they will watch them anywhere. Instead, the Raiders left and the As are probably gone too. Well, if you're a Bay Area sports fan, then you either are a Giants fan for baseball or 49ers for football or not, but the Warriors are the real Bay Area team I suppose. I heard a few Oakland people complain about the Warriors moving back to San Francisco. Perhaps they should have kept playing in both San Francisco and Oakland back in 1971! It worked rather well then for half a decade, 1966 to 1971, Cow Palace and Oakland Arena. And for those who say San Francisco didn't draw enough fans for the Warriors, think again: the Cow Palace was packed to capacity for the two NBA Finals games in 1975. Seems enough people from either side of the Bay were there to see the Warriors win.

[@erickurtz2750]

Yeah but if you gotta wait three more years for you guys to get a team but if you guys can get a team now then think about the it’ll give another type of income for increased business more tours will come to Vegas don’t want to watch the yeah but you might have to wait longer if you get an expansion team and it’s gonna cost a lot more money what is Major league baseball wants to happen then it will draw more revenue it would be good for Las Vegas good for business around downtown area⚾️⛰