Steps remain before the shovel hits the ground, after the Oakland Athletics removed one of the biggest obstacles to securing up to $380 million in public funding for the team’s planned Las Vegas ballpark.
The first major league baseball must approve the team’s move from the Bay Area to Las Vegas. A started the previous application process last month. Once submitted, the MLB transfer committee will review it.
The committee consists of Mark Athanasio, chairman of the Milwaukee Brewers, who will chair the committee, John Middleton, CEO of the Philadelphia Phillies, and John Sherman, CEO of the Kansas City Royals. They will evaluate A’s application, define new operational and television areas, and recommend it to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and the eight-member executive committee. 스포츠토토탑
Soon after that, a vote will be held on MLB owners. A requires 75% of owners to vote to approve their relocation to formalize.
No official timeline has been announced, but Steve Hill, chairman and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said the vote should take place in the not-too-distant future.
“They have to make sure they’ve gone through the process and looked at everything,” Hill said. “But I think we can come to a conclusion over the next few months.”
After the work that went into securing up to $380 million in public funding for a $1.5 billion Las Vegas ballpark planned on the Tropicana site, Hill said a necessary vote by MLB team owners to approve A’s move was highly likely.
“If they (A’s) thought it wasn’t possible to vote, I think someone would have said something to them in the process,” Hill said.
If approved in the league, A must secure multiple agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority and the nine-member board. The stadium authorities have overseen the planning and construction of the Allegiant Stadium and are also receiving quarterly updates on the facility’s operations. A’s ballpark process will work in a similar way.
The next scheduled stadium authority board meeting is August 24. Board members will be briefed on agreed public funding and any developments that take place between now and then, and they will get general ideas on how the process will proceed, Hill said.
“If we are in a position to do more when we get there, we will,” Hill said.
If A’s relocation is approved, the frequency of stadium authority meetings will increase, similar to the monthly meetings held during the Allegiant Stadium process.
There, necessary agreements will be discussed, including agreements on the prohibition of community welfare, development and relocation. But since the board already has experience with Allegiant Stadium procedures, Hill said he expects such negotiations to proceed sooner.
If various necessary agreements are reached after the strike of A with the stadium authorities, the bond issuance process can proceed. The state and Clark County will provide A with public funds to be used to build the team’s future home. As part of Senate Bill 1, A has to fund the first $100 million for the project before using public funds.
“We will not do as we did last time. We just show up with a document for the first time and ask people to vote for it,” Hill said. “We’ll come and explain the papers, and let the board have some time.”
Hill, who went through the process once at Allegiant Stadium, said, “It worked pretty well, but there are some differences. So things will change little by little, but we have a starting point to start working from scratch.”