{"id":46326,"date":"2023-06-15T12:18:43","date_gmt":"2023-06-15T19:18:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/?p=46326"},"modified":"2023-07-19T11:20:29","modified_gmt":"2023-07-19T18:20:29","slug":"taxpayer-obligations-beyond-380m-to-bring-athletics-to-las-vegas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/taxpayer-obligations-beyond-380m-to-bring-athletics-to-las-vegas\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayer obligations beyond $380M to bring Athletics to Las Vegas"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

(Jon Styf<\/em>) \u2013 Legislation filed over the weekend and reviewed for the first time in committee on Monday, highlighting the $380 million in public funding for construction of a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium and entertainment complex for the relocating Oakland Athletics.<\/span><\/p>\n

The proposal includes a tax capture at the complex expected not only to pay off up to $175 million in bonds taken out on the project but also to fund future capital projects at the stadium, which will be required by a \u201cfirst-class\u201d clause in a 30-year lease the Athletics plan to sign.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those clauses have been used across the country as\u00a0<\/span>leverage<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0to get taxpayer subsidies for stadium renovations or new stadiums.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tax capture will collect all sales, payroll, insurance, gross revenue, ticket and liquor taxes at the complex \u2013 planned to be built at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue on the site of the current Tropicana Las Vegas Casino Resort \u2013 along with transportation taxes on trips to and from the complex.<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0<\/span>30,000-seat stadium<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0would open in 2028 on the nine-acre site.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Nevada Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees heard a presentation from advisor Jeremy Aguero on the benefits of the taxpayer subsidies for the project, economists have repeatedly and consistently shown that sports facilities and surrounding entertainment developments are not a public benefit but instead a\u00a0<\/span>loss for taxpayers<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cGiving credence to the idea that stadiums can jolt the economy is like treating the claim that vaccines cause autism as a serious argument,\u201d economist\u00a0<\/span>J.C. Bradbury wrote<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s been studied to death, we *know* it doesn\u2019t happen. It\u2019s not reasonable to suggest otherwise.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In a letter opposing the bill, the Nevada Policy Research Institute pointed out that just 2% of economists believe the benefit of publicly funding sports complexes is higher than the cost.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe proposed funding mechanism, tax-increment financing, systematically diverts tax dollars away from essential public services such as schools and police departments into redevelopment agencies,\u201d the\u00a0<\/span>group wrote<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cThis strategy is deeply flawed, attributing all property value increases to redevelopment efforts, while ignoring the impact of factors such as inflation or organic market investments.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Neil deMause, who covers stadium proposals across the country on his \u201cField of Schemes\u201d blog, pointed out that the legislation ultimately would provide\u00a0<\/span>more than $500 million<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0in public funds for the project while providing a full property tax exemption for the stadium and land.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Athletics would pay the first $100 million in construction costs while bonds would be taken out by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which would own the stadium.<\/span><\/p>\n

Aguero\u2019s presentation included estimated attendance, visitor and economic benefit numbers from a Las Vegas-based group called Applied Analysis, which it says were reviewed by groups such as Conventions, Sports and Leisure \u2013 owned by the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys \u2013 who provide numbers, often questioned by economists, to those looking for public funding for stadiums across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

The deal is also opposed by several Nevada education groups, including the\u00a0<\/span>Nevada State Education Association<\/strong><\/a>, who believe the public funds should instead be spent on public education in the state.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two groups of the state\u2019s electrical contractors\u00a0<\/span>support<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0the project and would benefit from work at the site.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

By<\/p>\n

Jon Styf<\/a> | The Center Square<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Jon Styf) \u2013 Legislation filed over the weekend and reviewed for the first time in committee on Monday, highlighting the $380 million in public funding for construction of a new $1.5 billion baseball stadium and entertainment complex for the relocating Oakland Athletics. The proposal includes a tax capture at the complex expected not only to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88912,"featured_media":46329,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[748],"tags":[3466],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46326"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46326"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46326\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46332,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46326\/revisions\/46332"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nevadanewsandviews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}