Clark County Commission approves creation of Las Vegas A's ballpark tax district

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Clark County Commissioners have approved the creation of a new tax district to raise funds for the new A's ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Clark County, Nevada, Sports and Entertainment Improvement District No. 1 will include the ballpark, which will sit on nine acres of the 35-acre Tropicana site.

A's

This is one of several ways that up to $380 million in public funding is being broken up to help pay for the project. You may remember that in June 2023, Gov. Joe Lombardo signed Senate Bill 1 into law after months of public and legislative debate.

The bill breaks down public funding like this:

• $180 million is coming from transferable tax credits from the state
• $120 million is coming from Clark County bonds
• Clark County is contributing $25 million in credit towards infrastructure costs

Another part of that bill stated the sports and entertainment improvement tax district could have been created before the Tropicana casino was demolished. However, after discussions with county officials, Commissioner Marilyn Kirkpatrick said the team listened to their concerns and agreed to wait.
"I just want to say that the A's stepped up and agreed not to put that in place until after the demolition in order to show their community partnership," Kirkpatrick said. "I really wanted to say thank you for doing that and it didn't go unrecognized in my book."

Commissioner Jim Gibson echoed those thoughts saying there is still a lot of work ahead.

"This has been a long time coming, a lot of work by a lot of people," Gibson said. "I think what we've found is that we have partners there who are willing to contribute and to make a difference."

A's

Following the county's vote, Schools Over Stadiums, a political action committee with ties to the Nevada State Education Association, released a statement voicing their concerns over the "economically debunked stadium project with little transparency or public accountability."

You may remember that Schools Over Stadiums as well as Strong Public Schools Nevada, a separate political action committee, both filed lawsuits to try to block public funding for the stadium.

Last September, a Carson City judge dismissed the Strong Public Schools Nevada case. Last May, Schools Over Stadiums lost their case in the Nevada Supreme Court. When I last spoke with Marks, he said the plan was to file a new referendum against using the public funding in August 2025.

I spoke with Marks today to see where things stand.

Marks told me Schools Over Stadiums is planning to file later this year to qualify a 2026 referendum targeting the county bonding and they will meet after the legislative session.

However, he added a referendum might not be necessary because of the following reasons listed below.

• The A's must contribute the first $100 million to trigger any county-level funding and according to Marks, as of March 19, the Las Vegas Stadium Authority has indicated that hasn't happened.
• The groundbreaking has shifted from April to early summer.
• Tariffs may drive up building costs on a project that is likely already over budget.

The A's were originally going to break ground on the new ballpark this month. However, that timeline has now shifted to the second quarter, according to A's President Marc Badain.
It's something that Steve Hill, President and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Chair of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, said officials were expecting.

"The start date of April is not as critical as it might sound because that's 36 months prior to when they would play in the stadium," Hill said in October. "I'm sure they want to be done with the stadium a month or two before the season would start to just shake it out and make sure everything works well and that kind of thing. They do have some flexibility in the time frame of the construction cycle."

CHANNEL 13 ARCHIVES: LVCVA's Ed Finger explains ballpark funding structure, financial plans

The original estimate for the ballpark was $1.5 billion but in October, I told you that due to construction costs, that number could go up. According to the Associated Press, the ballpark is now estimated to cost $1.75 billion.

The A's have already begun awarding construction contracts to local vendors and companies. Channel 13 tried to contact many of them to see how tariffs could impact construction costs. We were told the companies can't provide that information due to signing non-disclosure agreements.

As for any additional public funding past the $380 million, Hill previously told me the public wouldn't be on the hook for it.

"What will happen is Mortenson l McCarthy, who are the contractors that are going to be building the stadium, will be required to provide a guaranteed maximum price for building the stadium. And so, we'll have that number and then, we'll be able to do the math," Hill said in October. "If it's a $1.6 billion stadium and the public is going to put in $350 million, the Fishers will have to put in the balance. It is 75%, 80% funded by the Fishers and 20% or 25% funded by the public."

At the time, we also asked Hill if A's owner John Fisher would follow through on his end of the funding.

"There's been chatter around whether the Fishers had the ability to do it. I don't, frankly, think anybody seriously questioned that," Hill said. "We were able to look, in detail, at their ability to do it. It is clearly there and that will be expressed by them and third parties at one of the next two future meetings."

When we asked if financial documents will be made public to show the money is there, Hill said no because the documents "are confidential."