Plans for Rio

When I was in Vegas in Feb last year a Lyft driver told me the same.

 

I feel like the baseball stadium thing was all over, including on the LVA website. I don't understand the singling out of rideshare drivers as the single source of this information.

 

Can you imagine MLB in Vegas? It would be a dream come true. Sit at the pool in the morning, then go to the ball game, and then gamble the night away. But, who would move to Vegas? Padres? Marlins? Mariners? Seems far fetched and a Triple A team would be a disappointment.

 

They already have a minor league team with a new stadium. I know the old team had great attendance.

TomTWI

 

It’s a great little stadium right across the street from Red Rock. AAA is AAA, but it is baseball and I love mixing it up a bit and catching a game there.

 

Excellent point. I've been hearing the MLB stadium rumors since my first time there in 2019. It all sounds reasonable except for the price tag. The land Allegiant stadium sits on is 62 acres and was purchased for slightly over $1M per acre for the stadium project. Rio is a 90 acre parcel, which puts the price at a little over $5.7M per acre, not counting the cost of major demolition and cleanup.

That said, there was a lot of basis in logic and numbers, prior to the Rio sale, of that being a highly desirable location, and the city was in negotiation with the Oakland A's who were in dispute with Oakland at the time and looking for a potential move. The Vegas minors team was, at least at the time, the As triple A team, The MLB commissioner at the time also expressed approval and support for Vegas as a city that could support MLB etc, and the city was actively lobbying them at the time, so there was real push to bring a team to Vegas, and the Rio parcel is a perfect size and location for a stadium, but it probably ends there. At a > $500M price tag, the numbers just dont make any sense for a stadium, especially with a few other giant vacant lots still available in the vicinity of the strip.

 

I had heard the rumour but what I should of said was that the driver said it would be Oakland Athletics that were going to play in Vegas, that was the first time I had heard a franchise name attached to the rumour.

 

I'd heard the A's attached to the rumor a few times as they can't get any momentum on financing a new stadium in the Bay Area.

Tampa Bay is prime to relocate, but they have an iron clad lease through 2027... and they have been courting Montreal pretty hard as leverage to get something done in Tampa.