On Tuesday afternoon, the Nevada State Senate voted 13-8 in favor of the A’s proposal for roughly $380MM in public funding to construct a stadium in Las Vegas. Jacob Solis, Sean Golonka and Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent were among those to cover the news.
It’s a notable hurdle cleared for A’s ownership. The bill will be put in front of the state assembly tomorrow afternoon. If approved by the assembly, it’d go to Governor Joe Lombardo’s office for ratification. Lombardo has been a strong supporter of the legislation and would be expected to ratify. At that point, the A’s could formally apply MLB for relocation.
MLB’s owners are conducting a quarterly meeting in New York this week. However, the A’s stadium situation has not been put on the docket. Bob Nightengale of USA Today tweets that no vote on relocation is likely to take place this week even if the bill clears the assembly and governor’s office within the next few days. Nightengale notes that such a vote would likely take place before next month’s All-Star Break, though.
There’s little question about the A’s finding support from Lombardo or MLB. Commissioner Rob Manfred has publicly backed the franchise’s efforts, agreeing to waive the relocation fee to facilitate the move. (As Joe Garofoli and John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle write, a pair of Bay Area representatives announced the introduction of a bill this morning that would require a departing franchise to pay a decade’s worth of local and state taxes to their former location. However, there’s little expectation of that measure gaining legitimate traction in Congress.)
Assuming the A’s get approval from the Nevada assembly, it’s highly likely their relocation plan will be successful. Their efforts had slowed in the past few weeks, as their push for public funding hit an initial snag in the state senate. As Golonka, Mueller and Solis wrote this morning, the bill’s proponents made some alterations to the franchise’s community benefits agreement that evidently tipped enough voters in favor of the proposal.