carson city, nevada – Gov. Joe Lombardo wants to help build Major League Baseball’s smallest ballpark, arguing it could spice up Las Vegas, where baseball’s worst teams strive to call themselves the holy land of the sport .

The Oakland Athletics ballpark proposal has revived the debate over public funding for private sports clubs. The issue stems from Nevada’s strong tourism industry, which includes labor unions, and mostly progressive groups across the country who express concern about tax dollars being used to fund sports stadiums that can fund government services and schools. is in conflict with the choir of

Discussions over moving the team from California to Nevada have reverberated across the country. Politicians approved the donation of large tax dollars to sports clubs. Buffalo, New York; Atlanta; and Nashville, Tennessee.But in Tempe, Arizona, voters rejected a $2.3 billion offer That would have included a new arena for the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes.

The Oakland A’s organization hired a dozen lobbyists to persuade lawmakers in Nevada’s normally deserted capital of 60,000 to approve a $1.5 billion stadium proposal, saying the project would He argued that it would create jobs, promote economic activity, and attract new customers. Contribute to the tourism-based economy of Las Vegas without raising taxes.

At the center of the pitch is the city’s newfound sporting success with NFL, NHL and WNBA teams that didn’t exist seven years ago or were based elsewhere.

“Las Vegas is clearly a city of sports, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it,” Lombardo, a Republican, said in a statement.

Opponents of giving incentives to professional sports teams argue that tax credits and other public funding instruments are not beneficial. They cite mounting evidence that the money generated from the new stadium will not be spent at nearby resorts and restaurants.

Half of the tax credit may not be repaid to the state. Many of A’s community investments, such as homelessness prevention and outreach, are dependent on the ball club’s remaining funds, minus the cost of the ballpark.

Democrat Rep. Serena LaRue Hatch said, “Giving millions of public funds to multi-billion dollar businesses when we can’t pay for basic services that our people need. It cannot be justified,” he said.

Lombardo’s office introduced a stadium funding bill last month with less than two weeks left in parliament’s session.

The measure would go in part through a $180 million transferable tax credit and a $120 million county bond, a taxpayer assistance loan, to help fund projects around stadiums and special tax districts. will provide public assistance of up to $380 million. Backers promise the school district will generate enough money to repay these bonds and interest.

The Athletics won’t have to pay property taxes on public stadiums, and Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, will provide a $25 million loan for infrastructure.

In places like Buffalo and Oakland, proponents of new stadiums argue tax incentives will prevent decades-old businesses from exiting. But the debate in Nevada is different.

The state already relies heavily on entertainment and tourism to power its economy, and members of Congress and lawmakers Appointed Board of Directors For years there has been a debate about economic diversification. companies including Tesla. Another deal lawmakers are considering would expand the movie tax credit to $190 million a year for at least 20 years. bring in a major movie studio to Las Vegas.

Congress has until Monday, when the session closes in 2025, to push through proposals for stadiums and movies, but the possibility of a special parliament is looming.

Lawmakers are preparing to vote, but both proposals are far from reaching agreement.

In recent decades, an increasing number of new stadium deals have been largely (but not necessarily) publicly funded. Two very different examples can already be seen on the strip.

A last-minute bill in Nevada’s 2016 special legislative session would fund the $2 billion Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders and host of the upcoming Super Bowl, with $750 million in public funding from hotel lodging taxes. paved the way for the introduction of

Home of the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Nights, T-Mobile Arena opened in 2016 after MGM Resorts and a California developer funded the entire $375 million. On Saturday, the arena hosted Game 1 of the Stanley Cup.

The Athletics recently received support from the Las Vegas Strip’s 60,000-strong cooking union after agreeing to unionize stadium workers. This is a significant endorsement from the state’s most prominent labor groups, often important mobilization force For the Democratic campaign in the western battleground states.

“Whether it’s a professional team, an event center or a big company, we’re willing to support large-scale projects if they bring good jobs to unions in health care and pensions,” said the executive director of the cooking union. Ted Papa George said.

Debate over public financing of private sports stadiums fuels governing bodies across the country, but is non-existent among economists.

Roger Knoll, emeritus professor of economics at Stanford University, said economists wondered whether the net effect would be marginally negative or positive if a city were to install new stadiums without public support. .

For the Las Vegas Stadium in Las Vegas to be effective, it needs to attract a significant number of visitors who normally would not come to the city. If the stadium is another asset in an existing building, most of the spending there will likely be on nearby attractions such as resorts and restaurants on the Sunset Strip, Knoll said.

A lot of baseball club money also goes to player salaries, who often don’t live in the team’s city all year round, he said.

“It’s not non-existent, but the effect is small. It can’t be big enough to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars,” Knoll said of the economic impact.

Noll, author of a book on stadium financing, added that there was “no serious objection” among peers researching the subject.

Jeremy Aguero, the founder of a company affiliated with The As, acknowledged the criticism at a recent hearing, but told lawmakers that Las Vegas’ tourism-driven market is different.

Aguero’s company said in a study funded by Athletics that 53% of the stadium’s annual visitors come from out of town, and 30% of the estimated 405,000 out-of-town visitors would have skipped Las Vegas without a stadium event. I expected not to visit.

“They come to the hotel, they stay, they eat at the restaurant, they shop at the store, and that creates tremendous value,” Aguero told lawmakers.

___

Stern is a member of the Associated Press/United States Congressional Press Initiative. Report for America is a non-profit national service that staffs journalists in newsrooms. Follow Stern on Twitter: @gabestern326