By Ben Nicholson
July 23 – Since MLS Commissioner Don Garber announced the league’s intentions to add teams until it reaches 24 competitors, various states and cities have put their foot forward in hope of bringing the top US soccer league to their area.
The MLS currently has 19 teams, with New York City FC and Orlando City SC set to join in the 2015 season. A team based in Atlanta is planned to join in 2017, and everyone is currently waiting for Miami to finalise a stadium plan so that they can be confirmed as the 23rd expansion team.
The status on Miami is that Broward county are trying to lure David Beckham away from the Miami-Dade area that he has his heart set on.
The 24th, and for the time being final, MLS spot is up for grabs. The known contenders are San Antonio and Austin from Texas, Sacramento and San Diego in California, Minneapolis, and Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas bid was being fronted by Findlay Sports & Entertainment Group, who were partnering with Cordish Companies, a real estate development and entertainment operating company. This partnership has shown interest in the venture without proving they have the capital to make it feasible.
Just getting an MLS expansion fee costs around $70 million, and building the stadium is a significant extra cost. They have no Beckham to their aid, who has supposedly as much as $400 million of private capital to invest (of which at various stages the stadium has been reported to estimate from as cheap as $50 million to as much as $250 million during the process).
Las Vegas Councilman Ricki Barlow, who has done his part to fuel the talk of Las Vegas and MLS soccer by attending an MLS game in Portland, Oregan with his fellow Councilman Steve Ross, has yet to decry public monetary support. He stated, “I want to see what the numbers are”, apparently waiting for the proposed financial package.
Findlay, of Findlay Sports & Entertainment Group, has attempted to assure the skeptics by stating, “We aren’t looking to increase anyone’s tactics”. He confidently stated that the financing plan, the proposed public contribution, and the stadium price would all be hashed out by August 6, ready to be discussed at a City Council meeting on August 20.
Earlier reports stated that Findlay was seeking to build a 24,000-seater stadium in Symphony Park, just a few miles from the famous strip and downtown area. It was proposed to come equipped with a retractable roof, shading over every seat, and air conditioning capable of keeping the stadium 30 degrees Fahrenheit cooler than outside so as to control the desert climate.
Findlay fought off the idea of creating a basketball or ice hockey arena for an NBA or NHL team, which would cost substantially more than creating an MLS team. The city’s mayor, Carolyn Goodman, was persuaded by Findlay to pursue football (soccer) instead.
Findlay said that Las Vegas is on the “short list” of potential MLS suitors, but was quickly corrected by MLS spokesman Dan Cortemanche who denied the existence of any such list.
But whilst Findlay has been busy getting his proposal together, a local contender has emerged to steal the deal for Vegas. Jason Ader, a gaming industry entrepreneur from New York City, has entered the fray, stating his intentions to bring the MLS to Sin City using $350 million.
Ader is a director and shareholder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, an American casino and resort operating company, which links his interest to the city. He also has stakes in football elsewhere, as he recently became the largest shareholder with rights to appoint a director in the controlling company of Bwin, who have sponsored Real Madrid in the past and who are a major sponsor of global soccer.
In this package he promises an 18,000-20,000 seated covered stadium (budgeted between $175 and $200 million), $100 million for an expansion fee plus start up costs, and an extra $50 million for working capital for the beginning years (which could well go toward helping deliver his promise to bring players with international appeal to the team).
He plans on providing the money from his own capital in conjunction with limited partners and Asian investors in the “EB-5 visa” program that provides visas for people who invest $500,000 or more in construction projects in the US.
Ader stated that he would require a tax concession from the city: “We would be looking for a tax concession. The question is how much? It would need a subsidy,” he said.
Mayor Goodman has responded less enthusiastically to his arrival on the scene by maintaining that the city has a deal with the Findlay and Cordish group, thus having little to say about Ader’s ambitions.
Findlay himself responded by claiming, “it does not change our vision or continued effort to bring a Major League Soccer team to Las Vegas. We feel that local ownership is an important element to ensure this happens and that the team is a community asset.”
However, Ader’s arrival does shake things up. He has already presented a greater breakdown in costs than Findlay’s group has published, and, all the more, has the apparent financial backing necessary for the venture. Though Ader may not change Findlay’s vision, the presence of a competitor on his turf could well change his approach.
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