By Ben Nicholson
September 5 – MLS executive officials have set a September 18-19 date to visit Sacramento to assess their potential as an expansion team, according to Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. MLS Commissioner Don Garber is expected to be on the trip.
They will proceed to tour potential stadium venues. The preferred choice for a home ground is in a development site in a downtown rail-yard where, in the future, shops, housing, offices, an art center and a museum will be built.
Developer Larry Kelley is in the process of purchasing the land, which stretches 240 acres just north of downtown, and expects to have completed the deal this year.
The alternative option, Elk Grove, will also get a chance to court the MLS officials. There the council will aid the investors in financing the stadium, whereas their opposition is willing to put up the bill completely from private sources.
As the MLS warms to Sacramento, Las Vegas’ bid has paused. The Las Vegas City Council was scheduled to vote on a nonbinding stadium deal on Wednesday, but it has been postponed for at least 30 days so that Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian can have time to speak with residents about the proposal.
Three councilmen outright opposed the agreement, voting against delaying the vote, whilst the remaining, and majority, four councilmen voted to delay. This sets a worrying precedent for the next vote, because for the stadium project to move forward there needs be a super-majority decision, or at least a 5-2 vote.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, for one, will be pleased with this setback after its critical article published on the day of the scheduled vote. The journal wrote, “It’s a horrible deal for a city that already can’t afford its existing obligations”, going on to specifically discuss the convenient timing of the release of the stadium plans, and all its financial details: “a week before today’s meeting, after two public meetings on the plan were cancelled”.
The issue here being that a significant amount of public funding is detailed in Findlay Sports & Entertainment and the Cordish Cos. plans – a 78% burden of $200 million (though 59% of the stadium costs would be incrementally repaid by the developers). This facet has led to the accusation that the plans subsidise corporate welfare, whilst excusing private developers of the bill.
There remain many proponents of MLS in Vegas though, as proven by the roughly 100 enthusiasts who strode through Main Street dressed in blue T-shirts bearing the ‘MLS2LV’ slogan, and filed into the City Hall meeting room.
So it remains to be seen, and remains to be decided if it can be seen, whether, as The Las Vegas Review-Journal wrote, the “soccer fans cheering the plan won’t be so happy if the city one day has to cut services to repay construction debt”.
Contact the writer of this story at moc.l1734831201labto1734831201ofdlr1734831201owedi1734831201sni@n1734831201osloh1734831201cin.n1734831201eb1734831201