{"id":236,"date":"2018-10-09T17:55:01","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T17:55:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/?p=236"},"modified":"2023-08-05T14:08:47","modified_gmt":"2023-08-05T21:08:47","slug":"dont-bet-on-rio-mlb-stadium-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/dont-bet-on-rio-mlb-stadium-rumors\/","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Bet on Rio MLB Stadium Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Vital Vegas tweeted several rumors about a potential Rio sale over the past few months. The latest involves the property becoming a Major League Baseball stadium.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We&#39;ll up the ante on our Rio sale rumor with another juicy tidbit: As we&#39;ve shared, could very well be a land play. New rumor suggests Rio could be demolished, site to be developed as (wait for it) Major League Baseball ballpark.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/VitalVegas\/status\/1049336944897847296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 8, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Rio sale rumors are nothing new. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/nathanvardi\/2013\/03\/05\/the-battle-for-online-poker-between-pokerstars-and-caesars-entertainment-goes-to-new-jersey\/#3a33a9f64af6\">PokerStars stated<\/a> that it was approached with a Rio and World Series of Poker (WSOP) sales pitch. Caesars Entertainment, owner of Rio and WSOP, declined to comment on that claim when it came to light in 2013. The company has denied other Rio sale rumors.<\/p>\n<p>The property is an outlier when compared to other resorts owned by Caesars Entertainment in Las Vegas. All others are located on the Strip. This seems to be a basis for the sale rumors that have spanned a decade.<\/p>\n<h2>What is Rio\u2019s value?<\/h2>\n<p>It is difficult to pinpoint the value of a Las Vegas resort. Clark County property records show the 2017-2018 taxable assessment was $538 million. The lot size is 88.53 acres.<\/p>\n<p>To compare the potential accuracy of tax records, Palms appraised at $300 million for 2017-2018, according to the county assessor. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hotelnewsresource.com\/article89227.html\">Station Casinos acquired it<\/a> for $312.5 million. That parcel is 24.79 acres. Palms is one block west of Rio on West Flamingo Road. Based on this, I will accept the tax assessor\u2019s Rio appraisal as being reasonable and use its figure in calculations below.<\/p>\n<h2>Is a Major League Baseball stadium on Rio parcel feasible?<\/h2>\n<p>The 88.53-acre Rio parcel is large enough for a professional sports stadium. The Raiders stadium will sit on 62 acres. That land has significant parking issues that the additional 26 acres of the Rio parcel likely would not have. That and its proximity to the Las Vegas Strip make it a reasonable location for a stadium.<\/p>\n<p>While the Rio lot may be the perfect size and location for an MLB stadium, there are many other issues at play here.<\/p>\n<p>Rio\u2019s estimated $538 million cost does not include demolishing the property. There are two hotel towers and a sprawling casino and convention center there.<\/p>\n<p>The demolition cost of Riviera was around $45 million. Rio is much larger and taller than Riviera. It is reasonable to assume that the only way the demolition costs could remain in that vicinity is if one of the hotel towers remained. This puts the land cost closer to $600 million, if not above it, when accounting for demolition work.<\/p>\n<p>To put that into perspective, the Raiders paid $77.5 million for its stadium land. The lot was vacant.<\/p>\n<p>Paying $600 million for stadium land is problematic for budgets. That is about what the entire land and construction budget was for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ajc.com\/news\/local\/suntrust-park-bricks-and-sticks-cost-462-million\/zbcWoVVqape7tSu4AwjaqI\/\">SunTrust Park<\/a> in suburban Atlanta. The construction portion of it was just under $500 million and that was before steel prices increased sharply due to tariffs.<\/p>\n<p>SunTrust Park is an open-air stadium. That seems impossible for Las Vegas where summer evenings are routinely near or above 100 degrees. That may work for a minor league stadium, but pros will not go for that. A domed stadium could cost double that of an open-air one. This could put the cost of the rumored MLB stadium in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.5 billion when accounting for the land.<\/p>\n<h2>Who is paying for the stadium?<\/h2>\n<p>The Raiders pulled off one of the largest stadium tax heists in history. Las Vegas residents are on the hook for $750 million in bonds that will exceed $1 billion including interest by the maturity date. This required raising the hotel tax 0.88 percent. At the same time, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) received a 0.5 percent hotel tax increase to fund its convention center expansion plan.<\/p>\n<p>The stadium tax was not popular among Las Vegas residents. It was a political play. Major GOP donors pushed for a special session of the Nevada Legislature. The GOP governor called the session as the party held a majority in both chambers.<\/p>\n<p>It was the perfect storm that is not available this time around. Pulling it off again seems unlikely, especially with <a href=\"https:\/\/news3lv.com\/news\/local\/chicken-for-charity-chick-fil-a-fundraiser-aims-to-save-henderson-teachers\">schools and businesses holding fundraisers<\/a> to save teaching jobs due to a lack of funding. It would be a tough sell to Clark County residents while schoolchildren sit in outdated, overcrowded classrooms.<\/p>\n<p>A new stadium would likely need significant private funding. History has taught us that sports teams typically only pay a fraction of the funding towards their own stadiums. That makes it difficult to raise more than $1 billion for this project.<\/p>\n<h2>LVCVA does not appear to think this is happening<\/h2>\n<p>A minor league stadium is under construction near Red Rock Resort in Summerlin. The LVCVA pledged $80 million towards the project. That seems like a poor decision if there was a thought that the MLB had a serious thought of moving to Las Vegas.<\/p>\n<p>The Oakland A\u2019s have been floated as a team that may be interested in the Las Vegas market. Its triple-A team is <a href=\"https:\/\/ballparkdigest.com\/2018\/09\/17\/oakland-shifts-triple-a-affiliation-to-las-vegas\/\">moving into the Summerlin stadium<\/a>. While convenient, it is hard to think that Las Vegas can support both teams. There are also reports that the team is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/barrymbloom\/2018\/10\/04\/oakland-as-still-primed-to-move-into-new-ballpark-by-2023-club-president-says\/#714825c57a8e\">close to announcing<\/a> a new stadium deal in Oakland.<\/p>\n<h2>Rio lot becoming stadium seems unlikely<\/h2>\n<p>I do not believe that there is any serious chance of Rio becoming a stadium site. The land is too expensive and would require extensive demolition work. If there is a serious plan with private funding to bring Major League Baseball to Las Vegas, there are much better sites for its stadium.<\/p>\n<p>The 58-acre Wild Wild West property on West Tropicana Avenue comes up whenever there is talk of a stadium. That site would not have the same demolition costs. It would be just as close to the Strip as Rio at a fraction of the land value. It is far from the only parcel in Clark County that is suitable for a stadium. However, it may be the most convenient to the tourist corridor.<\/p>\n<p>This is not to say the Rio is not for sale. Anything is for sale for the right price. If Rio changes hands, I do not think the buyer will be a stadium developer or anybody else with the intention of demolishing the hotel towers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Vital Vegas tweeted several rumors about a potential Rio sale over the past few months. The latest involves the property becoming a Major League Baseball&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1734,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"yes","_lmt_disable":"yes","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[91,32],"tags":[95],"aioseo_notices":[],"acf":[],"modified_by":"John Mehaffey","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/rio222.jpg?fit=1220%2C915&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9QI6N-3O","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":408,"url":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/rio-wsop-gambling-guide\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":0},"title":"Rio WSOP Gambling Guide","author":"John Mehaffey","date":"May 30, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Thousands of poker players will visit Rio in Las Vegas this summer in the hopes of winning a World Series of Poker bracelet. Many enjoy other forms of gambling, such as video poker and table games. I compiled the latest information about the games available at Rio to help World\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Casino Games&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Casino Games","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/category\/casino-games\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1320,"url":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/status-of-closed-las-vegas-casinos\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":1},"title":"Status of Closed Las Vegas Casinos","author":"John Mehaffey","date":"July 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Las Vegas casinos were permitted to reopen on June 4, 2020. There were 61 Las Vegas casino reopenings that day. A total of 25 remained closed. Nine of those properties reopened later with 16 still shuttered as of July 24, 2020. The list below details what is known about the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Las Vegas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Las Vegas","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/category\/las-vegas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Park MGM","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20200611_100749-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20200611_100749-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20200611_100749-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20200611_100749-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/20200611_100749-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1733,"url":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/rio-to-reopen-in-december\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":2},"title":"Rio to Reopen in December","author":"John Mehaffey","date":"November 12, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Caesars Entertainment announced today that Rio will reopen on December 22, 2020. The hotel and some amenities will join the casino in welcoming guests back to the property in March. Rio closed due to orders from Governor Sisolak that shuttered the state\u2019s gaming industry. All other Caesars Entertainment properties in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Las Vegas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Las Vegas","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/category\/las-vegas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201222_140318_HDR-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3658,"url":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/flamingo-poker-room-becomes-39th-las-vegas-one-to-close-since-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":3},"title":"Flamingo Poker Room Becomes 39th Las Vegas One to Close Since 2012","author":"John Mehaffey","date":"November 24, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Flamingo poker room announced that its temporary WSOP closure is permanent. It joins 38 other Las Vegas poker rooms that closed in the last 10 years.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Las Vegas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Las Vegas","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/category\/las-vegas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Flamingo poker","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201030_140544-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201030_140544-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201030_140544-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201030_140544-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201030_140544-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C788&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":850,"url":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/what-i-think-a-las-vegas-casino-reopening-looks-like\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":4},"title":"What I Think a Las Vegas Casino Reopening Looks Like","author":"John Mehaffey","date":"April 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Nevada's non-essential businesses, including casinos, were ordered by Governor Sisolak to remain closed until at least May 1. I think that date gets pushed back to May 21. That is the day after the Clark County School District would have let out for the year, which I believe will not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Las Vegas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Las Vegas","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/category\/las-vegas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/cropped-header.jpg?fit=512%2C512&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3399,"url":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/ballys-and-flamingo-poker-rooms-close-for-two-months\/","url_meta":{"origin":236,"position":5},"title":"Bally\u2019s and Flamingo Poker Rooms Close for Two Months","author":"John Mehaffey","date":"September 27, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The poker rooms at Bally's and Flamingo are closed for two months. It is likely related to World Series of Poker staffing.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Las Vegas&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Las Vegas","link":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/category\/las-vegas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Poker at Horseshoe (Bally's) Casino","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201005_123307-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201005_123307-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201005_123307-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201005_123307-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/20201005_123307-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C630&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8737,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236\/revisions\/8737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vegasadvantage.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}