MLS Expansion: Las Vegas Officials Agree to Possible Stadium Deal
By Phil Naegely
Aug 24, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Union fans celebrate a goal by Philadelphia Union defender Sheanon Williams (not pictured) during the second half of the match against the San Jose Earthquakes at PPL Park. The Philadelphia Union defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 4-2. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports
On Tuesday, the city of Las Vegas, the Cordish Companies and Findlay Sports & Entertainment announced the plan of a possible MLS stadium deal in a news release. As first reported by My News 3,”the Las Vegas City Council will vote on a non-binding term sheet at its September 3rd meeting. Under the terms of the existing exclusive negotiating agreement between the city, Findlay Sports & Entertainment and The Cordish Companies, the approval of a non-binding term sheet is the next step toward securing an MLS team and building the stadium.”
This is the first step in possibly making Las Vegas the 23rd MLS franchise. However, this agreement is not been agreed to by Major League Soccer and calls for both public and private funding.
"“The total project cost for the team and stadium including interest on bonds over 30 years is $410 million. Of this amount, 69 percent would be privately funded and 31 percent from public sources. The Findlay-Cordish partnership will be responsible for all costs associated with the professional soccer team. – via My News 3“"
Per the press release, most of the public funding would come from an already established tourism tax. The stadium would be used primarily for MLS and can seat 24,000 people. In addition to being used for MLS, concerts and other events would use the venue. The stadium would not be built until the Findlay-Cordish partnership is awarded an MLS team.
More from MLS
- Coming to America – a game-changer by the name of Lionel Messi
- Lionel Messi set to join MLS side Inter Miami
- Canadian MLS clubs split points in Matchweek 5
- Herrera aims to erase memories of injury-prone debut season
- Matchday 4 Canadian MLS recap
MLS should be skeptical to bring a team to Las Vegas. There are other markets more deserving of a MLS expansion team. The one thing going for Las Vegas right now is this potential deal. MLS likes newer expansion teams (unless you are NYCFC) to have a soccer specific stadium deal before they are announced as a MLS expansion team. Atlanta’s expansion team will not be playing in a soccer specific stadium, but will share the new stadium with the Atlanta Falcons just like the Sounders currently do with the Seahawks. This could hurt the league down the road, but with Atlanta’s season ticket interest it looks like it was a good move.
In Miami, David Beckham is currently having trouble bringing a team to town partly due to the fact he’s having trouble finding a spot to build a stadium. Additionally, he seems to have hit some road blocks when it comes to public funding.
Other potential MLS markets like Sacramento, San Antonio, Austin, and many other markets already have established teams in either NASL or USL PRO. They also have fans that come out to their games no matter what. Sacramento is in their first USL PRO season and qualified for the playoffs and sold out most of those tickets in 45 minutes. Austin is moving from USL-PDL to USL PRO and looks to continue their PDL success in USL-PRO. Additionally, they can also partner with a MLS team to be loaned players that need experience and playing time in USL-PRO to succeed at the next level in MLS.
Live Feed
MLS Multiplex
Lastly, San Antonio has a state of the art facility and their stadium is capable of being expanded to MLS seating capacity standards. They also have passionate fans like the latter two markets mentioned. Due to them competing in NASL, MLS might want to snatch them up and announce them as the 23rd or 24th MLS franchise. Recently, MLS seems to be on better grounds with USL than they are with NASL. It appears to be that NASL is trying to compete with MLS, while USL’s leagues- USL-PRO and PDL – are showing to be worthwhile partners in their various partnerships.
Related: MLS Expansion: Why not Wisconsin?
Other than this potential stadium deal in place, Las Vegas has very little to convince MLS it deserves the next MLS expansion team. MLS teams play in the dog days of Summer and Las Vegas is known to be hot. It’s a dry heat, but the average temperature in June, July, and August is in the triple digits. According to Vegas.com, the average temperature in those three points is 100, 106, and 103 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively. Those temperatures are just down right not safe for players to play a soccer match especially if the field is on turf.
Bringing a MLS team to Las Vegas would bring another headache to the team. The league should rule out the possibility of adding a team there before more hard work is done to prepare to bring a team there. There are more suitable venues and markets for the league to expand to and Las Vegas should not be on MLS Commissioner Don Garber’s short-list to explore. In short, MLS needs to stay away from Sin City.