Las Vegas wants a sports team. If we build it, will they come? (aired 2010)

Published November 3, 2023 at 5:00 AM PDT

Fans of Raiders Nation cheer on their team.

This story was aired on Nov. 3, 2023 as part of State of Nevada's ICYMI Fridays.

Mayor Oscar Goodman wants to build a sports arena in Las Vegas and lure either an NBA or NHL team to the area. The city is talking with a group about the possibility of building the arena in Symphony Park. But, the city is being very hush about their plans.

Meanwhile, Harrah's Entertainment just gathered the signatures needed for a legislative bill that could create a tourist tax district that would help fund an arena next to the Strip. It would be owned by Harrah's.

If the city builds an arena, do taxpayers want to see a $500,000,000 facility built during a recession? Or, should the state help a casino build an arena?

On the former: reporter Howard Stutz senses there would be pushback. "The one downtown, that's the biggest question: Who's going to finance it?" he says. "Who's going to pay for it? There doesn't seem to be an appetite right now within the public for new taxes. We've seen this in the [2010] election."

MGM Resorts' Alan Feldman all but concurs. Not only did he mention that higher taxes could mean visitors retract their spending budgets when in town, he also dismissed the use of taxpayer money by corporations to build things like arenas — especially as an economic rebound: "What we don't want to see happen is Las Vegas succumb to the same kind of bait-and-switch tactics that other communities have — that if you invest public dollars in these, life will be great, the city will turn around, everything will be fine. That has never proven true."

Marybell Batjer of Harrah's Entertainment disagrees. "The revenues that would be created by building a new state-of-the-art arena would benefit the revenue base of Clark County and the state of Nevada greatly, and would provide for more jobs for Alan's and my colleagues and our friends and neighbors," she says. "It would provide new opportunities, new businesses, [and] it would create a new market."

Andrew Zimbalist, a professor of economics at Smith College who has studied the economic viability of facilities like arenas and stadiums, contested many of Batjer's claims. "The notion that new jobs are going to be created because there's a bond that's floated for $500 million, or some other large number, is also illusory," he says. "Why? Because the city can decide to float a $500 million bond and undertake a construction project that involves building a large hole downtown. And then to fill up the hole again, you can generate construction jobs any way you want. The problem is that when you float a bond, you have to do debt service — you have to pay it off. And when you pay it off, it means you either have to increase taxes or lower services. This is not a free good."

Guests: Howard Stutz, gaming reporter, Las Vegas Review-Journal; Andrew Zimbalist, professor of economics, Smith College; Alan Feldman, senior vice president of public affairs, MGM Resorts International; Marybell Batjer, senior vice president of public policy and communications, Harrah's Entertainment