Oakland A’s leadership taken to task, other reactions during marathon Nevada Senate session

“To say I’m extremely disappointed that no work has been done on this bill is an understatement.”

The Oakland Athletics’ pursuit of a new ballpark in Las Vegas had its longest public vetting yet on Wednesday.

The A’s and their representatives were drilled on their ballpark bill in a marathon special session in the Nevada senate held two days after the regular legislative session ended.

And while Wednesday’s session didn’t ultimately lead to a vote, with the Nevada officials electing to pick things back up later Thursday morning instead of jamming in a vote after midnight, things sure got intense across the nearly nine hours from start to finish — and even a little wacky.

Perhaps the most noteworthy moments both came from Democratic senator Fabian Doñate and A’s president Dave Kaval. The A’s mostly had two local representatives speak on behalf of their ballpark bill for most of the night: Steve Hill, president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and Jeremy Aguero, a lawyer working on the A’s behalf locally.

But about two hours into the session, Doñate — who is the elected representative for District 10, which includes the Las Vegas strip — specifically requested Kaval come to the podium and answer whether or not the A’s would pay the Live Entertainment Tax (LET) for the proposed ballpark, like several other bars and restaurants do in the area.

Kaval’s answer, while filled with the typical buzzwords the A’s have used, didn’t directly state that the team would pay the LET, saying the team was looking to “improve the situation for small business, medium-sized businesses in a variety of fashions beyond” the LET.

Sen. Fabian Doñate just cornered Dave Kaval, who wouldn't commit to the A's paying the Live Entertainment Tax for the stadium.

Appreciate the follow-up questions from Doñate after the deflections pic.twitter.com/6J02DNGTY9

— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) June 8, 2023

Doñate thanked Kaval for the reply, but said, “That didn’t answer my question. It’s a yes-or-no. Will you willingly commit to pay the Live Entertainment Tax in the near future to fix the equity issue that exists?”

Kaval replied, “Like I said, we are committed to being a great community partner in Southern Nevada and investing over a billion dollars…”

Doñate cut Kaval off at that point, repeating his request to get a direct yes-or-no answer from Kaval.

“The legislation, as it’s currently envisioned, does not contemplate that,” Kaval said. “The project is based on what is currently proposed, so we’ve been focused on that as the path forward for the team and the community.”

Doñate called Kaval’s answer “disingenuous” but said he would divert his remaining questions for the next round, later in the evening.

When that came around about three hours later, Doñate once again asked for Kaval to come up to the stand. But Kaval didn’t, and it wasn’t immediately clear if that was because Kaval was still in the room and choosing not to or if Kaval had left the special session at the time.

Senator Fabian Doñate wants another run at Dave Kaval, who is apparently done answering questions for the night. #NVLeg pic.twitter.com/qhmN2SRXNs

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) June 8, 2023

The double-exchange between Doñate and Kaval was perhaps the most satisfying for frustrated A’s fans, but others were quite fiery, too. Democratic senator Rochelle Nguyen blasted the A’s for not making any updates to the bill since the May 29 joint hearing with the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees.

“What is before us today is the exact same bill that we heard 10 days ago,” Nguyen said. “To say I’m extremely disappointed that no work has been done on this bill is an understatement.”

"What is before us today, is the same exact bill that we heard 10 days ago. To say I’m extremely disappointed that no work has been done on this bill is an understatement."

Sen. Nguyen isn't happy and says it costs Nevada $250,000/day in special session pic.twitter.com/Kx6qLnD0Tl

— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) June 7, 2023

Nguyen added that special sessions cost Nevada taxpayers $250,000 a day for each session and also questioned Hill and Aguero about why Nevada should provide A’s billionaire owner John Fisher with public dollars when other services would to be funded.

“Can you explain to me why we need to provide hundreds of millions of dollars for a billionaire team to come to the Las Vegas Strip on some of the most valuable property in the world if we can’t provide funding for critical resources like summer school and health care?” Nguyen asked, referring to a recent veto by Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo.

Another exchange between Democratic senator Dallas Harris and Aguero got heated, as Harris asked how feasible the A’s projection of an average attendance of 27,000 fans a game was and noted the A’s would be more than tripling their average attendance from what it currently is in Oakland (8,675 per game).

Senator Harris doing some math with Aguero for the record. #NVLeg pic.twitter.com/22pmbYaMV7

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) June 8, 2023

Aguero pushed back at that notion, but when later pressed by Harris as to what the “worst-case” scenario could look like, Aguero acknowledged that the plan isn’t guaranteed to work.

“Are there scenarios in which the project could produce less revenue? Sure there are,” Aguero said. “This project is not without risk. It’s not without risk for the A’s, it’s not without risk for the state of Nevada.”

Other moments throughout the session seemed to raise some eyebrows, particularly when Republican senator Lisa Krasner heaped praise on A’s owner John Fisher, who seemingly wasn’t present for the session.

"He seems like a fine man and a person of high integrity."

Wow Sen. Lisa Krasner is literally reading off the script for John Fisher pic.twitter.com/AeVB0cYmCR

— The Rickey Henderson of Blogs (@RickeyBlog) June 8, 2023

A’s fans following along via the internet and social media also took exception when Hill suggested Fisher wants to relocate from Oakland because attendance has been an issue even when the team — currently on pace to set the modern record for losses in a season — was good. It didn’t take long for fans to point out that the A’s set a wild-card game record with 54,005 fans at the Coliseum in 2019.

But full-born chaos ensued once the session turned to public comments, the session had some chaos.

There was one person who called in to sing the theme song to “Where in the world is Oakland A’s owner John Fisher?” to the tune of the theme song from the Carmen Sandiego video game. Another person volunteered to babysit for the senate majority leader, Nicole Cannizzaro — who had her newborn baby with her at various points in the session.

May have to call it here. A commenter singing "Where in the World is Oakland A's owner John Fisherrrrrrr?" (to the tune of Carmen San Diego) #NVLeg pic.twitter.com/ttkfQ2yfV8

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) June 8, 2023

Former A’s executive Steve Pastorino came to speak and called Kaval a “walking, talking bobblehead” while blasting the organization, their representatives and Fisher specifically.

“There are so many holes in what the A’s are trying to sell us, I can’t cover it in two minutes,” Pastorino said.

Former A's senior executive Steve Pastorino calls A's President Dave Kaval a "walking, talking bobblehead" "You cannot trust Dave Kaval," he says. #NVLeg pic.twitter.com/UuFBWA9HOH

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) June 8, 2023

The A’s will be hoping the Nevada Senate votes “Yes” on the bill on Thursday, but a “Yes” vote will only push things over to the Nevada Assembly, which would also need to vote to approve the bill before Nevada governor Joe Lombardo can sign it into law.

Given how many lawmakers voiced frustrations on Wednesday, it sure doesn’t seem like this is the quick and easy process the A’s were hoping for in Nevada.