Las Vegas Stadium Deal Dies An Early Death

The odds of MLS putting team No. 20 in Las Vegas were always a bit long, but any chance of Sin City getting the next expansion team looks doomed after the stadium deal that would have made a move possible appears dead. The developer had been seeking a special sales tax that would have helped fund the nearly $2 billion, three-stadium project, but the Nevada legislature failed to approve it.

Christopher Milam, the developer who was behind the deal, was hoping to purchase a 63-acre lot across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Mandalay Bay. He was then planning to build three stadiums that would have an outdoor facility that could house a MLS team, a baseball stadium and an indoor arena. Milam had already agreed to buy the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, something that he now seems to be having second thoughts about, according to comments he made to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

When you’re an organization that has been using expansion fees as a significant part of your financial model -- and even MLS’s most ardent supporters have to admit that -- it should come as little surprise that whenever a city expresses interest, the league make some attempt to encourage that interest. So, it should come as little surprise that MLS Commissioner Don Garber apparently reached out to Las Vegas last week after developer Chris Milam unveiled plans for a sports complex that would potentially include a MLS stadium.

How seriously MLS is considering Las Vegas is very much another issue. Garber has reportedly made similar contacts with potential ownership groups in Minnesota and Orlando, as well as having very well documented discussions with at least two groups in New York City. There’s really no reason to think that if someone in Sioux City, Iowa offered to build a $400 million stadium and plunk down $50 million for the expansion fee that Garber wouldn’t be calling them as well.