Oakland A's Nevada ballpark: Will taxpayers foot the bill?

At midnight Monday, the Oakland A's will know if they can count on Nevada and its taxpayers to support their move to Las Vegas. This is a fast moving story that could change any minute and Nevada legislators ponder wresting away a second team from Oakland.

A Welcome To Fabulous Las Vegas.  Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

At the stroke of midnight, the Nevada state legislature's once every two-year session ends. Still undecided, using $380 million of taxpayer's money to fund a new A's stadium complex in Las Vegas.

"I think it is still a possibility," said Tabitha Mueller who covers the Nevada legislature for that state's leading news source, the Nevada Independent  "Economists are saying, it's not always a great idea to put money into a baseball stadium. The response to that being, however, that Vegas is a little different than other cities," said Mueller.

But, with just hours to go until the midnight end the biennial session, lots of other priorities remain on the table. "We're talking about the Oakland A's, but we also have a film tax credit expansion to the tune of what would be eventually be $4 billion," said Mueller.

Add to that, school construction funding, school voucher funding, charter school transportation, homeless service and raises for teachers and other state employees. "If a lot of those polices are not resolved, or if the budget doesn't get passed, I think the odds of a special session are very high, but it just depends," said Mueller.

Andy Dolich, sports legend and former executive for multiple teams in multiple professional sports, cautioned this. "You still need to come up with a billion dollars plus to build a ballpark. Where is that money coming from? That hasn't been determined in anything I've seen in certainty," said Dolich.

There is also the issue of education and public services funding voter favor over a ballpark. "That's way more important, especially if the person who owns the business, a privately held business, is worth three billion dollars plus and has said I'm gonna be 100% privately financed. 

If I'm looking at the number one expansion market in major league baseball if the A's leave, the market is Oakland, California," said Dolich. "While Nevada may be moving slow, California and Oakland are doing nothing to really, to try to keep the team," said Save Oakland Sports Co-Founder

The A's have said that staying in Oakland is all but impossible.

New developments reveal the A's no longer appear to be rooted in Oakland

The future of the A's in Oakland remains uncertain, and further developments are expected as discussions and negotiations continue.