Ballpark costs

A look at the costs of the largest minor league baseball parks built since 2012: Triplea

■ 2014: southwest University Park (El Paso Chihuahuas), 8,018 seats, $72 million. ■ 2014: BB&T Ballpark (Charlotte Knights), 10,200 seats, $54 million.

■ 2015: First Tennessee Park, (nashville sounds), 10,000 seats, $91 million.

Double A

■ 2012: Admiral Mason Field (Pensacola Blue Wahoos) 5,038 seats, $23.8 million.

■ 2013: regions Field (Birmingham Barons), 8,500 seats, $64 million.

■ 2015: MGM Park (Biloxi shuckers), 6,076 seats, $36 million.

■ 2017: Dunkin’ Donuts Park (Hartford Yard Goats), 6,121 seats, $56 million. Independent

■ 2014: CHS Field (st. Paul saints), 7,200 seats, $72 million.

Does not include spring training stadiums used as homes to rookie League and Class A teams.

Bill Bradley a former Major League Baseball pitcher, did not participate in the debate.

“This is public money, and it comes to us by taxes that were voted on by the Legislature, and that Legislature was voted in by residents of my community,” Lee said in the explanation of his vote. “And I don’t think, as their leader, that this is a very good and responsible thing to do.”

Lee said the proposed domed football stadium being built by the Oakland Raiders with a $750 million public subsidy would create jobs.

But not this project.

“I don’t think this is going to create a lot of jobs, so I question this expenditure,” he said. “I think this is a great opportunity for a private company to take this on.”

LVCVA criticism

Goodman said she is concerned about public criticism of the board’s decision, noting the scrutiny the LVCVA has received from the Las Vegas Review-journal over questionable spending on extravagant meals and alcoholic beverages and transportation provided to its leaders, including her husband, former board member and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, who now serves as the

BALLPARK

head of the LVCVA’S host committee.

Board member Bill Noonan, a Boyd Gaming executive, said he had some misgivings about voting for the proposal, since it would mean the city’s Pacific Coast League representative would move from Cashman Field near downtown Las Vegas — and three Boyd properties — to a location next door to locals casino competitor Station Casinos’ Red Rock Resort in Summerlin. But he voted in favor, saying the community’s greater good would be served.

Major-league potential

LVCVA President and CEO Rossi Ralenkotter, an admitted baseball fan, said the $80 million investment — $4 million a year from 2019 to 2038, beginning as soon as the ballpark opens — would fulfill the organization’s mission of putting “heads in beds.”

Ralenkotter said possibly the biggest benefit to preserving professional baseball in Las Vegas with a new stadium and superior training facilities is that Las Vegas would position itself well when Major League Baseball considers expanding or moving a franchise.

“When they (Major League Baseball) look at new markets, they’re always looking at a place that has some baseball tradition,” Ralenkotter said. “If there was an opportunity … sometime in the future, there may be the ability for us to attract a major-league team.”

A clause within the contract enables the LVCVA to exit it if minor-league baseball no longer is played in the city.

Construction timeline

Now that the 51s have a deal in place for the naming rights, the focus turns to stadium design and construction.

If team owners can break ground by January, the hopes of having the new stadium open by 2019 will likely come to fruition. Howard Hughes Corp. general counsel Peter Riley said the company is anticipating a 14-month construction timeline.

There is a chance the opening could get pushed back to 2020,