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Zappos chief has eye on 51s baseball team
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© LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL 2011
Updated: Dec. 14, 2011 | 8:10 a.m.
The high-tech visionary who is turning downtown Las Vegas into an experiment in urban renewal wants to add a professional sports franchise to his portfolio.
Tony Hsieh, the head of Zappos.com, is seeking to buy the Las Vegas 51s AAA-level baseball team and reinvigorate the game time experience at Cashman Center, the club's dated home that has seen declining attendance in recent years.
And it appears Hsieh has a competitor vying for the team -- the Howard Hughes Corp., an older money Southern Nevada land company that developed Summerlin and is named for former Las Vegas visionary Howard Hughes.
Zach Ware, a Zappos employee charged with executing much of the vision behind Hsieh's Downtown Project, said Hsieh wants to keep the team downtown and won't ask taxpayers to pitch in any money. In an email, Ware said those are the primary reasons Hsieh would be an ideal buyer .
"We appreciate and respect competitors in the discussions," Ware wrote. "But we feel that Tony's focus on the 51s as a Las Vegas community institution along with his goal of financing the future of the team without artificial incentives makes his proposal the most attractive for the citizens of Las Vegas, Clark County and the surrounding communities."
Hsieh, whose decision to buy the City Hall as a headquarters for Zappos, is said to view purchasing the 51s as an investment in a vibrant downtown that won't necessarily turn a profit.
Ware said Hsieh thinks the team can succeed at Cashman Center, which has a nearly 10,000-seat stadium that opened in 1983. It has been derided by some who think the team needs a new stadium to succeed.
"We believe the 51s, its management team and Cashman Field, when paired with a renewed focus on the Team as part of the community fabric, will provide even greater opportunities for the community to grow," Ware wrote.
SOURCE: HSIEH OUT FRONT
Thomas Warden, a spokesman for Hughes Corp., confirmed only that the company considered buying the team.
"To date we have had only preliminary conversations with the Pacific Coast League," Warden wrote in an email referring to the league in which the 51s play.
Although both Hsieh and the Hughes Corp. have acknowledged interest in acquiring the team, a source familiar with the maneuvering said Hsieh "is far, far ahead of the Hughes group."
No matter who gets the team, a successful buyer will have to navigate a complicated maze of public and private bureaucracy to close a deal.
The team is affiliated with Major League Baseball's Toronto Blue Jays, which makes all the baseball decisions. The 51s are owned by brothers Derek and Greg Stevens. They are seeking to sell so they can focus on running the Golden Gate and Fitzgeralds casinos on Fremont Street, which they also own.
Stephens Media, which owns the Las Vegas Review-Journal, owns 10 percent of the 51s as well.
The Cashman Center, at Las Vegas Boulevard and Washington Street, includes the stadium, a convention center, a theater, meeting rooms and parking. It is owned by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which operates it at a loss of about $4 million annually.
The 56 acres beneath Cashman Center is owned by the city of Las Vegas, which leases it to the authority for $1 per year. The authority charges the 51s $300,000 annually to rent the stadium.
A prospective owner would also need approval from the Pacific Coast League.
The 51s buyer would own the rights to operate the non-baseball functions of the team, such as ticket sales, concessions, parking and merchandising.
SOME WANT NEW STADIUM
Don Logan, the 51s executive director, wouldn't discuss potential buyers but did say what he thinks the team needs.
"We need a new stadium; that's all I can say," Logan said.
Branch Rickey, president of the Pacific Coast League, has said he supports selling the team to a buyer who would seek a new stadium, even if it requires public support.
"The loyal fans of yesteryear who were blindly willing to support a sports team in any kind of a facility is a thing of the past," Rickey told the Nevada Legislature in June while seeking support for a bill that would have authorized public support for proposed sports stadiums. "They are replaced by families and by newer fans who are looking for the modern amenities."
That was when developer Chris Milam was trying to buy the team and move it into a new stadium that would have required public support. That fell apart after the Legislature let a funding bill die.
Rickey cited the "modern, successful franchise in Reno" as an example of what he envisioned for Las Vegas.
But the Reno Aces ballpark, which opened in 2009, is costing the Reno Redevelopment Agency about $1 million annually in debt payments and soaking up revenue from rental car and other taxes.
A source familiar with Hsieh's vision said the Zappos executive doesn't buy into the belief that the 51s need an expensive new stadium to succeed.
According to the source, Hsieh would rather make the games more fun for people to attend and invest in infrastructure around the Cashman Center site that would make it easier for fans to ride buses or stroll between the Fremont Street corridor and the stadium, which is about seven blocks to the north.
"If a team is run right, you could run it on a dirt lot and make more money than a new stadium," the source said.
Hsieh, the source said, doesn't want Las Vegas to follow Reno's footsteps.
"The city got screwed," the source said of Reno.
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.
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I go to at least 3 or 4 games every year. I enjoy the low-key atmosphere at Cashman Field. Lots of families spending the day together, lots of socializing going on in the stands. And the grass berm areas for the kids to run around in are great. Yes, it gets hot in the summer, but that is Vegas.
I'd hate to see the team moved to Summerlin or some other part of the Valley. And I don't like indoor stadiums.
I love the "fact" that Zappos supposedlly won't be asking for taxpayer incentives.
I have attended games in May, July, and August the last few years. The temperature has been in the upper 90s, but it was not uncomfortable. Unless you have an air-conditioned stadium it is going to be very warm in the summer.
Gotta like the enthusiasm and effort from the Zappos team. Where Oscar Goodman talked a good game, Zappos is actually making it happen.
If you have been to any of the newer parks in the minors, you understand that a facelift of Cashman Field won't cut it. Since Cashman opened all but two other cities in AAA have opened new ballparks, and little has been done to Cashman since it opened. Promotions and an increase in publicity (along with ditching the ridiculous nickname - nobody in Las Vegas identifies with Area 51) might help attendance marginally, but the facility is a big drawback.
To Tony and the crew at Zappo's:
Please ignore the naysayers and people who are jealous of what you have and will accomplish. Your efforts to bring jobs downtown, expand on what already exists in downtown Las Vegas and truly make a difference in this community is greatly appreciated. To those who like nothing more than criticizing Tony and Zappo's, what have you done lately to improve the community? I suspect little or nothing for the most part.
Mr. H, you may wish to consider a SOCCER franchise due to the changing demographics of the country and especially, the Southern NV market. Pro SOCCER if you can swing it, but the 51s are a good event and fun to watch.
Good luck to Mr. Hsieh. He is a man that puts his own money were his mouth is and does not try to tell others how to do their business. Good for him. He has many good plans and does not worry about the haters that have not accomplished anything on their own. Glad to see him stepping up to try to help make Vegas even better for all.
Anything would be better than the status quo. Las Vegas is the largest city in the country without a professional sports franchise. Let's make it happen!
My only question would be, "why?" The hot temperatures make the summer games almost unbearable - been to many of them. The team almost always has a losing record (not their fault - their good players get called up), and I'm pretty sure the net profit isn't that great on this business. I will say that the quality of baseball is very good - those guys are all major leaguers in waiting.
It's too hot to watch those games most of the season...they need an indoor stadium and I am not taking my family to that ghetto area.