The Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board is set to meet on Thursday, and several important elements of the Athletics’ plans to build a new ballpark in Vegas for the 2028 season will be addressed at the sessions. Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal (two links) has the details of the ballpark-related matters on the agenda, including letters regarding the financing of the project — the four letters are from the A’s themselves, owner John Fisher regarding his family’s investment, U.S. Bank regarding the Fisher family’s finances and ability to meet their agreements, plus a letter from both U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs in regards to their $300MM loan to the A’s to help fund construction of the new stadium.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway is that the price tag of the project is going up, from $1.5 billion to $1.75 billion. The increase wasn’t a surprise, and A’s executive Sandy Dean says the extra money is necessary “is due to combination of adding a variety of features to the ballpark along with general increases in construction costs.” The new features include upgrades to the suites and general admissions areas, an audio and visual system that can make the venue capable of hosting concerts, and the unique element of seat-cooling system.
The costing breakdown will see up to $380MM covered by Clark County and the state of Nevada, $300MM covered by the U.S. Bank/Goldman Sachs loan, and the rest (including the additional $250MM in new costs) will be paid for by the Fisher family and the Athletics. The Fishers’ stake could be reduced if minority owners are found, as those new partners would take on part of the construction costs in exchange for a small share in the franchise. Akers notes that the A’s will be responsible for any further increases in the project’s budget, and Dean said that the Athletics’ outline still accounts for spending only $350MM of the $380MM committed by civic officials.
Three key agreements will be decided at Thursday’s meeting, covering the matters of not just the ballpark’s construction, but also such elements as the length of the first lease (initially set for 30 years) and what would happen if the Athletics tried to leave down by those 30 years were up. These particular elements make this meeting “the most important to date” in the Athletics’ quest to get the project officially underway, Akers writes.
If all goes to plan, construction will officially begin this spring, with an eye towards the ballpark being ready for Opening Day 2028. In the interim, the A’s will be playing at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons.
Boondoggle.
Appropriately, the Las Vegas monorail is slated to shut down a year from now!
No, it’s really not.
ktnv.com/news/whats-next-for-the-las-vegas-monorai…
A few extra delays is A-ok for Sacramento Athletics baseball!⚾️
What’s worse? The Tampa Bay situation or MLB allowing the A’s to run off to Las Vegas?
They’re equal opportunity messes brought to you by Manfred and the suits at MLB.
The A’s in Vegas allows MLB to grow the game considering the massive amount of international travelers. Also, the state of the art venue should draw more fans, concerts and events which will grow the A’s income, payroll, and brand. It’s a no brainer for MLB and the A’s. Nor Cal still has the Giants, So Cal has three teams. Everything is good.
Thats funny. Las Vegas couldn’t sell out the F1 event and that is a sport followed around the world. Baseball? Not going to happen.
Baseball gets paid from media. That is why the LA and NY teams have such hugh revenue advantages. Las Vegas is a miniscule media market.
F1 isn’t even in the same stratosphere as MLB in the United States.
OP: “The A’s in Vegas allows MLB to grow the game considering the massive amount of international travelers.”
F1 is among international travelers. It is far more popular. What isn’t popular is sports among travelers from the US or abroad in Las Vegas. That is not why you go there. Even if you go for a austensibly for a convention, that is not the real reason.
Las Vegas is a gambling and partying destination.
The problem is sporting events aren’t on the typical tourist’s itinerary. If the Raiders didn’t bring and established, loyal fan base with them to Vegas Football would likely be a failed experiment in Vegas. The A’s do not bring fans along and the schedule makers are going to have to give them prime weekened match-ups (Red Sox, Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies) to draw those fans out. Because weekends against the Angels aren’t going to fill the place
VegasSDfan, will the public be getting its cut of the A’s increased revenue from concerts?
Strikes me that Vegas might not need to publicly fund more entertainment venues, but perhaps that is its secret?
The A’s themselves “ran off” from Kansas City a few decades before.
They also ran off from Philadelphia to Kansas City.
A major league team has to play three years at a triple A ballpark. Robby the robot really abused the pooch on this one…and apparently the Rays situation too from the sound of it.
Of course, when you only really care about a third of the teams in baseball because they are your masters, that’s what you get.
You make no sense. Hes letting these owners do what they want. Manfred’s never cared about a fan base, big or small market. He works for the owners. I’m tired of you crying all the time about how the reds need more money from other fanbases. Maybe if you guys supported your team more in cinci, your team wouldn’t be winless in the playoffs since 95.
I’m intrigued by this seat cooling system
By the time construction rolls around it’ll be 3 holes drilled in the back of each seat for “state of the art ventilation”.
Construction starts in like 6 months.
The Las Vegas Athletics’ ballpark plan is a billion-dollar corporate greed grab, gift-wrapped in nostalgia for the good ol’ days of public fleecing!
I think rays & As should join forces
Become 1 tm & play in vegas
Kill 2 birds with 1 stone
Las Vegas R-A’s???
Vegas Rats!
if i was “commish for the day”, i’d take it a step further. contract a’s, rays, and marlins to one team and move this new team to Brooklyn (yes, possibly angering the three current teams close by). Brooklyn Blue Sox? Brooklyn Titans?
The construction costs went up by 250 million in a couple months? Seems Fishery
They added seat coolers because you know it might be hot. How long until those get broken. You would think each seat would have controls. I might want mine on but someone else might want theirs off. Oh they made the suites nicer for the rich people and corporations that buy them. Does any of the Casinos have suites for the Raiders? Would think that would be a great thing for high rollers to feel better about losing more money than the suite is worth. Or get some celebrity to come to their Casino.
You sound like a fun person to hang out with.
They also are upgrading the GA seats as well, and the seat cooling is a feature no one expected them to do that they are doing on their dime. Most of the features seem intended to generate more revenue across the board, but you seem to think them generating revenue is inherently a bad thing for some reason.
Casinos can’t have suites or buy tickets. Its against Nevada gaming laws.
Sounds like David Puddy adding a few items to the car he was selling Jerry I Seinfeld.
PUDDY: (While punching up numbers on a calculator) That chick’s whacked. We’re history. (Back to the transaction) I just left out a couple of things:
rust-proofing..
JERRY: “Rust-proofing”?
PUDDY: (Reading off what he’s adding up on the calculator) Transport charge, storage surcharge, additional overcharge, finder’s fee
JERRY: “Finder’s fee”? It was on the lot!
PUDDY: Yeah, that’s right. (Continues reading off) Floor mats, keys..
JERRY: ‘Keys”?!
PUDDY: How ya gonna start it?
In the case of the stadium one could say, keys?
How are you going to open it?
$380MM covered by Clark County and the state of Nevada, 250 mil from the oligarchs who control the team and blackmail cities and fans. No writer here ever asks: Is this crazy? Why do the rich few get MILLIONS+ from TAXPAYERS (not the state, or county like it is some bank) who then don’t own ANY of the team? No more socialism for the rich! If taxpayer money goes to a rich “family” of oligarchs the taxpayers own all or a piece of the team. This will stop team oligarchs from blackmailing cities, regions, states, TAXPAYERS ever again. Aren’t MLB fans — and taxpayers who don’t even follow baseball — sick of being suckers? O’s used to be fan owned; packers are. Countless soccer clubs are. Let’s take back our teams and end free cash for Russian-style oligarchs!
The thought process…or lack thereof behind the project as a whole is maddening. The parking situation is going to be a nightmare. They are planning on forcing existing hotel/casinos such as Luxor and Excalibur to use existing parking lots to ease stadium parking issues. The hotels can charge what they desire for the spots, but to add that much more traffic in and around the Strip on a somewhat nightly basis is insane.
As someone who used to make the trek in nightly for work, I really feel for the Vegas residents…and now as a frequent visitor, I feel for the visiting traffic trying to navigate an already overcrowded Strip.
380 million of taxpayer cash and not one person says: wait! Taxpayers give a few oligarchs millions and then they own nothing? Imagine if this 380 mil went to building affordable housing for workers. What would people be saying then? You sure know.
Bread and circuses. There’s not much left of an intelligent engaged America anymore but I’ll play fantasy baseball.
Yea people have been having these debates on rich and poor in our politics since the beginning of baseball. The presidential election of 1896 was very much the rich corporate supported McKinley winning. The only decrease that I’ve seen in intelligence is in our politicians and mainstream media as well.
The stadium will generate a lot of tax revenue. Whether it will break even for the government I don’t know (they usually don’t) but to say it will “cost” the taxpayers $380m is just horse hockey.
I’m sure everything will be fine.
There’s having little to no leverage then there’s already moved out if your home having no leverage.
It’ll never happen by Opening Day 2028, if ever.
They plan on breaking ground early 2025.
Stadium conjectures more like.
Hire Chuck Norris. He can kill 2 stones with 1 bird.
If it’s a dome, why do they need seat-coolers?
I bet they want it to be a multi-use stadium. I went to a 4DX theater once for a children’s short film. (“It allows films to be augmented with various practical effects, including motion-seats, wind, strobelights, simulated snow, and scents.”) Perhaps they’ll do something similar for the pricey seats for concerts and shows.
This meeting is informational. Nothing is getting signed. It’s Fisher handing over a letter saying “my family has money” and the LVCVA going. “Okay.”
He also has to sign over signed papers for exactly how the stadium would be financed and a check for $100 million if he wants the taxpayer money
I once went to a supermarket in Vegas and there were slot machines in the entrance. Of course they’re at the airport too. My question is will there be slots in the concourses of the new stadium? Please no but MLB is all about revenue.
@BPax
Put them in the dugouts,too!
“and what would happen if the Athletics tried to leave down by those 30 years were up. ”
What kind of gibberish is this? Do any of these writers ever reread and or spellcheck? You let stuff like that represent this site? Lol
Already $250 million in cost overruns. This monstrosity will cost $3 billion by the time it’s built.
And having the state Supreme Court intervene to prevent voters from having the final say via referendum is downright. Undemocratic. Then again, Fisher’s negotiations with the city of Oakland prove it his way of the highway and he’ll tell any lie necessary to get someone else to pick up the tab.
Small wonder he was forced to sign a written agreement promising to spend revenue sharing funds on payroll as a condition of re-entering the program. MLB’s administration is owner centric and even Fisher’s behavior was too egregious for the other 29 owners.
In a just world the MLB would use its authority to seize the team, without compensation.
Oh those aren’t cost overruns.
That’s just the price.
Overruns would be on top of that. This also presumes that some make believe resort is paying for a portion of the onsite infrastructure (they aren’t).
Bally’s is broke. They cannot build at the site.
The article directly states the price increased by $250 million and “is due to combination of adding a variety of features to the ballpark along with general increases in construction costs.” Increasing procurement costs are a textbook example of cost overruns. Not to mention the word “resort” is totally absent from the article.
Put down the stem before you type.
@dank, your name isn’t helping MLBTR become a drug-free zone.
Get off your high horse, and take that doobie out of his mouth!
The issue isn’t *drugs* since examples abound of functioning, productive potheads. How many crackheads can you say the same for?
I doubt crackheads are going down MLBTR, leaving comments. Unless you get paid for comments! In which case… *hand extends, palm facing up, making gimme gimme motion with fingers*
Spoken like a true adherent to the rock. Good chatting with you. /s
You’re kinda rude.
The A’s have not put out an RFP on the ballpark, so as of today they have no idea how much it will actually cost to build. They are estimating the costs and its already gone up $250 million. I expect that a project of that size will cost far more than that, especially with all the hoops you have to jump through in Nevada regarding union workers and suppliers. I have licenses there and will bid on parts of it if they open it up, but there is no way it comes in at $1.75 billion.
Or when costs go up due to tariffs. I don’t think this golden age is coming with the increase in costs. Vegas is always hit hardest and fastest by market disruptions too. They will play in Sac (or somewhere else already established) for 3 years longer than anticipated
It would be in the best interest of MLB, and professional sports in general, if Fisher were to sell the Athletics to someone or some group who would keep the Athletics in Alameda County.
Wait until the tariffs kick in. There won’t be A’s baseball in Vegas until after Trump’s presidency. The cost will increase by at least 30%.