‘A’s’ may hire firm for Strip stadium project

Image: Oakland Athletics

The Major League Baseball (MLB) team Oakland Athletics are considering hiring an investment firm to assist the team Owner John Fisher in securing financing for construction of their planned Las Vegas (US) ballpark.

‘LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL’ stated that recently, it was reported that a deal had been struck with the New York (US)-based Galatioto Sports Partners to work with the ‘A’s’ to secure investors to contribute $500 million toward the cost of the team’s $1.5 billion Las Vegas Strip stadium project. The deal would include investors receiving an ownership share in the ‘A’s’.

The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the ‘A’s’) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California (US). The Athletics compete in the Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League West Division.

The 63,000-capacity Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum is a multipurpose stadium in Oakland, California, United States. It is part of the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex, with the adjacent 19,200-capacity Oakland Arena, near Interstate 880. It serves as the residence of the Oakland Athletics.

The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Complex is a 120-acre sports and entertainment complex in Oakland, California (US). It’s located next to the Interstate 880 Freeway, between 66th Avenue and the Hegenberger Road. The complex includes the Oakland Arena and the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which is the only stadium in the United States shared by the professional baseball and football teams. The complex also has a parking lot with about 10,000 spaces.

The 33,000-capacity New Las Vegas Stadium is a fixed roof ballpark to be built on the site of the now-closed Tropicana Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada (US). It is planned as the new home stadium of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball (MLB), when the team relocates from Oakland to Las Vegas. The new stadium would mark the first time that the ‘A’s’ franchise has played in a new stadium of their own without another sports team tenant since the completion of Philadelphia’s now-demolished 33,608-capacity Shibe Park in 1909. It is proposed to open for the 2028 MLB season after the ‘A’s’ spend three seasons at West Sacramento’s 14,014-capacity Sutter Health Park. The stadium is estimated to cost $1.5 billion, of which the taxpayers would pay $380 million.

The Las Vegas Strip, officially known as the Las Vegas Boulevard, is a 4.2-mile stretch of road in Clark County, Nevada (US). It’s known for its casinos, hotels, resorts, and attractions, and is one of the most photographed and visited streets in the world.

New York (US)-based the Galatioto Sports Partners group of companies provides best in class advisory, lending, capital raising, and other services to the clients in the professional sports industry.

‘LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL’ further stated that the ‘A’s’ are in discussions with Sal Galatioto (President of Galatioto Sports Partners and his team), but a formal agreement has not been reached. Galatioto Sports has worked on over 100 sports deals, with teams including the ‘A’s, the National Basketball Association (NBA) team Golden State Warriors, and the MLB teams New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants, according to the company’s website.

Fisher said in January that about $1 billion in stadium construction costs remaining after the $380 million in public funding would mostly be funded with equity from his family. But he noted that he was interested in potentially raising capital for the ballpark from outside investors, especially ones who are based in Nevada – “That creates a connection to the community, and we’ve seen that with a lot of other teams become successful things.”

The 33,000 fan-capacity stadium is scheduled to be built on nine acres of the 35-acre Tropicana hotel site (a former casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada).

The ‘A’s’ are working to finalize drafts of its development, non-relocation and lease agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. The development agreement will detail the construction plans and how the project will be funded.

Las Vegas (US)-based the Las Vegas Stadium Authority is responsible for the ownership and management of the Las Vegas stadiums, including the National Football League (NFL) and the Major League Baseball (MLB) stadiums. The Authority also manages the stadium capital improvement funds, the waterfall revenue distributions and the related expenditures.

The drafts of the trio of agreements could be presented when the Las Vegas Stadium Authority next meets on May 16^th.

The three outstanding agreements, on top of the already approved community benefits agreement (CBA), must be approved before construction can begin and for the up to $380 million in public funding earmarked last Summer by the Senate Bill 1 (relates to economic infrastructure projects) to be available to the team to use on the project.

A community benefits agreement (CBA) in the United States is a contract signed by the community groups and a real estate developer that requires the developer to provide specific amenities and/or mitigations to the local community or the neighborhood.

The Tropicana closed on April 2^nd to begin prepping the building for demolition. The Clark County issued the Bally’s Corporation and contractor GGG Demolition a demolition permit on April 25^th. The permit is for a standard demolition, but Bally’s is hoping to bring the building down via implosion, Bally’s Chairman Soo Kim informed recently. The County on March 22^nd also issued a dust control permit to the GGG Demolition tied to the Tropicana project.

The Bally’s Corporation is a gaming, betting and interactive entertainment company headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island (US). It owns and operates 15 casinos across 10 States, a horse track in Colorado and online sports betting operations in 14 States. The company was founded in 2004 as the BLB Investors.

The Going Going Gone (GGG) Demolition, Inc. is a completely licensed and insured, certified woman-owned business in Orange, California that provides full-service demolition and hazardous waste remediation services to its clients.

The Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling said in order for Bally’s to implode the Tropicana, the company must also secure a blasting permit and a separate demolition permit from the County. Kim noted that the GGG Demolition was in the process of working on some preconditions that have to be met in order for implosion to be possible.

The demolition, whether it’s conventional or implosion, is expected to occur in September or October, Kim said. The ‘A’s’ plan to begin construction on their Las Vegas ballpark in April 2025.

Plans call for the stadium to be built and ready to host its first ‘A’s’ game for the 2028 MLB season.

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