A’s seek investors in Las Vegas ballpark

Image: Athletics (Facebook)

Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Athletics are in talks with potential investors as the team bids to raise up to $550 million for construction of its $1.75 billion Las Vegas Ballpark.

The Las Vegas Review Journal said that with plans to begin construction on their 33,000-fan-capacity stadium between April and June, the A’s are working on bringing in investors for the project.

The 33,000-capacity New Las Vegas Stadium is a future fixed roof ballpark to be built on the site of the former Tropicana Las Vegas (a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. It operated from 1957 to 2024) 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) after they complete their relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. Once they start playing in the Vegas ballpark they will be known as the Las Vegas Athletics.

There will be 30,000 fixed-seats in the ‘A’s’ ballpark and plans for 3,000 standing-room-only spaces. With professional sports teams in Las Vegas focusing on providing fans the luxury experience, the ‘A’s’ are looking to follow suit with the stadium boasting 81 suites.

Interested investors are being pitched the ballpark investment deal, noting the A’s valuation is estimated to be $2 billion, according to a source who told the Review Journal that multiple interested investors “who have quite a bit of capacity” have already been vetted by MLB as part of the process.

The investors feature a mix of those from Las Vegas and those from outside the market. The A’s have previously said that the team is especially interested in bringing in local investors on the project.
 
If the A’s are successful in bringing in the entire $550 million investor contribution goal, the funding breakdown for the stadium would include a mix of private equity, investor contributions, public money and bank loans including:

• At least $550 million from the Fisher family.
• Up to $550 million in investor contributions.
• $350 million in public funding from Nevada and Clark County.
• $300 million construction loan from Goldman Sachs and U.S. Bank.

 
The Fisher family, which owns over 95% of the A’s, would pay any amount that is short of the $550 million investor contribution goal. The Fishers also would be responsible to pay for any cost overruns on the stadium project.

The process in bringing new investors to the team doesn’t need to be completed before construction on the stadium begins, as the A’s can start the project using money from the Fishers.

The A’s also must spend the first $100 million on the project and enter into a development agreement with Clark County before public money will be made available to use on the ballpark project. In December the A’s noted that the team already had spent $50 million on the stadium process.

The ‘A’s’ will play in West Sacramento for the 2025-2027 MLB seasons before they are expected to play in Las Vegas for the 2028 MLB slate.

While in Sacramento the ‘A’s’ won’t use a location designation and will simply go by the name ‘A’s’ due to the temporary nature of their stay.

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