A’s offer Las Vegas stadium financing plans. Here’s how they say they’ll pay for it
The A’s presented details of their financing plan for construction of their new ballpark on the Las Vegas strip, which they’re planning to open in 2028 after spending three seasons in West Sacramento.
A team source confirmed to The Sacramento Bee that team executive Sandy Dean spoke during a special meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board on Thursday and offered details about how the stadium will be funded.
Dean said A’s owner John Fisher and his family will put $1 billion toward construction of the stadium while U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs will offer a $300 million loan. The state of Nevada offered up to $380 million in public funding. The stadium is expected to cost roughly $1.5 billion.
Dean said four letters will be presented at a Dec. 5 meeting offering more developed financing and construction plans. His statements to the stadium authority were the most specific to date regarding financing plans that have been made public.
The Las Vegas stadium will be built on the site where the Tropicana Hotel stood before getting demolished in October. The stadium will be indoors and seat roughly 33,000, making it the smallest in Major League Baseball. The team has said it hopes to begin construction on the stadium next spring and open in time for the 2028 season.
The team is moving to Las Vegas after numerous attempts to build a new ballpark in the Bay Area. The team announced in April it would play temporarily in West Sacramento after its lease expired at the Oakland Coliseum.
The A’s agreement with the Sacramento River Cats, which are owned by the Sacramento Kings, was to play at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the next three seasons with an option for a fourth in 2028, presumably to account for potential delays in construction of the Las Vegas stadium.
Sutter Health Park, which holds 14,000 fans and has just 10,000 permanent seats, is undergoing renovations to build a new home clubhouse, update the visiting clubhouse, add new weight and training rooms and improve the batter’s eye, dugouts and bullpens.
The A’s and River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, are expected to share the stadium for the foreseeable future. The two teams will combine to host 156 regular season games at the 24-year-old stadium next season. Initial plans called for a synthetic turf to be installed to account for the wear and tear of hosting two teams, but MLB, the A’s and Major League Baseball Players Association earlier this month agreed to use natural grass.
The A’s and MLB on Thursday announced start times for their 81 home games at Sutter Health Park in 2025. Sixty of their 81 home games will begin at 7:05 p.m. to account for the heat during the warm summer months. Sixty is tied for the most home night games in franchise history, the team said.
This story was originally published October 31, 2024 at 1:59 PM.
