A’s exec tells Las Vegas officials the club plans to leave $30 million in public money on the table
AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Oakland Athletics executive Sandy Dean told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority on Thursday that the club does not expect to spend the entire $380 million in public money allocated to build a new stadium in Las Vegas.
Dean said the A’s plan to spend $350 million of those funds, leaving $30 million on the table. He also told the authority that the club plans to finance $300 million of the stadium cost, but no lenders have been secured.
“We’ve had strong interest from a number of companies that want to participate in that portion of the project,” Dean said.
The other $850 million needed to build the $1.5 billion stadium would come from private equity.
The A’s have hired New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners to help find investors.
A 30-year non-relocation agreement was discussed but not acted upon at Thursday’s board meeting. A’s officials have asked for up to seven games over two years that otherwise would be played in Las Vegas to possibly be played internationally or at special U.S. sites such as the Field of Dreams in Iowa. No more than four of those games in a year would be played outside Las Vegas.
The A’s hope to open the 33,000-seat ballpark for the 2028 season.
They addressed the financing to supplement the public funding approved by the Democratic-controlled Nevada Legislature in a special session last June and signed by Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo. Dean and Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said during after the meeting that the financing will be in place for the John Fisher-owned ballclub.
“The Fisher family could do all of the required equity for the project,” Dean said.
Hill said the lease agreement will be discussed at the Aug. 15 stadium authority meeting, but he said he didn’t expect votes to occur on the documents required for construction until Dec. 19. Hill said he expected the ballpark to be completed on schedule.
“This town knows how to build major projects and knows how to build them fast,” Hill said. “This is a relatively conservative pace. Allegiant Stadium was built in less time than the A’s have budgeted to build this baseball stadium. That’s different construction, but there’s plenty of time to do that. Everything’s on track.”
The stadium authority is using the template that led to the 2020 opening of Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Raiders.
That template included personal seat licenses, which also allow fans to secure seats for other events, such as concerts. The Raiders raised nearly $550 million through PSLs.
Dean said though the A’s have PSLs at their disposal, the club hasn’t decided where to offer them for purchase.
“The Raiders had amazing success with PSLs,” Dean said. “Football and baseball are really different because there are so many more games in baseball and that makes an individual season ticket for baseball (more) meaningfully compared to football for the same price.”
Those who buy tickets will have an outward-facing view of Strip resorts MGM Grand and New York-New York. The exact location had been somewhat of a mystery.
“It’s a step that needs to happen in order to move forward with the development,” Hill said.
This is the A’s final season in Oakland. They agreed to play the following three seasons, with an option for a fourth, in a Triple-A stadium in West Sacramento, California. The A’s will share that facility with the River Cats, the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A club.
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