The stadium authority is satisfied with the financing of the A stadium and approved the $1.75 billion project

Construction of a $1.75 billion Major League Baseball stadium on the Strip was entering the ninth inning and the former Oakland Athletics didn’t need to get any closer.

Members of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority said Thursday they are confident that A’s owner John Fisher has the financing to complete the $1.75 billion enclosed stadium, which will seat 30,000 and have standing room for another 3,000 fans will offer. Fisher has committed at least $1.1 billion to stadium development.

“This is a very significant day for Las Vegas. We’re going to break ground and start a baseball team,” Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill said following an hour-long process in which board members voted unanimously to approve eight action items that support the A’s planned move to Las Vegas regarding. The board will continue to oversee the finances and uses of the ballpark.

“We look forward to welcoming a world-class baseball stadium to this city,” Hill said.

The Stadium Authority’s action allows the athletics teams to obtain entitlement approvals from Clark County, allowing construction and development activities to build the stadium on 9 acres formerly home to Tropicana Las Vegas. The A’s plan to begin construction on the stadium between April and June and are expected to complete the ballpark in time for the start of the 2028 Major League Baseball season.

The stadium was originally budgeted at $1.5 billion. But A’s officials said the price increased by $250 million to cover additional construction costs and 70,000 square feet of upgrades for what A’s representative Sandy Dean called an “expanded fan programming.” The changes include general admission areas, improved player amenities and additional club and suite areas.

Dean said the budget increase had long been expected by the team, but any additional costs would be the responsibility of the A’s.

“Could (costs) go up again? “That could be it,” Dean said. “We will do our best to build a great ballpark and reduce costs as much as possible.”

Hill said he and outside financial experts reviewed the Fisher family’s finances.

“It is clear that the Fishers have the ability to work on this project,” Hill said, adding that financial experts agreed with that assessment.

The Stadium Authority board’s vote involved four agreements totaling about 250 pages detailing stadium operations and came nearly 18 months after state lawmakers approved the public financing portion of construction of the baseball stadium for the former Oakland Athletics. The stadium authority discussed the project in eight public meetings.

“We have spent approximately $40 million on our efforts in Las Vegas to date and have assembled a team of more than 30 different firms,” Dean said. “I feel like we have an army working on the project.”

Hill said the process with the A’s stadium is more complex than the approval process for Allegiant Stadium, whose price has also increased – from $1.4 billion to $1.9 billion.

“That could be the headline. They are committed to the first-class, world-class stadium that is set out in the (legislation). They know Las Vegas needs this,” Hill said of the $250 million cost increase. “They are determined to make this happen.”

The Athletics, who left Oakland in October after their final game at the city’s Coliseum, foregoing the team’s hometown designation, will play the next three seasons at a 14,000-seat minor league stadium in Sacramento. The team explored dozens of locations throughout Las Vegas before settling on the site where Tropicana Las Vegas was located. The Rat Pack-era hotel-casino closed in April and imploded in October.

Dean, in an interview with The Nevada Independent Ahead of the hearing, he said two factors had increased the cost of the stadium – pressure on construction prices and public space expansions that would make the ballpark “a world-class facility for Major League Baseball and Las Vegas.”

Dean said the stadium’s lower bowl would be “split into two levels to bring fans closer to the pitch” and improvements would be made to the audio-visual equipment and scoreboard. All seats in the stadium would be equipped with under-seat cooling units.

“The ballpark will have the second smallest foul territory of any ballpark in the country,” Dean said.

Earlier this week, the Stadium Authority, which is responsible for ownership and oversight of Allegiant Stadium and A’s Stadium, posted on its website several documents outlining how the stadium will be financed, as well as three lengthy documents – a stadium lease, a non-relocation agreement and a stadium development agreement – these had to be in place before construction began next year. A community benefits agreement was approved last summer.

All were approved by the board.

Fisher commits to funding

The piece that attracted the most attention was a letter from Fisher in which he outlined that he and his family would contribute the amount of $1.1 billion.

“We have spent many millions of dollars and years of hard work to achieve this and are excited to begin a new chapter in Las Vegas,” Fisher wrote, noting that the new stadium and team relocation represent the culmination of a new chapter represent a multi-year, sustainable development effort.

In addition to Fisher’s letter, the authority released a letter from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs on Oct. 11 confirming plans to loan the team $300 million to build the stadium.

“We conclude that the Fisher family and its affiliates have financial assets (other than their interest in the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise) that are more than sufficient to support the equity portion of the proposed capital structure for the Athletics’ Las Vegas Stadium,” US Bank Senior Vice President Stephen Vogel wrote in the letter.

He added that the bank had reviewed the Fisher family’s assets as of June 30 and the bank’s letter was based on documents and other written information provided by the family.

“Our review of the Fisher family’s financial investments is solely for our own discretion (and) purposes and purposes and is not a representation or guarantee of their performance,” Vogel wrote.

Fisher said he still intends to seek Las Vegas investors to buy shares of the ball club.

“The Fisher family can build the stadium independently of potential investors,” Dean said. “We always thought it would be good for us to get more involved in the Las Vegas market by investing some locals into the team.”

Next Steps

The A’s will now begin discussions with Clark County to obtain entitlement approval for $350 million of the $380 million in public funds provided by the Legislature’s passage of SB1 in 2023. The figure includes $145 million in bonds and tax proceeds, $180 million in transferable funds, tax credits and $25 million in county credits.

A’s representatives said the team has had preliminary discussions with district officials about the first steps in the claims process.

“Those (meetings) were really constructive, and Clark County was really receptive to wanting to work with us to meet the timelines necessary for us (to break ground in the second quarter),” Dean said.

Dean said team executives first began exploring Las Vegas as a new home for athletics in 2021.

“It’s been almost three and a half years, and now we’re just a few months away from breaking ground,” Dean said.

In October, Bally’s Corp., the operator of the Tropicana, submitted plans to Clark County showing how a proposed 3,000-room integrated resort would be built on the site in conjunction with the baseball stadium.

Dean said the hotel-casino project will most likely begin after construction of the stadium is underway. He said the development would not impede views of the Strip, which is planned through a large glass outfield wall.