With key Athletics Las Vegas ballpark agreements and a funding plan approved, the burning question is what needs to take place for construction to begin.
The A’s must hit milestones in their stadium design process and entitlement and permitting with Clark County.
The entitlement process is in the early stages between the A’s and Clark County for the $1.75 billion ballpark, which will be built on 9 acres of the 35-acre Tropicana Las Vegas site. But work remains to have that ready to go for the groundbreaking on the project to begin.
“We’re at the early stages with Clark County,” A’s executive Sandy Dean said earlier this month. “We’ve had several meetings, and those have been really constructive. The county has been really receptive to wanting to work with us to meet the timeline that is necessary for us to open in April of ‘28.”
That timeline consists of beginning construction on the ballpark between April and June in order to have the 33,000-fan-capacity stadium completed in time for the 2028 MLB season. The A’s will play in a Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento during the interim years.
The entitlement process is the first phase of the land development process. The process includes the A’s obtaining the needed entitlements from the county to begin construction on the ballpark, which include land use, zoning, traffic and parking plans, design, occupancy details and needed offsite improvements. The process ensures the project will be carried out in a fashion compliant with the county’s regulatory requirements.
Striking a development agreement with the county, which is separate from the development agreement approved this month by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, is part of the entitlement process.
The entitlement process paves the way for the A’s to obtain the needed permits for the construction of the stadium.
Las Vegas Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill said the permitting process can be carried out in phases, if needed, so that work on the stadium project can get underway on time. The next step for the A’s is to get to the point where they can break ground on the project and carry out the site preparation work before the first steel is in the ground.
“You can get a dirt-moving permit ahead of an entire building permit for the entire facility,” Hill said this month. “You know what you’re going to do in the ground. What’s above ground might change a little bit.”
There are six main permit packages associated with the ballpark project, with the likelihood of the project beginning with one or two of those packages being approved.
The design process on the A’s ballpark continues, with multiple phases of design leading up to the eventual construction drawings for the project. Once the construction drawings are 30 percent complete, crews will break ground and begin building the ballpark. The design group will continue mapping out the rest of the drawings while work is already started on the project.
The A’s are also continuing to work with Bally’s Corp., which plans to build an integrated resort on the remaining acreage, to ensure their building plans are coordinated.
The up to $380 million in public funding from the state and Clark County will be made available to the A’s once the club spends the first $100 million on the project and they go to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority and request those funds be made available. The A’s have spent $40 million thus far in the design process, with Hill saying it is highly probable that the team will start the building process before the public funding is available.
The ballpark is planned to be paid for via $350 million of the available public funding, a $1.1 billion equity contribution from the family of team owner John Fisher and a $300 million construction loan set to be provided to the A’s from Goldman Sachs and U.S. Bank.
Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
