Next week’s Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board meeting could be a big step in the Athletics’ Southern Nevada relocation process.
Three agreements are up for approval on Thursday after being introduced and refined at previous meetings, making the eighth meeting of the board including the A’s the most important to date.
The agreements set the terms of the A’s playing at the new ballpark, how the ballpark will be constructed, how many years the team will be tied to the ballpark, and what happens if it tries to exit Las Vegas before the initial lease term of 30 years.
An item proving the A’s have the ability to construct the stadium is also noted on the agenda.
The team is expected to present four letters that show it has the financing available to construct the $1.5 billion ballpark.
The 33,000-fan-capacity stadium will be built on 9 aces of the 35-acre Tropicana Las Vegas site. The Strip resort was imploded in October to make way for the new ballpark. Bally’s Corp plans to build an integrated resort on the remaining land surrounding the A’s stadium.
According to the agenda, the stadium authority board will determine if the submitted documents provide “adequate financial security for the performance of the financial obligations of a developer partner (A’s) for the development and construction of the Major League Baseball stadium project.”
The letters will include one from A’s owner John Fisher, pledging $1 billion of his family’s equity toward the project. Another letter will be from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs stating they are committed to providing the A’s a $300 million construction loan. A third letter will be from U.S. Bank stating that it has reviewed some of the Fisher family’s finances and that the family has the adequate amount to fund the ballpark project. The fourth letter will be from the A’s noting that they are in receipt of a loan and equity commitment for the ballpark funding.
The price of the ballpark also will be noted in the meeting, as the cost is expected to rise.
Outside of the $1 billion equity pledge by the Fisher family and the $300 million loan, the ballpark also will be financed by up to $380 million in public financing from the state of Nevada and Clark County.
Other items to be heard at the meeting include:
— Selecting the A’s as the development partner for the stadium.
— The A’s being required to dedicate the ballpark land to the stadium authority after Tropicana owner Bally’s Corp and land owner Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. finalize a deed for the property.
— Approving the notification of Clark County that the stadium authority is in finding that the A’s have done everything required of them to create a sports and entertainment improvement district around the stadium, to assist in the county’s financing of the ballpark.
— An update on the creation of the Baseball Stadium Community Oversight Committee.
If all the items up for action are approved, they would pave the way for the A’s planned start of construction on their Las Vegas ballpark in the spring of 2025. Plans call for a 31-month construction schedule, which would have the stadium ready to play in the 2028 MLB season.
Clark County will work with the A’s on their own separate development agreement for the stadium, a process that is expected to begin early next year.
The meeting where the trio of agreements and financial information will be up for approval will be 17 months after the signing of Senate Bill 1, the public funding mechanism for the ballpark, and about six months before the A’s plan to begin construction on the ballpark.
Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
