Las Vegas Stadium Authority’s chairman said the Athletics should break ground on their $1.75 billion Las Vegas Strip ballpark in June, keeping the project on track for a 2028 debut.
With the A’s ballpark process following a blueprint of sorts from the Raiders and the buildup to Allegiant Stadium construction, the lead up to an A’s stadium groundbreaking ceremony could follow a path similar to that of the Silver and Black, stadium authority chairman Steve Hill said.
The Raiders saw the County Commission approve their zoning and land use permits for Allegiant Stadium on Sept. 6, 2017. The groundbreaking ceremony at the 62-acre Allegiant Stadium site was then held on Nov. 13, 2017. There was a 68-day gap between the county approvals and the Raiders starting work on the $2 billion stadium.
If the A’s follow a similar timeline based on last week’s county approvals of land use permits for their stadium project, that will mean the stadium groundbreaking event would likely be held sometime in mid-June.
“I think that’s about right,” Hill told the Review-Journal Tuesday. “I would think sometime in that neighborhood we’ll have a groundbreaking and actually get started on serious construction.
Even before the groundbreaking, Hill said, there is already a fair amount of work already going on at the stadium site, as crews clear the rubble from last year’s Tropicana implosion.
“They’re clearing and creating material out of the rubble,” Hill said. “They’re going to recycle the material there for use on the construction project.”
With a construction timeline of 31 to 33 months, a substantial completion would fall sometime between January and March of 2028, the year the A’s expect to start playing in Las Vegas.
Key events over the past two weeks have set the A’s up to eventually begin work on their planned 33,000 capacity stadium. Those include the county’s approval of zoning and permits for the project and clearance by the Federal Aviation Administration stating the 320-foot tall ballpark would not pose a hazard to air traffic.
The A’s have filed permit applications for site excavation and foundation work, and as of Wednesday, those permits are in review, according to county records.
After last week’s County Commission approvals, A’s President Marc Badain said they remain on track to begin work within the planned three-month period between this month and June.
Adding Badain, who oversaw the building of Allegiant Stadium as president of the Raiders, to the executive team that will lead the project forward has A’s owner John Fisher even more confident that the team will be playing ball in Southern Nevada in three years.
“He’s not only a great guy, but he also brings a wealth of experience in building one of the great sports venues in the world (Allegiant Stadium) and doing it in the town where we want to build one of the great sports venues in the world,” Fisher told Review-Journal last week. “The ability to have him leading our organization as we embark on the next three years of building both a stadium and excitement in our market and with the community in Las Vegas is something we’re just thrilled about.”
Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
