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hop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Omer Khan
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — A’s owner John Fisher thinks the local Las Vegas contacts of new A’s team president Marc Badain will come in handy as the A’s prepare to start building a $1.75 billion domed stadium on the Strip this year.
With Badain leading the Raiders’ efforts to construct their stadium in 2020 complete with a naming rights sponsor and founding corporate partners, Fisher said his new team president who succeeded Dave Kaval already has the business network here in the Las Vegas market.
Fisher told LVSportsBiz.com that Badain’s relationships will be an important asset:
Badain left the Raiders in 2021 after a long career with the Raiders, including overseeing the Allegiant Stadium construction from 2017-2020.
Fisher made his comments before the A’s defeated the Arizona Diamondback in a spring training game at Las Vegas Ballpark Saturday. It was Game 1 of the annual two-day Big League Weekend put on by the LVCVA public tourism agency.
The LVCVA already has a sponsorship deal with the A’s before the new stadium on the Strop even opens. It’s a three-year deal at $8.25 million to make LVCVA the “Official Destination Partner of the A’s.”
The LVCVA will pay the A’s:
2025 – $2,500,000
2026 – $2,750,000
2027 – $3,000,000
As for Saturday’s games, there were A’s fans in the sellout crowd, along with fans wearing jerseys from the Diamondbacks, Mets, Dodgers, Yankees and other teams. Attendance was reported at 8,708.
Fisher does not talk publicly much, but he did respond to media questions at an A’s stadium media event at the Las Vegas Convention Center Friday and before Saturday’s spring game.
Here are more comments from Fisher, who has pledged to spend more than $1 billion on building the A’s stadium at the former Tropicana hotel-casino site at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue. The A’s aim to have the 33,000-fan ballpark open for the 2028 MLB season.
Fisher talked more about Badain:
Fisher discussed Las Vegas as a great sports town and the Athletics’ young talent. Fisher has been criticized for not spending enough money on quality players, but the team made headlines for signing players like pitcher Luis Severino, a former New York Mets hurler who won 11 games in 2024. Major League Baseball has no salary cap unlike the National Football League or the National Hockey League. The A’s payroll is about $58 million compared to the world champion Dodgers that have a $321 million payroll.
Fisher, whose family owns the Gap retail empire, even discussed the death of former A’s great Rickey Henderson:
Fisher has checked out the old Tropicana site, where trucks have been hauling debris and rubble since the early October morning when two large hotel buildings were imploded to make room for the A’s domed stadium. The A’s have not announced their stadium groundbreaking date, but Fisher said the implosion served as a milestone toward building the stadium that the A’s owner failed to construct in the Bay area despite exploring at least five different sites. The Las Vegas groundbreaking will be in either April, May or June.
On Thursday, the A’s gave the Las Vegas stadium board an update with more refined renderings.
The A’s were playing at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate team, the Aviators. The NHL Vegas Golden Knights also have minor league feeder team in the same market as the Henderson Silver Knights play at Lee’s Family Forum.
The LVCVA, a big booster of the A’s, even has a strong connection to the ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. The LVCVA paid then- ballpark/Aviators owner Howard Hughes Corporation a whopping $80 million for a 20-year naming rights deal at the minor league ballpark. You may have noticed that the LVCVA and Hill are not shy about spending public dollars on sports events and promoters.