Not His First Stadium Construction Rodeo: A’s President Spearheading $2 Billion MLB Ballpark On Strip; Venue Taking Shape For 2028 Debut
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — He’s so congenial, informative and relaxed around the latest stadium construction project in the Strip corridor that it’s easy to see that Marc Badain has been done this rodeo once before.
The man who spearheaded the NFL Raiders stadium project from 2017-2020 in Las Vegas is the MLB Athletics’ point man on their $2 billion domed venue being built on a nine-acre footprint at the former Tropicana hotel-casino 35-acre site on the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
Badain, who started as an intern for the Raiders more than three decades ago, led an A’s stadium construction tour for media Friday morning. With the metal and concrete skeleton of the 33,000-fan venue serving as both his backdrop and setting, the Athletics team president was at ease answering questions and bringing media up to date on a baseball stadium that is taking a very tangible form.
Badain’s no stiff. He spices comments with good-natured joshing, like when he pointed out two veteran Channel 8 sports fellas had to wear neon-green synthetic pants provided by the A’s because the sports reporters showed up for the construction site tour in shorts. There’s a no-shorts rule at construction sites, so Badain playfully teased the duo that they were now dressed for clubbing on the Strip.
As the A’s president, Badain is also overseeing the naming rights and major business partnership/sponsorship deals that will be cut for a stadium that came to life because the Nevada Legislature approved a funding a bill in 2023 that earmarked $380 million in public assistance for A’s owner John Fisher to build the palatial baseball playground on the Strip. It’s newsworthy to note the $380 million is far less than the $976 million the Tampa Bay Rays are seeking in public dollars from the city of Tampa and Hillsborough County to build their new $2.3 billion stadium in Tampa.
Nevada lawmakers approved a Raiders stadium funding law in 2016 that contributed $750 million in public dollars raised by a hotel room tax toward the NFL team’s stadium construction project on the west side of Interstate 15 across from the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. It was Badain who represented the Raiders before the Las Vegas Stadium Board to provide stadium construction updates and answer the few questions posed by the stadium panel members.
Today, Badain casually explained to media the A’s stadium construction is moving along on schedule for an opening for the MLB season in 2028 and that time cushions were built into the construction timeline. The first signs of the roof construction recently unfolded, while the circular shape of the stadium and its various concrete levels provide testimony to the project’s reality.
He pointed out where home plate will be located and noted the stadium will have an intimate design with great sight lines, a variety of premium seating options and a wall of glass offering views of the Strip that will be impervious to windstorms and hail. The ballpark will have fixed sating for 30,000 and space for another 3,000 standing fans. The team is also pitching several high-end clubs and food/bev areas behind home plate on the stadium’s event level.
The A’s are in Las Vegas week, playing two three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers and Colorado Rockies at Las Vegas Ballpark. The A’s won two of three games against the Brewers, while they start the Rockies series tonight at 7 PM
The A’s were selling $15 standing room tickets this week.
PSA
