Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Not too many towns would be so audacious to give a Major League Baseball team the green light to build a stadium on a nine-acre footprint at a site that is hardly served by public transportation in the heart of its main business artery.
But this is Las Vegas. Anything goes from a planning standpoint on the world-famous Strip in amenable Clark County. Things are just a little different here in a market so dominated by only a single economic sector.
If the Lords of corporate hotel-casinos on the Strip say it’s OK, then a stadium on the Strip is OK.
The A’s have received plenty of support from the county, which is on the hook for $135 million in bonds to help the A’s pay for this $2.1 billion domed ballpark that will have 30,000 fixed seats and room for another 3,000 standing fans. In all, $380 million in government assistance under a 2023 state law are earmarked to help the MLB team build the venue. Besides providing $135 million in bonds, Clark County will also pay $25 million for infrastructure to serve the A’s stadium.
The A’s Wednesday afternoon treated the media to a tour of the stadium construction site, where a juicy space behind home plate has 294 luxurious seats in an exclusive club called the “Athletic Club.” The Athletics showed the concrete and the space where this club will be situated.
This stadium will generate revenues that the Coliseum back in Oakland could not. LVSportsBiz.com projects this swanky, ultra-premium Athletic Club will generate more than $50 million in both ticket sales and personal seat license money for the A’s in Year 1 when the team plays its first season in 2028.
The A’s have already cut a major stadium founding partner deal with Circa owner Derek Stevens, while also generating more than $100 million from a 20-year deal with food and beverage stadium vendor Aramark. The food/bev contractor had to buy equity in the A’s to get the stadium contract. To offer revenue context on the Circa founding partnership deal, the Raiders tried unsuccessfully to sell the Southern Nevada Water District a $30 million, ten-year stadium founding partnership sponsorship in 2020. So, it’s apparent the Athletics’ Circa sponsorship deal is likely valued in the tens of millions of dollars.
The A’s plan on selling high-premium seats in other fancy club areas like the “Diamond Club” that will also require fans to buy the personal seat license. The Athletics said less than 20 percent of all the seats sold will require a personal seat license, or a “PSL.” The Diamond Club has 694 seats in an area next to the Athletic Club and that Diamond Club will generate tens of millions of dollars in ticket sales and PSL revenues in Year 1 at the new stadium in 2028. LVSportsBiz.com projects more than $70 million in revenue from the Diamond Club in the first year.
The A’s mentioned that 76 percent of the Athletic Club members have Southern Nevada addresses. Though, many fans attending A’s games are expected to be tourists and fans of the visiting teams. The state stadium funding bill, after all, has “tourism” in its title. And a massive glass wall behind leftfield and centerfield will offer fans a look at the famed Strip.
The A’s are also building a parking garage on the 35-acre site where the old Tropicana hotel-casino used to stand. The team is also partnering with Bally’s, which owned the former Tropicana building. Bally’s is supposed to build a plaza from the Strip to the stadium for fans to reach the stadium. The concept of a plaza at a stadium in Las Vegas became newsworthy when the Raiders said they are building a $158 million entranceway plaza on Allegiant Stadium’s north side and got the Las Vegas Stadium Board to rubberstamp $75 million in public money to help subsidize the $158 million north plaza project.
The A’s have one more year at a Triple-A baseball park in West Sacramento, California in 2027 before the team moves to this stadium under construction in Las Vegas.
ADDITION Thursday morning: The A’s alerted media this morning that crews Wednesday completed installation of the third and tallest steel truss arch, marking another major stadium milestone. The 700-foot-long truss is made up of five steel sections that come together to form one of five overlapping roof arches that will span the ballpark. At its highest point, the arch will rise 290 feet above the playing field – the equivalent of approximately 105 baseball bats stacked end-to-end – making it the tallest roof truss structure in Major League Baseball and the highest point of the future ballpark. The following photos are courtesy of the A’s:
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