A’s Owner John Fisher Selling MLS San Jose Earthquakes; Money Could Help Fisher Finance New Las Vegas Stadium On Strip
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — The man who says he has enough money to build the $1.75 billion domed Major League Baseball stadium on the Strip is selling his Major League Soccer team, the San Jose Earthquakes.
A’s owner John Fisher, who hopes to open a 33,000-fan ballpark at the former Tropicana hotel-casino site in 2028, has enlisted an investment bank to help him unload the San Jose soccer franchise.
Fisher is scheduled to be at the 35-acre baseball stadium construction site at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue Monday for an 8 AM groundbreaking. The stadium is slated to be built on only nine acres of the site, with Bally’s Corp. hoping to build a hotel-casino next to the Athletics ballpark with a pedestrian bridge linking the hotel and stadium.
The Athletics left Oakland in September 2024 for the same the reason the NFL Raiders left the Bay market — free government money in Nevada to help build a stadium in the growing Las Vegas market.
Raiders owner Mark Davis has watched his Raiders team value skyrocket from $1.4 billion a decade ago to more than $7 billion thanks to the revenue-generating powers of subsidized Raiders stadium. (The NBA Lakers are being sold for $10 billion, which even outpaces Davis’ Raiders value.)
While Southern Nevada contributed $750 million toward the Raiders stadium’s $1.4 billion construction budget (overall stadium project cost was about $2 billion), Fisher is receiving $380 million in public assistance toward the A’s stadium construction expenses. It should be noted that A’s exec Sandy Dean said nearly a year ago the MLB team will use $350 million of the $380 million in government aid.
Fisher’s sale of the MLS Earthquakes could generate proceeds in the $700 million range, money that could come in handy for Fisher’s financing of the $1.75 billion A’s stadium on the Strip.
A member of the family that owns the Gap retail empire, Fisher is still looking for investors to help him fund the A’s stadium on the Strip.
The team is holding A’s game watch parties in the Las Vegas market, sending workers to events like First Friday to dole out A’s freebies and promoting a deal to get locals to pay $19.01 to secure a spot for A’s season tickets.
The A’s started the first quarter of the season nicely with a 22-20 record, but have collapsed to 30-46, entrenched in last place in their division as they play the first of three seasons at Sutter Health Park, a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento while the stadium is built in Las Vegas.
PSA
