Featured image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group
The budget for the Oakland Athletics’ new ballpark in Las Vegas has risen to $1.75bn (£1.38bn/€1.67bn).
The project previously had a price tag of $1.5bn, and A’s owner John Fisher and his family recently committed up to $1bn towards construction. The team is hoping to move into the 33,000-capacity ballpark for the 2028 Major League Baseball season.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, citing Las Vegas Stadium Authority documents, has reported that the $250m cost hike has been driven by inflation and an extra 70,000 square feet of features, including clubs, suites, general admission areas and player facilities.
A’s executive Sandy Dean told the Review-Journal: “The increase in the budget is due to a combination of adding a variety of features to the ballpark along with general increases in construction costs. The design process is iterative, and has been allowing us to add elements to the ballpark intended to make this a premier facility for Major League Baseball.”
The A’s will cover all cost increases for the project. Along with the equity contribution from the Fisher family, a $300m construction loan commitment letter has been put forward by U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs.
The news of the cost hike comes ahead of a Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting on Thursday. The contributions from the Fisher family and U.S. Bank/Goldman Sachs will be part of four letters that are due to be presented at the meeting, where it is expected that final approvals will be granted for the project to start construction. Some $380m of public funding is also expected to be made available.
In October, the first details were revealed behind the planned integrated resort that will be part of the new ballpark for the A’s. The stadium will be constructed on the site of Las Vegas’ iconic former casino-resort, Tropicana Las Vegas.
In November 2023, the A’s received the green light from MLB to relocate from Oakland to Las Vegas. The team has played its final season at the Oakland Coliseum and will now head to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento for the 2025 to 2027 campaigns ahead of the move to Nevada.
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