The start of construction on a new stadium in Las Vegas to house the former Oakland, Calif.-based Major League Baseball team the Athletics won a key approval Dec. 5, with the authority of Municipal Stadium unanimously giving the green light to the now $1.75 billion facility.
The $250 million cost increase over the previous cost estimate of $1.5 million is due to inflation and 70,000 square feet of added space for improved general admission areas and amenities such as clubs and suites, team officials said. With the planned standing room space, the domed stadium’s attendance capacity increases to 33,000.
The groundbreaking stadium, which will be built on the former site of the Tropicana hotel-casino on the Las Vegas Strip, is slated for mid-2025. The old structure was imploded in October. The team will play in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento, California until the new facility is ready, expected to be in early 2028.
Funding for the project is expected from private and public sources, including a $1.1 billion pledge from the family of team owner John Fisher; up to $380 million in approved state money; a $300 million construction loan from US Bank and Goldman Sachs; and possible sale of a minority stake in the team, although there are currently no offers.
The approval includes a 140-page project development agreement that requires an independent construction monitor to oversee the stadium’s progress. Athletics StadCo LLC, the team construction subsidiary, assumes responsibility for design, construction and cost overruns. It also agrees to pay prevailing wages and set diversity goals, including outreach to minority and female subcontractors.
The contractor for the project is a Mortenson-McCarthy joint venture, which also built Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas in 2020 for the former Oakland Raiders National Football League team. It is also used by the football team of the University of Las Vegas.
Architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group is responsible for the design of the baseball stadium with HNTB as the sports/hospitality designer and Thornton-Tomasetti as the structural engineer.
Sandy Dean, an adviser to Fisher, said the project “has a lot of moving parts and some things have gone up,” and the project team is looking for ways to cut costs. “As we’ve gone through the design process, there have been places where, especially our subcontractors and design partners, they’ve given us feedback,” he said.
With only nine acres to build, Dean described the new ballpark as “a very intimate ballpark,” with the shortest distance between the stands and home plate among major league baseball venues.
StadCo filed documentation saying that $40 million has already been spent on the project and that members of the development team “completed the conceptual design and schematic design phase … and are currently working on the of design development”.
Clark County officials are also poised to approve deals with the team.
Meanwhile, potential buyers are negotiating to buy the site of the Athletics’ former home base, the Oakland Coliseum, built in 1965 for redevelopment.
