LAS VEGAS – The A’s are no strangers to spending a weekend during spring training in Las Vegas as part of Big League Weekend. But this is their first visit since the franchise announced its intention last year to relocate to the desert.
For this weekend, they are giving a glimpse of their intended future by transforming into the Las Vegas A’s, playing a two-game spring training series at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of their Triple-A affiliate, the Aviators.
Team owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval have not been visible to Bay Area media in recent months, but they made themselves available in Las Vegas before the series opener Friday night and addressed the unveiling of new renderings of their stadium planned on Las Vegas Boulevard in a portion of the site currently occupied by the Tropicana hotel-casino.
“This is the next era of baseball stadium,” said Kaval. “In the same way Camden Yards ushered in a whole new trend, we think our ballpark here on the Las Vegas Strip can do the same thing …. We’re at probably at the biggest intersection in the American West, Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana. That’s very exciting in terms of eyeballs and pedestrian traffic and tens of thousands of hotel rooms right around it. It’s amazing.”
The team principals were excited to show off three-dimensional renderings of the proposed $1.5 billion stadium, which they hope to open in time for the 2028 season. Prior renderings released last summer were scrapped and there are other issues to sort before construction can begin: A teachers’ union hopes to put the $380 million in public funding for the stadium to a vote, and the A’s must have construction plans approved.
“I think we’re all the same, we’re eager to see progress,” Fisher said. “… We know we’ve been working hard on that and we’ve been communicating with the agencies. But until we’re actually able to present something to the market, to the community, to the county, etc., people were always going to ask the question, ‘What’s next?’”
Fisher raised some eyebrows Friday by saying his family “is prepared to fund all the private equity” to build in Vegas, after three days ago telling the San Francisco Chronicle that equity investors would be needed to finance $500 million.
While continuing to work on important issues such as where the team will play next season and what to do with their half-ownership in the Oakland Coliseum, one of the main topics of discussion was developing an outreach program with the Las Vegas community in a way that their professional sports cohorts in town have done. It started with donating money to every Little League program in the state.
“The Golden Knights have set the bar at a level we all aspire to achieve,” Fisher said. “Making the Stanley Cup Final in their first year and winning Stanley Cup in the sixth year is pretty incredible. Hats off to them. Also, with what they and the Raiders have done, and the Aces, in connecting and engaging in the local community is an example we seek to follow.”
Kaval pointed out the Aces announced this week they had sold out their tickets for the entire season coming off winning the league championship last season.
One of the main reasons for their success, at least in the Knights’ and Aces’ cases, has been their success in competing for and winning championships. In that regard, the A’s, who have lost more than 100 games in back-to-back seasons for the first time in their history, have some work to do before their proposed Vegas debut in 2028.
Meanwhile, there are still things to do as they seek to sort out plans for the intervening period.
Kaval said the team continues to negotiate with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group to purchase their half of the aging Coliseum facility while at the same negotiation with the city and county to extend their lease to play in their current home for three seasons while the new Las Vegas stadium is built.
“We’re meeting with the city and the county again next week,” Kaval said. “We’re having regular meetings discussing the extension and potentially playing there in the three interim years and that’s still a very viable option.”
But it’s not the only option as the team is still considering playing in minor league stadiums in Sacramento or Salt Lake City, though even moving to Sacramento could mean forfeiting their NBC Sports regional TV contract that will pay them about $70 million this season.
“I don’t think there’s any preferred option,” Kaval said. “We want to make sure we’re thoughtful about how we make a decision. We’re working with a lot of stakeholders. We have broadcast partners. We have the league. We have ourselves. We have the union. All of those people have to coalesce around a decision that makes sense. And obviously we have to come up with a decision in the summer, because that’s when the schedule comes out.”
Kaval said this summer deadline is still fluid as there hasn’t been a specific date set by the league to release the 2025 schedule.
One other hurdle in the process could be the lawsuit filed by a Political Action Committee of the Nevada teacher’s union challenging whether the state legislature can constitutionally approve the $380 million in public funds for the stadium.
“It will play itself out,” Fisher said. “It’s part of the democratic process and we respect that. We think that this project is a great opportunity for Las Vegas, Nevada and the A’s. It’s something that brings a lot of value for everybody.”
— This is seventh time the A’s have played Cactus League games in Las Vegas and third time since 2020. The A’s also played the first six games of the 1996 Major League Baseball season at Las Vegas’ Cashman Field because Mount Davis was being built at the Coliseum.
