John Fisher pledges $1 billion to construction of A’s stadium in Las Vegas
AP Sports Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Athletics owner John Fisher and his family will invest $1 billion into the construction of a stadium in Las Vegas and U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs will offer a $300 million loan, club executive Sandy Dean said Thursday.
Dean made his remarks to a special meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board.
Dean said four letters will be presented at the Dec. 5 authority meeting asserting construction details and financing will be in place. Final approvals are expected to be made at that meeting to allow construction of the $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat domed ballpark with a capacity for up to 33,000 fans.
“We feel like we’re on the right path and it will become clearer in the months ahead,” Dean told the board.
Construction is expected to begin in the spring with a targeted opening before the 2028 season. As much as $380 million in public funding will go into building the stadium, which will be on the Las Vegas Strip on the site of where the recently demolished Tropicana stood.
Dean said Fisher is still pursuing partners in the Las Vegas area who can purchase stakes in the franchise, which in turn goes toward paying for the stadium.
“We’ve been consistent in saying it would be good coming to Las Vegas to have outside partners from Las Vegas,” Dean said after the meeting. “That process has just begun. The ability to finance the stadium is independent of that.”
As for the financing, the four letters that will be presented at the December meeting will better address that.
The first is the loan commitment from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs. Dean said it probably would be a five-year term “that would be replaced by a permanent loan once construction is done.”
Another letter, Dean said, asserts the Fisher and his family have the ability to meet their financial commitment. Dean said the third letter from U.S. Bank will show that through a review of the owner’s finances that it “concludes the Fisher family has more than sufficient resources to fund the equity investment that’s required to build the stadium.”
The fourth laid out the commitments to Athletics StadCo LLC, an entity created to handle the private capital investment.
Also, the draft lease agreement and deed were presented to the board.
“We feel like these documents are on track for the schedule that we have been talking about for a number of months,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “We feel like there’s a real possibility we’ll be able to reach a conclusion on all of them on Dec. 5.”
Dean said an updated construction budget will be presented at that day’s meeting, and he acknowledged the final cost likely will rise “by something.”
Hill said documents would be made public several days before the December meeting and he didn’t anticipate any issues regarding approval.
“There are a couple of places where we need to get the language right, but we’ve had enough of a conversation to understand that everybody understands what the outcome is intended to be,” Hill said.
He cited ensuring details regarding parking as an example of getting all the proper wording in place.
The A’s will play at least the next three seasons in West Sacramento, California. The club announced it will play 60 of its 81 home games next season at night, tying the 1968 A’s for the most in their history. That includes 25 of 28 games at night in June and July when temperatures are often 100 degrees (37.8 Celsius) or hotter.
Their first game in Sacramento is March 31 against the Chicago Cubs.
The A’s played their last of 57 seasons in Oakland, California.
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