What happens if A's Vegas ballpark exceeds $1.5 billion estimate?

Jason Burke | Oct 31, 2024

Dec 4, 2022; Paradise, Nevada, USA; The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

What happens if the A's ballpark Las Vegas ballpark exceeds the $1.5 billion estimate that has been put forth for the past year and a half? If there is one thing that typically holds true, it's that construction costs run over budget. The Las Vegas Sphere was originally estimated at $1.2 billion at the time of the design, but by the time the final bill came through, it had cost $2.3 billion when construction was completed. But look how cool it is, celebrating the Los Angeles Dodgers World Series win!

Congratulations to the @Dodgers on their #WorldSeries win! ⚾️ pic.twitter.com/CddHVtwO5G

— Sphere (@SphereVegas) October 31, 2024

As things stand currently, everyone is waiting to see A's owner John Fisher's finance plan. There have been many assurances that he has the money to build a ballpark and that everything is lined up, but all of those assurances seem to be coming from people that are on the A's payroll--and none of them seem to take into account that this project could cost a bit more than $1.5 billion when the dust literally settles.

The way that the financing is set to work out is that the public financing from Las Vegas is set to take off $380 from the sticker price, though the A's have said they'd only use $350. John Fisher, who is relocating an entire franchise so that his team can stay on revenue sharing (free money from other MLB owners) is going to let $30 million just sit there. Ok.

Another $300 million will be in the form of debt financing, leaving the remainder, $850 million, to be financed through private equity. That would be where Fisher attempting to sell 25% of the team for $500 million would come into play. It's unlikely that he wants to spend $850 million of his own assets on this ballpark, which is by no means a slam dunk financial win, so he's attempting to get that number down to $350 million for himself by selling part of the team at a projected future valuation of the club, once the ballpark is built.

The math is already pretty shaky and in need of an angel investor to come down and potentially save this project, and this is all with the original projection of $1.5 billion, which was put into the universe over a year ago. Has that number not changed at all? What happens if it's closer to $2 billion or more when all is said and done?

By the way things are currently laid out, that would mean that another $500 million would have to come from Fisher, putting his portion alone at $1.35 billion. For someone who reportedly walked away from Oakland over an $80 million difference, this seems like it could be a huge deal. Could he attempt to re-engage with the Nevada Legislature for even more financing?

Unfortunately there are no answers to this seemingly important question, but along with how the A's plan to finance the proposed ballpark in Las Vegas, how much it will cost is another burning question that could use an answer.