Former Miami Marlins President on A's Owner John Fisher's Financial Situation

Oakland A's fans have been thinking owner John Fisher doesn't have the money to buildat Howard Terminal for awhile, and David Sampson seems to confirm that thinking

In recent days we've talked about what A's owner John Fisher is really after with this ballpark agreement in Las Vegas, A's president Dave Kaval using the same lines he did in Oakland with Las Vegas, and how the team plans to fund the ballpark project at the Tropicana site. 

On Wednesday morning as part of his "Nothing Personal" podcast, former Miami Marlins president David Samson enlightened us non-billionaires on just what is happening with the funding that Fisher is seeking. He has already secured $380 million from the state of Nevada, but he will need to privately finance at least $1.1 billion in order to bring this never-ending ballpark nightmare to a close. 

The Nevada Independent reported on Tuesday that Fisher would be seeking a debt/equity loan, where part of the loan is paid off like a regular loan with interest added, and the other part is attained by selling off part of his ownership stake. The bank he will be working with is Goldman Sachs, and that is where Samson shed some light. 

He starts off by addressing Kaval's claims from Tuesday that the A's would be big spenders with a new ballpark. "For everyone who thinks that all of a sudden the A's are going to move to Vegas and become even a mid-level payroll team, you are not paying attention to the numbers." 

He then laid out how financing a ballpark works. "When you need to get money for a stadium, it doesn't come out of the owner's checking account. The owner goes to the market and borrows it. Every team does it with debt" Samson said. " You put together a proposal, and you go meet with banks. And the proposal has: Here is the amount of money we need. Here is what we're using it for. Here is what we expect to make as a result of this money. Here is how we expect to pay you back." 

So far, so good. That's how things normally go. But the next part could be of interest to A's fans. 

"When you go out into the market, you want your syndicate to be led by J.P. Morgan [or] Bank of America. You don't want it to be led by Goldman Sachs. [The Marlins] talked to Goldman Sachs. Money that Goldman Sachs gets you in the market is more expensive than money that J.P. Morgan or Bank of America will get you in the market. The interest rate will be higher. The fees will be higher."

"The reason why a team would be willing to go with Goldman Sachs is 'cause they don't have another lead bank. The other banks were unwilling to do the billion dollar deal. It's because they've looked at the numbers, they've looked at the projections and said 'no'. We don't believe this." 

A year into the pandemic, Gap stock was at a five-year high of $37.06 per share. That stock sits at $10.13 now. With Fisher owning somewhere between 40-45 million shares, that's a pretty big hit to his finances. Easily over a billion dollars, gone. 

There has been chatter on social media that Fisher can't afford to build at Howard Terminal, and that is why he had to pivot to Las Vegas where he doesn't own the land, gets the smallest ballpark in baseball in the smallest market in baseball, and still needs to give away equity in the team in order to make the deal work. 

Add in the recent comments on Goldman Sachs from David Samson, and chatter could hold some water. All we can base this on in Fisher's actions, and his actions are saying that he doesn't have the financing for the grand designs he had for Oakland at Howard Terminal. 

"When you need to offer ownership pieces to raise money from the marketplace, that means that you're borrowing too much money, and that the floor, that the rebar that you are basing your projections on is muddy and full of clay." 

You can watch the whole clip with added context in the final segment of "Nothing Personal" below.