A's Ballpark "Likely" to be Built in Las Vegas

Jason Burke | Jul 27, 2024

Sep 24, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the Las Vegas strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Last weekend in the Oakland A's press box, a discussion broke out on how to phrase the Los Angeles Angels visit to the Coliseum. While the A's are presumably heading to Sacramento for a few seasons, and then potentially to Las Vegas, one of the writers didn't feel comfortable saying that this would be the Angels' final game at the Coliseum, because there is always a chance that everything falls through. The phrasing they went with was that this would "likely" be the A's last visit to the Coliseum, providing an out just in case the Angels do in fact play in Oakland again.

With that as the background, let's talk about the piece the Las Vegas Review-Journal posted on Friday, in which they quote Peter Carlino, the CEO of GLPI, the owners of the land that Bally's and the A's hope to develop the team's new ballpark on.

"It's pretty clear to us that the stadium will likely be built and that the design will work in conjunction with what planning that Bally's is doing at the site. I am happy with what they're now doing at that site."

He didn't say that it's clear that a ballpark will be built at the site. He said it's clear that the stadium will likely be built there. That, my friends, is providing an out.

Carlino also said something else that was fairly interesting. "I think there's a positive vibe out there around what's going on, and if there were delays in the past, frankly, that is now over and it's full speed ahead."

Now, it's unclear which delays he's speaking of. One form of delay has been Bally's lack of funding for numerous projects, but that seemed to get resolved earlier this week when they were bought out by their largest shareholder, Standard General. That development would be the likely answer to what Carlino was talking about.

Yet, there's also the John Fisher of it all. The A's still have no financing plan for this ballpark, as we discussed after the LVSA meeting in recent weeks. That is why Carlino's quote could be interesting. With Bally's having money again, and the Tropicana hotel set for implosion in October, the A's can't drag their feet any longer without being left behind. The longer the site sits as an empty lot, the more money that is being lost by GLPI and Bally's. It's "full steam ahead" after all.

The A's aren't burdened by that same timeframe. They say that they plan to open their proposed ballpark in 2028, but they're not acting with the haste needed to make sure they're breaking ground in April. Everything could magically fall in line for Fisher and the A's, much like the rest of this process has to date. From securing rent-free sanctuary in Sacramento, to getting a half-baked relocation plan green lit by the other 29 owners without having to pay a relocation fee, everyone else has been doing the heavy lifting for Fisher in this process.

The heaviest lifting will need to be done by Fisher, however. At some point he's going to have to pick up his pen and spend some money. Until that happens, any ballpark project that Fisher is a part of (and there have been many) will be "likely" until further notice.