A's "Expected" to Present New Financing Information For Vegas Ballpark in October

Jason Burke | Sep 11, 2024

Feb 7, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; The Tropicana hotel and casino on the strip. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Oakland Athletics planned move to Las Vegas all hinges on how owner John Fisher plans to pay for the estimated $1.5 billion ballpark in the desert. With no finance plan, there is no ballpark.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, an update on the finance plan could be on the way. "The A’s haven’t updated [Steve] Hill on their financial plans just yet, but he expects there will be new information provided at next month’s stadium authority meeting." That meeting is scheduled for October 17.

New information could mean an assortment of things, from a full financing plan, to the name of which bank Fisher is planning to work with, or a partner that he's working with as a minority investor. Those would be the somewhat tangible options at least. An announcement that isn't in that realm would be seen as another kick of the can down the road.

The broad plan, as laid out by A's executive Sandy Dean, is that just $350 million of the approved $380 million of the public financing would be used for the project, another $300 million in debt financing, and the other $850 million to be funded by Fisher, his family, and any equity investors they pick up.

It's also worth noting that Steve Hill's expectation for financing details to come out a month from now doesn't mean that there will be financing details a month from now. The details that are provided could also be non-factors in actually funding the proposed ballpark project, much like saying things are in "good shape" as has been the case in recent months. Discussions were going well with Oakland too, until they weren't.

Another important factor here is that this news came out on the same day that we announced that if the A's reach the postseason during the time that they're in Sacramento, that there is no guarantee that any home games will be played at Sutter Health Park. In typical LVRJ fashion, there was a small news bit that was published just hours after some unflattering news for the franchise came out.