Is the financing set?
June 23rd is the big day in Las Vegas for the owner of Major League Baseball’s Athletics franchise. John Fisher will put a shovel in the ground which is the ceremonial start of building a ballpark in the city. But there is a major question. Where is the funding that is needed to build the structure? Fisher is getting around $380 million from Nevada taxpayers and needs at least $1.4 billion more as it is estimated that the stadium will cost around $1.75 billion to complete. Fisher is seeking to bring in investors into the ballpark project in exchange for minority shares in his business. There does not seem to be a line forming to get a piece of his business. Fisher could have problems attracting investors with steel tariffs and a trade war taking place.
Fisher and his ticket staff expect that Las Vegas tourists will make up about 30 percent of the daily gate in the 30,000-seat facility. That is a dicey proposition relying on visitors to buy 8,000 tickets a game. Especially if tourism falls and right now, Las Vegas is seeing a decline in tourism. Tourists were supposed to be a major source of revenue for Fisher’s business buying tickets to see a Las Vegas baseball game. In 2024, Nevada had 52.4 million tourists with Canadians representing the largest group of international visitors according to Travel Nevada. Connect2Canada said 1.7 million Canadians visited Nevada and spent $1.4 billion in 2024. Mexicans are staying away from Las Vegas as well. Las Vegas tourism has fallen since January. In April tourism fell 5.1% from April 2024, the fourth straight month it has declined. The Las Vegas tourism agency is anticipating less room tax revenue in its next budget and none of that is good news for Fisher. He still needs money for construction and tourists too.
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