There is a hope construction could start sometime in the spring.
There seems to be a timeline to begin the construction of a Major League Baseball stadium in Las Vegas that will be the home of John Fisher’s Athletics franchise. There is hope that a groundbreaking ceremony will take place between April and June and that will start the process of getting the stadium finished by the beginning of the 2028 MLB season. But there still is a question that neither Las Vegas planners nor the Athletics owner Fisher is able to answer. Where is Fisher’s money for the construction? Fisher claims he is ready to kick in $1.1 billion for the stadium but he has not shown anyone the money, at least publicly. The saga of the Las Vegas stadium has been going on since April 2023 when Fisher decided to leave Oakland and a stadium proposal on the Oakland waterfront behind.
Nevada is giving Fisher $380 million in seed money for the construction. That is in the bank but none of that cash becomes available until Fisher spends $100 million on the planned ballpark. The ballpark’s estimated cost has gone up and figures to rise. It is now $1.75 billion. The park will seat about 33,000 people and the original plan was for Las Vegas tourists to stop by and see a game and not count on local fans as much as other franchise owners do in their home markets. Fisher’s contribution to the project means that banks will be loaning him around $300 million. Fisher could not or would not make a deal with the city of Oakland officials to build a ballpark village at Howard Terminal overlooking the San Francisco Bay and just ended talks with the city and decided there was gold to be found in Las Vegas. Fisher’s team is temporarily in Sacramento and he still has to put up money.
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