Posted on: November 4, 2024, 11:15h.

Last updated on: November 4, 2024, 11:16h.

Last week, Athletics executive Sandy Dean stated that team owner John Fisher and his family plan to invest $1 billion in the construction of the $1.5 billion A’s stadium on the Las Vegas Strip. However, no funds have been transferred yet.

According to Dean, at the next meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board on December 5, four letters will be presented:

1. a letter from John Fisher committing the Fisher family to invest $1 billion
2. a letter from Goldman Sachs and US Bank committing $300 million for a construction loan
3. a letter from US Bank confirming its review of the Fisher family finances and SEC filings, concluding that the family has the ability to pay
4. a letter from Athletics StadCo, an LLC created to manage the stadium’s private capital investment, stating the letters from debt and equity financiers are sufficient to move forward with the stadium

Final approvals are expected at that meeting.

“We feel like these documents are on track for the schedule that we have been talking about for a number of months,” said Steve Hill, chair of the Stadium Authority and president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). “We feel like there’s a real possibility we’ll be able to reach a conclusion on all of them on Dec. 5.”

Construction is set to begin in the spring, with completion before the start of the 2028 MLB season. Approximately $380 million in public funding will go towards building the stadium on the Las Vegas Strip, on the vacant lot previously occupied by the recently demolished Tropicana.

Despite the A’s claims, many industry observers view the latest developments as questionable.

Kicking the Baseball Down the Road

“These feel more like stall tactics than steps forward,” wrote Jason Burke of Sports Illustrated. “Nothing has actually happened yet, and when the letters are presented in December, nothing will happen then, either.”

“These are concepts of plans for funding,” echoed Casino.org’s own Vital Vegas. “The question all this keeps coming back to isn’t ‘Where can a billionaire find a billion dollars?’ but rather ‘Is the Fisher family ready to throw a billion dollars of its own money down a stadium hole?’”

The issue is that Fisher putting $1 billion of his own money into the project makes little sense since the investment is too risky. Among the many reasons for this risk are:

1. overrunning the $1.5 billion estimate is an inevitability that even the A’s admit
2. Bally’s hotel towers situated so close to Harry Reid International Airport will be severely height-restricted and, therefore, severely revenue-restricted
3. that’s if Bally’s even has the money to build the hotel it proposes adjacent to the stadium
4. nine acres isn’t enough room for a baseball stadium
5. the worst team in Major League Baseball — which drew 6,400 a game in its final season in Oakland — will not draw anywhere near the stadium’s 33,000 capacity

Dean also mentioned at the meeting that Fisher is still seeking outside partners who can buy stakes in the franchise.

However, The New York Post reported last week that the stakes available amount to 25% of the team for a valuation of $2 billion — a significant increase from its previous valuation of $1.2 billion.

“John Fisher can have as many promises or pledges or ‘binding agreements’ as he wants,” Burke wrote, “but given his track record, it’s incredibly difficult to take what they’re saying as completely truthful.”