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The lower bowl of the Athletics’ $2 billion domed stadium on the Las Vegas Strip is taking shape, and officials said the project remains on schedule and is expected to open before the 2028 season.
Club officials and contractors presented their update on the roughly 33,000-capacity stadium at the Las Vegas Stadium Authority meeting Thursday.
“The lower level is progressing significantly,” said Tyler Van Eeckhaut, project director for Mortenson-McCarthy Contractors. “We’re starting to see a lot of venues take shape and a lot of that environment has really started to become a component of the stadium.”
The buttress works were completed, marking a significant milestone, and construction of the upper bridge began in April. Covered parking on the southeast side will be gradually installed with 1,500 lots initially available and 2,500 once construction is complete.
The A’s may have to build a temporary spot on the northwest side, however. Bally’s Corp. has not yet raised financing for an elevated plaza on the property as part of a $1.19 billion mixed-use project that includes restaurants, shopping and entertainment in addition to a hotel-casino and a 2,500-seat theater. The stadium is part of the overall development plan.
Sandy Dean, A’s vice president, said the club is developing plans to have a place open by the time the first pitch is thrown out during the 2028 season.
“These guys (at Bally) do a lot of things, and we have to remember that Bally had the vision to get us to this site,” Dean said. “We and Las Vegas are all going to benefit from being at the Bally location. That’s just something we’ll have to work out with them in the next steps.”
Steve Hill, CEO and chairman of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, asked the A’s to present a plan for the plaza at the Stadium Authority’s next meeting on Aug. 20.
“In order to facilitate the retail and parking that you would ultimately need under that plaza, you would have to demolish it and build a permanent plaza at some point in the future,” Hill said after the meeting. “I don’t necessarily know how that would work. We just asked if that sounded like an option that might need to be implemented and we understand that it will work.”
A’s President Marc Badain said the first suites available for purchase were sold out and 80 percent of the season ticket packages for the seats behind home plate for the so-called Athletic Club had been sold. He added that tickets would begin going on sale to the general public in the coming months.
The team also conducted about 85 hours of group studies with 120 Las Vegas-area residents to gather their feedback regarding the A’s move. Badain said he was not yet ready to share details of those findings.
“We got their feedback on their experience with (the NHL Golden Knights and NFL Raiders) and the things they like and the things they would like to see maybe a little different in our stadium,” Badain said. “But overall it was very positive.”
As construction takes place on the Las Vegas Strip, the A’s are playing the second of three planned seasons at a Triple-A stadium in West Sacramento, California. They played their previous 57 seasons in Oakland, California.
The A’s entered Thursday’s game in first place in the AL West at 25-24, one game ahead of the Texas Rangers.
They will play six regular-season games next month at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the club’s Triple-A affiliate. Badain said there are only a few tickets left for the June 8-10 series against Milwaukee and June 12-14 against Colorado.
The groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium took place on June 23. The A’s Ballpark Experience Center in Las Vegas opened in December to give fans the chance to see the ballpark in detail and participate in other immersive experiences.
Associated Press reporting.
