A’s may hire firm to secure financing for $1.5B Strip ballpark

The Oakland Athletics are considering hiring an investment firm to assist team owner John Fisher in securing financing for construction of their planned Las Vegas ballpark.

On Monday, the Los Angeles Times reported that a deal had been struck with New York-based Galatioto Sports Partners to work with the A’s to secure investors to contribute $500 million toward the cost of the team’s $1.5 billion Las Vegas Strip stadium project. The deal would include investors receiving an ownership share in the A’s, according to the report.

The A’s are in discussions with Sal Galatioto and his team, but as of Tuesday morning a formal agreement has not been reached, a person with knowledge of the talks told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Galatioto Sports has worked on over 100 sports deals, with teams including the A’s, Golden State Warriors, New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants, according to the company’s website.

Fisher told the Review-Journal in January that about $1 billion in stadium construction costs remaining after the $380 million in public funding would mostly be funded with equity from his family. But he noted he was interested in potentially raising capital for the ballpark from outside investors, especially ones who are based in Nevada.

“That creates a connection to the community, and we’ve seen that with a lot of other teams become a successful thing,” Fisher said in January.

The 33,000 fan-capacity stadium is scheduled to be built on 9 acres of the 35-acre Tropicana hotel site.

The A’s are working to finalize drafts of its development, non-relocation and lease agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. The development agreement will detail the construction plans and how the project will be funded.

Drafts of the trio of agreements could be presented when the stadium authority next meets on May 16.

The three outstanding agreements, on top of the already approved community benefits agreement, must be approved before construction can begin and for the up to $380 million in public funding earmarked last summer by Senate Bill 1 to be available to the team to use on the project.

The Tropicana closed April 2 to begin prepping the building for demolition. Clark County issued Bally’s Corp. and contractor GGG Demolition a demolition permit on April 25. The permit is for a standard demolition, but Bally’s is hoping to bring the building down via implosion, Bally’s chairman Soo Kim told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last week. The county on March 22 also issued a dust control permit to GGG Demolition tied to the Tropicana project.

Clark County spokeswoman Stacey Welling said in order for Bally’s to implode the Tropicana, the company must also secure a blasting permit and a separate demolition permit from the county. Kim noted that GGG Demolition was in the process of working on some preconditions that have to be met in order for implosion to be possible.

The demolition, whether its conventional or implosion, is expected to occur in September or October, Kim said. The A’s plan to begin construction on their Las Vegas ballpark in April 2025.

Plans call for the stadium to be built and ready to host its first A’s game for the 2028 MLB season.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.