A’s owner has finances in place for Las Vegas ballpark, bank says

The family of Athletics owner John Fisher has adequate finances in place to cover its portion of the planned Las Vegas ballpark, according to U.S. Bank.

The statement was included in a letter written by U.S. Bank Senior Vice President Stephen Vogel and submitted to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority ahead of Thursday’s meeting of its board of directors. The budget for that meeting includes the A’s financial plan, the project’s budget increase and a trio of outstanding agreements set for approval.

With the budget of the stadium rising $250 million to $1.75 billion, the Fisher family will be responsible for providing a $1.1 billion equity contribution and taking on a $300 million construction loan from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs, for a total of a $1.4 billion. The other $350 million will be from the up to $380 million in public funding made possible by the signing of Senate Bill 1 in 2023.

As part of the process to pledge the Fisher family’s share of the $300 million construction loan to the A’s, U.S. Bank reviewed its financial records in June and concluded that the family has the ability to fund the $1.1 billion equity contribution toward the stadium’s cost.

“Based on this review, we conclude that the Fisher family and their related entities have financial assets (excluding their interest in the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise) more than sufficient to fund the equity portion of the proposed capital structure for the Athletics’ Las Vegas Stadium,” Vogel said in his letter.

Fisher submitted his own letter to the authority, noting the family’s $1.1 billion equity commitment. The A’s have already spent $40 million on their Las Vegas relocation process.

“We have expended many millions of dollars and years of hard work to make this happen and are excited to begin a new chapter in Las Vegas,” Fisher said in the letter. “We are very grateful to the State of Nevada, and the Authority in particular, for its vision and commitment to helping us realize this dream and to afford us the opportunity to expand our fan base by locating our new home in Las Vegas.”

The A’s plan to break ground on their Las Vegas ballpark in the spring and to have the facility ready to host games for the 2028 MLB season. The planned 33,000-fan capacity stadium will be built on 9 acres of the 35-acre Tropicana Las Vegas site.

The A’s played their final season in Oakland this year and will temporarily play at Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento during the 2025-2027 MLB seasons.

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