The Athletics organization held a groundbreaking ceremony Monday for its new $1.75 billion stadium in Las Vegas.
The team, which is playing its home games in West Sacramento, Calif. this season following its offseason exit from longtime home Oakland, was represented by team owner John Fisher and president Marc Badain among others at the groundbreaking on the Las Vegas Strip.
“It’s an epic moment for our 124-year-old franchise,” Fisher said in thanking several civic leaders in the Las Vegas area, as well as MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, also in attendance at the event.
It was a remarkable scene for Fisher, who last year was quoted about the franchise being poised to lose $40 million due to a lack of a new stadium, after failing to come to agreement with authorities in Oakland on parameters for a project to save professional baseball in Oakland.
Instead, he struck a deal with Clark County, noting that his family was still contributing the majority of the financing.
Badain was hired by the Athletics in March following his successful stewardship of the relocation of the Raiders to Vegas and the construction of the Raiders’ new stadium, Allegiant Stadium.
“It’s an honor,” Badain said, when asked about being involved with two stadium projects. “Today’s a real accomplishment for everyone in the Athletics organization.”
The new ballpark, with a planned capacity of 33,000, is not expected to be completed until 2028, leaving the Athletics to continue playing at Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park (the home of the minor leagues’ Sacramento River Cats) until then.
The Athletics currently sit in last place in the American League West at 32-48.
“These projects, they probably look like they happen pretty quickly,” Fisher said. “The reality is there is an incredible amount of work, time and effort from so many people’s involvement to even bring us to today.
“Our goal is to continue to build upon what we have, and building a team is like building anything else. Sometimes it takes more time than you want it to. It’s like building the stadium. And we think that we have the pieces to make ourselves really successful.”
