The Oakland A’s have presented MGM Resorts with three different renderings for their proposed ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip.
According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, MGM chief executive officer Bill Hornbuckle said on Tuesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call that he’s seen renderings of the A’s stadium shown on three different locations on MGM’s Tropicana hotel site that is 35 acres, only nine of which were given to the A’s for their 33,000-seat ballpark.
MGM also plans to build a new resort on the remaining part of the site.
“We’re waiting to see where that lands, I have to believe in the next 30 to 60 days we should find out more,” Hornbuckle said, per the report. “I’ve been shown three versions of it now, in terms of where it will actually sit on the site and how it will connect.”
The Tropicana hotel will be shut down on April 2 to clear the site for the A’s to begin building in as soon as nine months, per the report. The A’s hope to open their stadium in 2028.
Plenty of hurdles remain.
Thursday’s planned Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board meeting was canceled and the A’s have yet to file development and non-relocation agreements for their new ballpark, the Review-Journal reported.
And in the Nevada courts right now is a lawsuit filed by Schools Over Stadiums, the political action group made up primarily of school teachers. The lawsuit argues that Senate Bill 1, which will provide $380 million of public money to the A’s for their new stadium, was passed unconstitutionally. The bill did not get a two-thirds supermajority in either the Assembly or the Senate; any bill introducing new taxes is supposed to be passed with a supermajority, according to the state’s constitution.
The teachers, who argue that a state that ranks 50th in class sizes and educator vacancies shouldn’t be offering public money to the A’s billionaire owner, John Fisher, also plan to file a motion for injunction that could put the funding on pause until the case is settled.
The teachers are simultaneously waiting to hear from the Nevada supreme court about a petition they’ve submitted. If their petition is approved, they can begin collecting signatures for a referendum on the stadium funding that could give Nevada taxpayers a say in November.
The signatures are due in June. The teachers believe they need three months to collect and will need to start collecting sometime in March.
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Schools Over Stadiums will be participating in “Fans Fest,” a fan-led festival organized by Last Dive Bar and the Oakland 68’s. The festival will take place at Jack London Square next Saturday.
The A’s haven’t had their own fan festival since 2020.
It was also revealed this week that the A’s are one of two teams, along with the New York Yankees, who won’t be participating in MLB’s City Connect uniforms, which are supposed to celebrate each city’s history, culture and spirit.
The A’s are also trying to negotiate with the city of Oakland about extending their lease at the Coliseum. Their lease is set to expire after the 2024 season.
