As the Athletics prepare to leave Oakland for a temporary home in Sacramento while a new ballpark is built on the Las Vegas Strip, many economists are speculating on whether a new stadium will be built at all.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter John Shea spoke exclusively to a variety of experts, many of whom believe Athletics owner John Fisher will have a hard time securing the financing needed for a new Las Vegas ballpark, scheduled to open in time for the 2028 MLB season.
Andrew Zimbalist, a sports economist and professor at Smith College in Massachusetts, expressed skepticism that Fisher could pull off a temporary move to Sacramento and then move on to Nevada.
“I don't think this is a promising project at all. The Athletics have big challenges ahead of them,” Zimbalist told Shea. “Fisher is not well-liked by anyone in this process, and it would be a big financial blow to him if the plan to play three years in Sacramento actually goes forward. I think it's tough. If I had to make a prediction, I would say Las Vegas is not going to happen.”
Zimbalist explained to Shea that the way modern baseball parks are funded would make it difficult for someone like Fisher to secure adequate financing, even if it meant dipping into his family's largesse.
“I think it's difficult,” Zimbalist told Shea. “The way modern stadiums are financed these days is through mortgages or real estate transactions where the owner puts up a certain amount of money for the ballpark and in return gets development rights around the ballpark, sometimes for a price that's much less than the market value of the land, and there are also tax abatements to incentivize investment in the mixed-use development around the ballpark.”
“The problem with Las Vegas is there's no land to develop around the Strip and we don't know where to put parking. It's a very congested area. I don't see how it could happen here.”
Still, many believe Fisher has enough money to pay for the $1.5 billion stadium beyond the $380 million he will receive from the state of Nevada. Former Athletics owner Lou Wolf told Shea he has no problem with Fisher and the new stadium plan.
“John would not undertake an activity that he could not afford or be motivated to undertake,” Wolf told See. “I have worked with John and his family for decades and have never encountered an activity that they were not motivated or capable of.”
Oakland fans have long been vocal about their dissatisfaction with the Fisher administration, most recently by boycotting Athletics home games and holding up signs and shirts calling for the team to be sold.
After a series of failed negotiations with the city of Oakland earlier this year, Fisher announced the team would leave the Coliseum after the 2024 season and play three seasons at Dignity Health Park in West Sacramento until a stadium in Las Vegas is built.
