A's Las Vegas Ballpark on Track, But May Have a Hurdle to Clear

The Athletics ballpark is going up in Las Vegas, and is reportedly on schedule to be ready for opening day 2028. Three of the five roof trusses have gone up already, with the fourth currently underway and the final one expected to be installed by the end of the year. Still, there is a little bit of a hurdle coming up, as reported by the Nevada Independent. 

That hurdle is going to be getting the area surrounding the ballpark ready to welcome visitors when the ballpark opens — particularly the development of the northwest plaza entrance, which is expected to be the focal point of fans entrance from the Strip to access the ballpark. 

The holdup is that the A's partner, Bally's, is dealing with a shortfall in the funding on its part of the project. Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLPI), the landlord of the site, may be willing to help close that gap up to $250 million, but it also has a couple of unresolved business items between Bally's and the A's.

Those items were not discussed in a recent meeting with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, with GLPI President Brandon Moore saying that the forum wasn't the correct place for those issues. He also noted that "if we're going to put $250 million into the site, we just need to understand how the economics of that will work," per the Indy.  

GLPI is open to conditionally infusing the project with $250 million, doubling the contribution it has set aside, but it needs more information on the economics of the plan first. 

"We want to make sure that we can open the ballpark in time in 2028," Stadium Authority Chairman Steve Hill said in the Indy. He wants this to be resolved by the planned December 3 meeting so they can begin getting the ball rolling on the plaza itself. 

The construction time for that area is about 12 months, and they need to begin in January to ensure that the development is complete by the time the ballpark is open. A January start date builds in some extra time, with opening day likely set for late March or early April of 2028, depending on whether the A's start at home or away. 

One smaller takeaway here is that both the A's and GLPI are in agreement that the Bally's project — whatever it ends up looking like — won't block views of the Strip. The A's ballpark is in the southeast corner of the site, with the outfield wall looking out toward the Strip. That would mean nothing too big could be built in that sightline in order to preserve that view.