ATHLETICS CELEBRATE GROUNDBREAKING OF $1.75 BILLION STADIUM PROJECT IN LAS VEGAS
LAS VEGAS (AP) — With mounds of dirt, construction vehicles and the exact location where home plate will be at the new A’s Ballpark serving as the backdrop Monday morning, team owner John Fisher stood in front of a large gathering with one message: “We are Vegas’ team.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, state and local government dignitaries, former Athletics greats such as Rollie Fingers and Dave Stewart, Little Leaguers and many others looked on as the team celebrated the groundbreaking of a $1.75 billion, 33,000-person capacity ballpark that is expected to be finished in time for the 2028 season.
Nevada and Clark County have approved up to $380 million in public funds for the project.
“I have no doubt this is done in 2028,” team president Marc Badain said. “You know the workforce here; they’re all here and ready to get going.
“It’s nice to see the validation a day like today brings and what the next three years will mean for the community and for the construction project and the jobs and everything else that you’re going to see as this building comes out of the ground starting as early as tonight.”
Badain went through a similar process when serving in the same capacity for the NFL’s Raiders. He was a central figure in that team’s move from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020 as well as the approval and construction of $2 billion Allegiant Stadium.
While waiting for Allegiant Stadium to be finished, the Raiders remained in Oakland for three seasons in the stadium they shared with the A’s. But while the Raiders maintained a largely strong connection to the Bay Area even while playing as a lameduck franchise, A’s fans were incensed about their team’s impending departure and the process involved.
That made staying in Oakland untenable for the franchise, which played its final season in the dilapidated stadium last year. The A’s are playing the first of at least three years about an hour away at a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento, California, while they await their move to Las Vegas.
“We are a local team,” Fisher said. “And we want to start from the youngest of fans, because if you can get the kids, you can get their parents. It takes less time than you think; what really takes time is … to have a winner.
“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.”
The stadium will be built on nine acres of the 35-acre site owned by Bally’s on the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard. The Tropicana’s resort towers were destroyed in an overnight demolition in October to clear the way for the ballpark.
The A’s are trying to strike a balance of making the most of their temporary home while also preparing for their future. Each A’s player wears a patch of Sacramento’s Tower Bridge on one sleeve and a Las Vegas logo on the other as part of a three-year sponsorship with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority in December approved lease, non-relocation and development documents, the last major steps for the A’s to eventually become Las Vegas’ team.
Artist renderings show a stadium with its five overlapping layers that bears a striking resemblance to Australia’s famed Sydney Opera House. A glass window beyond the outfield provides an outdoor feel with views of the Las Vegas Strip. Rather than a centralized cooling system, air conditioning will be distributed through the seats.
This will be MLB’s smallest stadium, though Tropicana Field where the Tampa Bay Rays usually call home has a capacity of 25,000 when the upper levels are closed off. It otherwise holds just less than 40,000 seats.
The Rays, like the A’s, are playing this season at a Triple-A ballpark after Hurricane Milton damaged their domed stadium. Tampa Bay’s long-term home is unknown, and the club could soon be in the hands of new owners.
Cleveland plays at Progressive Field, which now seats 34,830. It was downsized from the 43,345-seat capacity when the park opened in 1994.
The A’s are set to become the fourth major professional team in Las Vegas, joining the Raiders, NHL’s Golden Knights and WNBA’s Aces.
“I think that the demographics, the success that other sports have had, and the amount of tourism here, those three legs of the stool make this an ideal market for us,” Manfred said. “I have no doubt that this team is going to be really successful in Vegas.”
MLB ROUNDUP: ELLY DE LA CRUZ OUTDUELS AARON JUDGE, REDS BEAT YANKS
Elly De La Cruz homered, tripled, singled and drove in three runs as the Cincinnati Reds beat the visiting New York Yankees 6-1 in the opener of a three-game set on Monday night.
De La Cruz atoned for a pair of defensive miscues by falling just a double shy of his second career cycle. He topped off his memorable night with his 18th homer, an opposite-field shot to right in the eighth inning. Gavin Lux added a solo homer for the Reds.
Cincinnati reliever Scott Barlow (3-0) relieved starter Nick Lodolo with one out in the fifth and retired all five batters he faced to earn the win.
Aaron Judge belted a 398-foot homer to the upper deck in left, his 28th of the season, while Cody Bellinger doubled twice and had three hits for the Yankees.
Mariners 11, Twins 2
Cal Raleigh hit his league-leading 32nd home run, Julio Rodriguez drove in four with a double and a home run, and Seattle routed Minnesota in Minneapolis.
Luke Raley and Dominic Canzone added homers for the Mariners, who won the series opener with righty Bryan Woo (7-4) tossing six innings of two-run baseball. He had nine strikeouts while surrendering six hits.
Carlos Correa and Trevor Larnach responded with solo shots for Minnesota, which lost for the 10th time in 11 games. Bailey Ober (4-5) gave up seven runs on seven hits with seven strikeouts over seven innings.
Orioles 6, Rangers 0
Jackson Holliday smacked a three-run home run and a run-scoring double and Trevor Rogers pitched eight shutout innings as Baltimore defeated visiting Texas to open a three-game series.
Rogers (1-0), in his third big-league outing of the season, held the Rangers to three singles across eight frames. He struck out four without a walk. Holliday racked up three hits and Ramon Laureano had a double among his two hits for Baltimore, which had eight players with at least one hit.
The Rangers didn’t threaten, stranding three runners and only having one plate appearance with a runner in scoring position. Starter Patrick Corbin (4-7) allowed five runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. He struck out six without issuing a walk.
Diamondbacks 10, White Sox 0
Pavin Smith hit two home runs and drove in four, Ketel Marte homered among his three hits and Eduardo Rodriguez pitched six strong innings as Arizona routed host Chicago.
Arizona out-hit Chicago 13-5, roughing up White Sox starter Shane Smith and four relievers on the way to its fourth win in five games. The White Sox have lost 10 of 12.
Rodriguez (3-4) cruised behind the early support, limiting the White Sox to five hits in six shutout innings while striking out 10 against two walks. He has won each of his five career starts at Rate Field.
Braves 3, Mets 2
Spencer Schwellenbach tossed seven strong innings and earned the win for visiting Atlanta, which beat reeling New York in the opener of a four-game series between the National League East rivals.
Michael Harris II delivered a second-inning sacrifice fly before Ronald Acuna Jr. homered and Sean Murphy lofted another sac fly an inning later for the Braves, who have won five of seven, including four straight against the Mets since last Tuesday.
Schwellenbach (6-4) gave up the two runs on four hits with one walk while striking out four. Juan Soto hit a two-run homer in the sixth but struck out with runners at the corners to end the eighth for the Mets, who have lost nine of 10.
Cardinals 8, Cubs 2
Lars Nootbaar, Brendan Donovan, Alec Burleson and Nolan Gorman hit two-run homers as host St. Louis pummeled Chicago.
Willson Contreras added two doubles in a 3-for-4 night for the Cardinals, who won for the sixth time in seven games to move within 3 1/2 games of the division-leading Cubs. Matthew Liberatore (5-6) allowed two runs on six hits over seven innings.
Ben Brown (4-6) gave up eight runs on nine hits in five-plus innings for the Cubs, who lost for the fourth time in their last five. Pete Crow-Armstrong, Nico Hoerner and Carson Kelly went 2-for-3 in the defeat.
Pirates 5, Brewers 4
Isiah Kiner-Falefa tripled in the go-ahead run in the sixth inning and Nick Gonzales had five hits as visiting Pittsburgh held on to beat Milwaukee in the opener of a three-game series.
Gonzales had two doubles and three singles, driving in two runs, and Tommy Pham hit his first home run of the year for the Pirates, who won back-to-back games for the first time since June 6-9.
Christian Yelich brought the Brewers even at 4-all in the fifth with his 15th homer, a two-run shot down the right field line. Milwaukee had its four-game winning streak snapped.
