While the Oakland A’s potential downtown development in their current city waits on legal proceedings, the team is moving forward on two potential Las Vegas sites, including one on the famed Vegas Strip.
One spot would compel the team to either own the land the stadium is built on or enter a public-private partnership, according to team president Dave Kaval, while the other presents a potential tie-in with a resort operator.
- The resort operator in question may be Gaming & Leisure Properties, a real estate investor that owns the Tropicana hotel on the Strip.
- In an earnings call on Friday, Gaming & Leisure Properties CEO Peter Carlino said, “It’s been widely publicized that the A’s are looking at this site,” referring to the Tropicana location. “It’s safe for me to say that they have a very, very strong interest in our site if the transaction can work to their advantage,” he added.
Kaval said that he hopes to announce a proposed location and design for a 30,000-seat, $1 billion ballpark soon.
Oakland’s Port Problem
While the team could remain in Oakland and develop a $12 billion stadium, retail, and housing area by the waterfront, several hurdles remain.
The city will have to redesignate the Howard Terminal area to make it not exclusively for port use, overcoming a non-binding commission vote of 5-4 with one abstention to retain that status. A final vote will come on June 30.
“If we lose that, we’re dead,” said Kaval.
