Oakland A’s owner John Fisher made a rare public appearance yesterday at a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce event to discuss his stadium plans, and how’d that go?
Fisher fielded softball questions for just over 15 minutes on Wednesday at the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce’s preview of the Las Vegas conference. What he didn’t do was release renderings of the new A’s stadium, saying he’s now waiting to release those along with renderings of the new resort slated for the site
“We’ll release our renderings when you know when it’s the right time to do so,” Fisher said.
That’s certainly almost English! But we already had a pretty good idea that we weren’t actually getting any actual stadium designs almost two months after they were first promised. What about where Fisher is planning to get more than $1 billion in funding to go along with his $600 million in tax money, anything new there?
“That will be funded mostly with equity from my family,” Fisher said. “We would actually like to consider raising capital, especially from local investors. That creates a connection to the community, and we’ve seen that with a lot of other teams become a successful thing.”
Hmm, “local investors,” that’s less than specific. Nevada Independent, did you get anything more out of Fisher in your post-speech interview?
Fisher said he and his family “have the equity” to finance the more than $1.1 billion in private funds needed for the stadium’s construction. If he were to raise capital through local investors, his family “would retain majority ownership and oversee operations” of the team.
He said bringing on minority investors for the A’s is a business model that has worked for NBA’s Golden State Warriors, “which has 25 different owners.”
So Fisher plans to come up with at least $550 million in his own cash (or at least borrow it from one or another of his Gap-heir brothers), and the rest he’ll get from selling minority shares in the team to people who are excited to own a piece of the Las Vegas A’s and their new $1.1 billion stadium debt? That should be an interesting prospectus to read.
All of which leads back to the eternal question, are the A’s really moving to Las Vegas or not?
Trop land owner (Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc.) brought in respected Marnell Companies for renderings and consultation—conclusion was space is too limited for retractable roof design, so more room needed, but due to proximity to the airport, the planned resort can’t make up revenue (due to smaller footprint) by building higher. These obstacles in addition to Bally’s Corp. having no resources and A’s having provided no clues about its $1 billion contribution. If the A’s move happens at all, look to the Festival Grounds or Rio.
Another new site! That would be something, if true: The above is from the Twitter account Vital Vegas and is entirely unsourced, but people in Vegas seem to trust the rumors it’s passed on previously, so we’ll see. Anyway, at least Vital Vegas does seem to think now that an A’s stadium will happen somewhere in Vegas eventually, and wait what—
Oakland. “)
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) January 24, 2024
Do you agree, San Francisco Chronicle sportswriter Scott Ostler?
The A’s move to Vegas still seems like a half-baked plan, with more holes than my blackjack strategy. But a short visit here reminded me that this is a city built on preposterous ideas. And that sports teams have a magical ability to cloud minds when it comes to getting civic leaders to take seemingly foolish risks. Right, Mark Davis?
Status update: Still clear as mud. But if Fisher didn’t really shed any light on anything at all, at least he stirred up some excitement about the team’s maybe-someday-pending arrival in Nevada, yes?
There is ZERO excitement for the A’s coming to Las Vegas. This video is extremely telling and is yet another embarrassment for John Fisher and the A’s. pic.twitter.com/9SnQHqCji4
— Sell The Team (@jvb43) January 24, 2024
Oh dear oh dear.
Vital Vegas probably meant more likely “Bay Area “ and not poor @ss Oakland re where this ends. Oakland can’t even keep an In N Out Burger open because of rampant crime!
The Bay Area has more money than Vegas. Oakland also raised over a billion dollars for Howard Terminal.
Your comment is flawed & false. John Fisher is & has always been the problem, not Oakland.
Antonio is from San Jose and doesn’t like driving to Oakland, so he thinks the A’s should move to San Jose so Oakland fans can drive to San Jose instead.
You know, I don’t want to be too conspiratorial, but I’m hesitant to take that closure at face value, especially since In-n-Out’s PR people made sure it got such wide press coverage. Lynsi Snyder is a seriously odd duck from a strong Christian fundamentalist background, and squarely in the donor class for the most toxic strains of Republican politics. I’m sure she could’ve easily been talked into sacrificing a single outlet along 880 to generate press supporting efforts like the Oakland mayoral recall and Fisher walking away from the Coliseum.
I’ve worked for In-n-Out in the past; even seemingly high-volume, well-located restaurants can sometimes struggle to be profitable for them, especially in times (and places!) when peoples’ pocket cash is tight. So that Oakland location could’ve been on the margin already, yes, but I wouldn’t discount the opportunity to help create a coordinated media narrative weighing just as much as cold hard cash in this case.
And of course, since In-n-Out is fully privately owned, we’ll probably never know for sure! Could be much the same story as Fisher… official “billionaire” label on the outside, trying to keep from selling the furniture on the inside. There’s a lot of competitors now that weren’t around when In-n-Out first came to NorCal.
“raise capital…especially from local investors. That creates a connection to the community, and we’ve seen that with a lot of other teams become a successful thing.”
Gee, if only the A’s had had local investors in Oakland… oh, wait, that’s right… THEY DID.
If you were a GAP heir or just happened to share parents with him, would you lend this man money?
Nor would I.
He doesn’t have the money. And his fellow shareholders seem unwilling to lend it to him – as, apparently, do banks. This is a guy who wants to move his team to a market around 1/3rd the size of his current market to secure $60m p/a in revenue sharing payments.
Some might call that a desperation move.
Chamber of Commerce types not being into this move is the biggest red flag I’ve seen so far. The people in that audience are the ideal “local investors” for a team.
They certainly are, Al. They have everything to gain by becoming ‘partners’ in one sense or another.
Maybe they see what most of the rest of us do?
He can always ask mom to sell some art….that’s an option, right?!
Here’s my crazy solution. A mixed use dome. Converts from baseball field to large casino floor on non game days. Store the money taking machines in the concourse for fans to play during pitching changes.
Wait, there aren’t going to be video slots terminals built into all the seat backs? I thought this was America!
Only if the “mixed use dome” comes with Master Blaster(s) !
The government doesn’t control the sky, what if the stadium floats?
Seems like a awful lot rides on Dorris drawing breath (her dying would bring him an infusion of cash) and Gap really volatile stock price
The A’s had some sympathy and support once when the Raiders/ Warriors were getting all the help from the city of Oakland. They complained and were right about being ignored.
The city mistreated them for years ignoring them while helping the Raiders/ Warriors. But when they finally got the whole Coliseum Complex or a new area in Oakland they played games with the city and then rejected both offers!
But it’s not a mystery Oakland has issues but it’s not so bad they wouldn’t sell out! the owners may want to sell the team or bring in more investors to make them more valuable.
They want to trade a big market for a small one, and give up one of the biggest parking lots in Oakland and don’t have any real good place to build a stadium in L.V. They want to move for the money and sponsorship and are trying to put a stadium where it will make it hard on traffic and room for fans.