What’s the latest on the LAS VEGAS Athletics?

I’m still unwilling to admit the ballpark’s going to open on time. I just can’t imagine how. I still can’t imagine how they’re going to draw tourists the way they say they’re going to. I can’t imagine anything. But is today the day? I I because I’m not I’m not ready. I’m really not mentally ready to do it. But if you tell me today’s the day, I’m going to do it. I think uh if and when the stadium opens up, when it hosts opening day, it has its first game, that’s when you can do it. Uh because right now I don’t understand um the industry in full uh when it comes to building. But I have friends who own building companies and they and they talk about just how expensive it is now to just build regular houses. So, I can’t even imagine how expensive it is going to be to build this stadium in Vegas in the way that they want it to be built. Um, and I just don’t know if they have the money to continue to pour into this stadium project. So, maybe the stadium opens up and it’s not John Fischer who’s in charge. You know, maybe that could be a possibility. I don’t know. But I just I just wouldn’t have you take it yet because there are so many factors that are going into whether it’s the industries out there because you’ve seen what’s happening in Vegas with you know tourism’s down but there are casinos that are going under. There are casinos that are firing most of their staff. There’s a lot that’s changing in uh Vegas and I I won’t let you take a wait to see loss just yet. So, there is a way to control the price of a new ballpark. If you have a certain kind of contract, it’s called a GMP, a guaranteed maximum price, that is where you lock in the price of your ballpark and you attempt to have it look like the construction documents and the design development documents that exist. But you recognize that if things change and the world happens or the price of steel changes that it’s possible that your ballpark will not look exactly like the original renditions. That’s not the word rendition. What is the word this is happening to me Kok right now live on live on our show. What is the thing that when we show what a ballpark’s going to look like? It’s a renderance. Why did I say re? Maybe it is a rendition. a rendition of a stadium. It just didn’t sound right to me. I’m sorry, folks. I truly am sorry. So, you can control the price, Koka, and say, “All right, we are not gonna go above 1.5 billion.” Except now the A’s have said, “All right, it may be about 2 billion to build the ballpark.” Some people are saying it could be over 2 billion to build the ballpark. I’m telling you that to get a ballpark open on time, you can work extra shifts. You can pay overages. I’m telling you that you can change scopes in order to try to keep the price down when you have to increase the price elsewhere. I’m telling you that you can fool around with your projections and increase the cost of tickets, increase the concessions, increase the what it costs to have a sign behind the plate in the fourth inning as a way to make up for the increased debt service that you have, meaning the amount of interest you have to pay back to people who you borrow money from every year. There are ways to handle from a business standpoint anything that can come your way including what and and and Kok help me or I think it was David Ter is he the one who started to build the practice facility and just stopped and it was half built. Yep. We did all sorts of segments about this. I think it was the Carolina Panthers. Correct. But correct. It it was okay. So, the other thing you can do if you run out of money, you can just stop, which is what Vegas and the public authority in Vegas said can’t happen. Miami did the same thing with Marlins Park. There was a contractual provision in place that completion of the ballpark once started had to happen and there were guarantees that had to be put in place by the private partner about how that would happen. But there are so many things but I’m going to go with you. I’m not going to take the loss. However, I’m going to mention that there’s now information out there about season ticket prices in the Vegas ballpark. And I want to remind you when we threatened to move to Vegas back before Marlins Park happened, when we were going to move Miami Marlins to either, it was the Florida Marlins at the time, either to San Antonio or Portland or Vegas, etc. The deal that we had with the mayor of Vegas is that we would build a ballpark that had no sort of middle class. They’d have bleacher seats for poor people and they’d have unbelievable sweets for the casinos and the rich people and the casinos would buy out the sweets in advance. They’d buy all the food in advance, give it to their high players, uh, high limit players, and if the people didn’t show up, we didn’t care because everything was paid for in advance. So Vegas, we always knew in our mind was going to be a very desperate set of pricing, really high, really low. So the Las Vegas Review and Journal came out yesterday and they went through some of the ticket prices, they went through some of the offerings and two things were in the article that I want to mention that are of note. One, there is the possibility that the Sacramento AS are going to sell quarter season tickets out of the gate to people in Vegas. That means you buy a 20game package. I would tell you that we were in a market Miami that was terrible. We had very few season ticket holders. And when we started selling season tickets, we were focused on full season ticket buyers. We wanted all 81 games sold to people, to brokers, even to anybody. We want the full season to be sold. You only then move to 40ame plans, half season, 20 game plans, quarter season. You only do that when you have to because you have not gotten the response on the full season tickets that you want. for the Vegas A’s to already consider offering quarter season ticket packages. I get why you’d put the word consider. I would tell you it’s so early that considering it, I would not have it out there. We planned for all that. Don’t get me wrong. We had pricing in place. We had plans in place. We had sections in place where we were going to offer what, where we would go to half season, quarter season. We’d never do it at the prime seats. We would do it in the subprime seats, but we never wanted to publicize all that. We wanted to talk about come bring me, you’re tired, you’re hungry, you’re poor, and buy 81 game plans. But then Vegas also, as part of this article in the Las Vegas Review Journal, mentioned something that we didn’t have the ability to do in Miami, but we wanted to, and it’s called a personal seat license. You may be familiar with PSLs if you’re a football fan. PSLs are when you have to pay money to have the right to spend money. You pay a sum of money to have the right to buy a license for that particular seat that you’ve spent money on. It is a great way to raise extra money. When you’re negotiating a ballpark deal and you’re coming up with sources and uses of funds, we have a$2 billion dollar ballpark. Where’s the money going to come from? Well, it’s going to come from the owner. It’s going to come from the state. It’s going to come from the county. And then it’s going to come from PSLs. Personal seat licenses. That’s you. That’s the audience. That’s the fans. And what came out in the article is that a personal seat license could range anywhere between $6,000 and $16,000. Can you imagine that you want a Row One seat and you want it so badly that you’ll write a check for $106,000 just to then write a check for $80,000 more every year if they charge $1,000 per seat per game. And by the way, unless you don’t want to go alone, and listen, who doesn’t like to be alone three times a week for three minutes at a time? But that said, you know, it can be even more than that. Whatever you know floats your boat, but no one is buying a season ticket. So, you buy a pair and you’re looking at 212,000 bucks. I’m just telling you that when you need to charge that kind of money, you have an idea of what your market is. You better have done a deal with casinos that they’re not just buying your suits, they’re buying your PSLs, and they are so behind this baseball transaction. Except the casinos are on their buttocks. The casinos are panicked. Look at their stock prices. Look at what is happening with their overall revenue. The fact that you think that there is an opportunity that they are going to really participate in all of this for the Las Vegas ATS. I don’t see that happening.

#baseball #athletics #MLB

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45 comments

  3. Is it fair to say that since they're already discussing PSL's that they are even more desperate for money than previously thought? Thanks for the video David and for continuing to report on this sham.

  5. i'm a vegas local and while i consider myself a baseball sicko, i have little to no desire to go see a game at this hypothetical ballpark. its location on the strip, the fact that john fisher sucks, the nonsense about its funding, all this and more make me extremely disinclined to give that asshat any money to go. i'd rather support the knights with my money than reward him for giving oakland fans the shaft

  6. Just a point. Casino's in Vegas are having a BANNER year in profits from gambling, not going down. Go google it. Off strip casinos are having their best year ever. Tourism from Mexico is UP, not down.

  7. David, what the hell are you talkin about "the Mayor of Las Vegas"? You have to deal with the COUNTY board of Supervisors. The Mayor has no power without County approval.

  9. Man, MLB is getting to Vegas waaayyy too late. LV residents love their Golden Knights and the NFL can't fail anywhere. I could see MLB being a success in Nashville or some other midwest city but in today's world a MLB team in Vegas just seems like snoozeville. Especially on the strip.

    It might be a nice stadium but that means pretty much nothing. Locals won't go to the strip unless they work there. Trust me I know I lived in both nearby Henderson and then on the west side in Summerlin.

  14. Actually, the A’s must post a $3.7 million bond ensuring site cleanup if the Las Vegas ballpark project starts but isn’t completed—covering decommissioning, debris removal, and basic safety restoration.

  16. All of this ugliness won't matter, because nepo baby #FJF will just get the handouts needed to cover all costs. I wouldn't be shocked if MLB gives him a near 0% loan just to settle this crapshow.

  18. Does anyone besides Manfred in MLB support Fisher and the move…truly?
    Renovate the Oakland Coliseum like Dodgers Stadium. Use the $500 million in infrastructure bonds Oakland secured to structurally renovate and modernize the stadium. Fisher’s price for field, locker rooms. etc. $100 million.

  20. Their only hope is that tourists that are flying in are gonna come buy tickets. If they think locals in Las Vegas are gonna buy tickets for six grand you have got to be kidding me Vegas is already overpriced with their water and their parking… they nickel and dime everything over there. It’s so expensive for a three days weekend in Las Vegas to eat and check out a show….. It’s less expensive to have a week in Mexico all inclusive resort. Like he mentioned they think casinos are gonna come save the day and buy all the licenses??? I think they are out of their mind. Even casinos are hurting right now. Nobody has disposable income right now and casinos keep raising their outrageous prices!!! $20 water and $250 for a show – per person? Gimmie a break!

  21. Tourists WILL go to games, to see the A's lose to their team. A fake MLB chump team is the only $ here. Rename from the Athletics to the Las Vegas Generals.

  26. PSL's would've worked in the Tech/A.I. heavy Bay Area. Vegas?! 🤣🤦🏽‍♂️🤣!!! This A's move from Oakland to Vegas will go down as one of the worst franchise relocations in history!!!

  27. Undoubtedly, tariffs are going to hurt the GAP family of stores.
    And the ONLY reason the Fishers are wealthy is because of the dad, who has since passed on, and who undoubtedly would if he was here be furious at his son.
    If you read John Fisher’s bio, you’ll see a person who even as a younger kid would throw tantrums and cheat in any way possible, in order to get what he wanted.
    The guy has absolutely no business running anything. He already lost his real estate aspirations in Oakland when he was forced to sell the coliseum to an up-and-coming community non-profit (whose own aspirations include preservation of the extremely hallowed yard).

  28. I live in Las Vegas and was against the building of this stadium with public money from the beginning and still am against it; however, if the ballpark does get built and is configured as planned and designed, the sunsets from the northwest and against the backdrop of the Spring Mountains will be incredible. I personally love to take an evening walk up Desert Inn and towards the Spring Mountains at sunset: just spectacular!

  29. Casino revenue is not down , tourism is down . Casinos are transitioning into a playground for the wealthy no longer the average gambler . As far as the homeless A’s go this project is 100% being built for tourists not the locals or they never would have put it on the Strip .To this day there is little to no excitement for the A’s . The Raiders only do as well as they do because of their fan base comes from LA where 60% of the tickets are being sold along with other out of state buyers ..The A’s have no fan base anywhere so the only draw to the new stadium will be the stadium itself .The entire move will be an epic failure .

  30. I actually have the belief that this entire A's to Vegas is going to implode before they ever get there… between getting funding for that stadium, and that for baseball, tourists won't happen like they think (NFL might work… 1 day/week… 7 days a week.. dream on), not to mention the tirefire that it's making in Sacremento… It's become the biggest joke in sports… even worst than Merullo in Arizona with the Coyotes…

  35. Vegas continues to overspend. The Sphere, a movie theater, for $2.3 billion? A billion dollar beach? (In a drought!) This stadium? Yet, people complain about the loss of $1.99 buffets! 😅
    When you build for the rich, nobody else can afford to come!

  36. Was just out there and The ballpark is being built.

    Hotel rooms were not cheap, this was mid week, which means that the casinos are not struggling as much as advertised.

    Both of these guys are taking the L on this.

  38. I'm an A's fan from the DC area and loved going to games in Oakland. I never thought these days would arrive that my favorite team wasn't in Oakland anymore…it's very hard…

  39. Let it go the A’s are going to Las Vegas mlb will pay if there needs to be some payments the owners they want to be in Vegas. Athletics will be in Vegas. The ballpark will open. Just let it go. They’re never going back to Oakland. Oakland is a dump full of crime and poverty it’s not 1970s anymore. It’s 2025. It’s a total different Oakland athletics will be in Las Vegas.

  42. The stadium is well past the point of no return. It will be completed. Even if John fisher walks away, MLB will step in and sign off on a bridge loan while they force a sale of the team. Make no mistake, THIS stadium is getting built.

  43. School's over Stadiums is waiting for John Fisher to front the $100 million for construction costs they want to file a lawsuit to block the $380 million of public money coming from the State of Nevada. Fisher was supposed to have come up with the $100 million last December and were coming up on December it'll be one year overdue. This whole thing isn't settled yet. Manfred and Fisher should have worked something out with Oakland Coliseum until they could figure how to pay the down payment for the Vegas park if and when they can get it. Despite what they say this whole thing has not been figured out yet.

  44. I’ve lived in Vegas for two years now. This city has, by any definition, the worst local news of any major city in America. They tow the line

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