It’s been a while since I’ve written about the Athletics and their Las Vegas stadium saga, so with a few hours until the next Cubs game, why not?

Per Chris Biderman of the Sacramento Bee, there’s going to be a groundbreaking ceremony for the stadium in Las Vegas next week:

The team on Tuesday said it would host the ceremony at 8 a.m. June 23 at the site of the former Tropicana Hotel where the new ballpark will be constructed on the Las Vegas Strip.

There’s already been some preparatory work on this site, so this groundbreaking is largely ceremonial, you know, one where dignitaries throw around a few piles of dirt with silver shovels. Nice photo op, anyway.

There’s one small problem that still hasn’t been resolved regarding the Las Vegas stadium. And that is, writes Biderman:

The A’s have been earmarked to receive $380 million in public funding for the stadium, which will reportedly cost some $1.75 billion. The team is currently seeking outside investors to purchase minority stakes to help fund the remainder of the project, while owner John Fisher and his family have said they plan to contribute $1 billion.

Oh. Well, let’s see. $1.75 billion, less the $1 billion from Fisher and his family, less the $380 million of public funding… checks math… still leaves $370 million of this cost unaccounted for.

Yes, the article says the A’s are still looking for “outside investors” to make up that shortfall, but… are you hearing anything but crickets? Me, neither.

Plus, you know that in situations like this there are always cost overruns and this stadium is likely to cost more than $2 billion by the time it’s all done, if it ever gets done.

I find it interesting that the Sacramento Bee is covering this story in detail with one of its senior reporters. It’s no secret that Vivek Ranadivé, who owns the Sacramento Kings, would love to buy the A’s and build a stadium for them in Sacramento.

One thing that has changed — the original renderings of the Las Vegas stadium failed to include bullpens. As you can see from the rendering at the top of this post, they’ve at least corrected that.

I’m still going to say that the A’s are never going to move to Las Vegas. What say you?

Poll
Will the Athletics complete their proposed move to Las Vegas?