‘They are in the ground’: Drilling begins for A’s $1.75B ballpark on Strip

Work on the Athletics ballpark site is starting to show progress a month after initial grading began on the site of the future $1.75 billion Strip ballpark.

Crews are drilling holes that will be filled with reinforcing steel and concrete and serve as the foundation for the 33,000-fan capacity ballpark, according to Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

“As you can see, they are in the ground,” Hill said, displaying a photo of large caisson drills on the ballpark site. “We have said for over a year, maybe two, that construction would start in April of 2025 — and thanks to the county’s work and all of your (LVCVA) staff, that construction started in April of ’25.”

Crews also are installing turnstiles along the property’s perimeter to allow workers to access the construction site. Some temporary office buildings also are on site. The Mortenson-McCarthy joint venture leading the ballpark’s construction and other contractors will operate out of those buildings.

Groundbreaking ceremony coming soon

The A’s are still planning to host a groundbreaking ceremony, even though stadium work is underway. A date is being worked out, but it’s on target for sometime in June, Hill said.

The ceremony will celebrate the years of work that it took to get to construction and the start of the project. Scheduling the event around all of those expected to attend — including A’s leadership, county, city and state officials, and business leaders — takes a lot of planning, especially when the Legislature is still in session.

“The groundbreaking happens when it’s ready to happen,” said Hill, who also serves as chairman of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority. “There are several handfuls of people who should be there, need to be. That was the case for Allegiant Stadium and it’s the case for the ballpark. So, it’s just finding the right date, right weather conditions and time of day and making sure those are there.”

‘It’s obviously moving along’

The ballpark construction is scheduled to last between 31 and 33 months, with completion set for 2028 to allow the A’s to kick off that year’s MLB season as the Las Vegas Athletics.

“This project is on schedule; it’s obviously moving along,” Hill said. “We want to thank the Fishers (A’s owner John Fisher and his family) and the A’s for making this happen and making this happen in a way we said it would happen all along.”

Partnership talks underway

The team is also actively working to secure stadium partnership deals, including the largest ballpark-related partnership, the naming rights deal, A’s Vice Chairman Sandy Dean told the Review-Journal last month.

“That’s a process that can take a little while. It usually starts with the naming rights conversation and that can take a little while,” Dean said. “I think we’re early in that process.”

The Raiders inked over a dozen stadium founding partnership deals with Allegiant Stadium with likes of gaming entities MGM Resorts, Wynn, Caesars Entertainment, financial institutions Credit One Bank and America First Credit Union, Ford and beverage brands Coca-Cola, Modelo and Coors Light.

Stadium partnerships are lucrative, multiyear deals. The Raiders’ stadium naming rights deal with Las Vegas-based airline Allegiant Air, for example, is believed to be worth between $20 million and $25 million annually for 30 years.

Interim years

In the meantime, the A’s are playing at Triple-A ballpark Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California. Hill attended a game in Sacramento last week and said he was impressed with what he saw.

Hill said he also was excited to see the Las Vegas signage on the outfield wall at Sutter Health Park. The advertising is part of LVCVA’s jersey patch agreement with the A’s, which also features the tourism agency’s Las Vegas logo on players’ jersey sleeves.

“That purple kind of stands out against the green and the gold,” Hill said. “It’s a great spotlight for us and is televised often.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.