Oakland Athletics release updated Las Vegas stadium renderings
Mar 5, 2024, 1:33 PM
(Photo by Greg Doherty/Getty Images for The Athletics )
At long last, the Oakland Athletics have released new renderings of their planned Las Vegas, Nevada ballpark.
The A’s made the reveal on Tuesday afternoon, sharing four images of a stadium the organization plans to open in 2028. According to The Las Vegas Journal‘s Mick Akers, the park will be built on the site of the Tropicana Hotel, which will close on April 2nd of this year.
Construction is slated to begin in 2025.
Together with @BIG_Architects and @HNTBCorp, we have unveiled the design for our new ballpark project in Las Vegas on the Tropicana site. BIG will serve as the design lead and HNTB as the sports/hospitality designer and architect of record.
Images by Negativ pic.twitter.com/mvpiCBXD54
— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) March 5, 2024
“Our design for the new Vegas home for the A’s is conceived in response to the unique culture and climate of the city,'” Bjarke Ingels, who is the founder of the Bjarke Ingels Group that is leading the design, said through Akers’ report.
“Five pennant arches enclose the ballpark—shading from the Nevada sun while opening to the soft daylight from the north. A giant window frames a majestic view of the life of the Strip and the iconic New York New York hotel skyline. All direct sunlight is blocked, while all the soft daylight is allowed to wash the field in natural light.”
The proposed ballpark would feature 33,000 seats in a “tiered-seating system to improve sight lines,” a fixed roof with overlapping layers, the world’s largest cable-net glass window behind the outfield, and an 18,000-square-foot jumbotron, which would be the largest in Major League Baseball.
While the long-awaited renderings have finally been released, much skepticism remains regarding Oakland’s planned move to Las Vegas.
As the Athletics navigate pending suits and other forms of red tape, they are still in the process of finding a temporary home to field a team during the 2025-27 seasons.
If the team is unable to come to an agreement with the city of Oakland and county officials about extending its lease at the Coliseum (which expires at the end of the 2024 season), then Triple-A ballparks in Sacramento (Sutter Health Park) and Salt Lake City (Smith’s Ballpark) could serve as the team’s temporary home.
At the start of spring training, Manfred said he expects the 2025 schedule to be finalized by mid-summer, so the league needs to determine where the Athletics will play next year sooner rather than later.
How did the Oakland Athletics get here?
Last November, Major League Baseball unanimously approved the Athletics relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. The team plans to build a $1.5 billion, nine-acre stadium where the Tropicana Hotel currently stands.
The ballpark, which was granted $380 in public funding for construction in the summer of 2023, could open as early as 2028, if everything goes according to plan.
Thank you for reading SactownSports.com. Follow us on Twitter and Google News, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.