Athletics announce Groundbreaking Date for Las Vegas stadium

The Athletics have announced the groundbreaking ceremony for their new stadium in Las Vegas. The event will take place June 23 at 8 a.m. with stakeholders and politicians alike anticipated to be in attendance, despite the stadium’s funding still not fully being in place.  

Let the dog and pony show begin.

This should be ????.

Don’t forget to rsvp, we’re sure it’s gonna be a spectacle for all to see. #FJF pic.twitter.com/IkCpjYihvO

— Last Dive Bar ???? (@LastDiveBar) June 10, 2025

This move comes in the promise of permanent Major League Baseball in Las Vegas from A’s owner John Fisher since he announced his intentions to move the team out of Oakland in April 2023. In June of that same year, the bill to move the A’s to Las Vegas was signed by Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and the A’s moving process officially started. In November 2023, Major League Baseball owners voted to approve the move. 

The A’s move out of Oakland has generated public backlash from the fanbase in Oakland as well as several national media outlets, with some critics describing Fischer as greedy or accusing him of doing a disservice to fans. A fan group called “The Last Dive Bar” has gained traction in terms of support for the team staying in Oakland. Multiple A’s players even wore a bracelet advocating for the Oakland fans in the team’s last season in the East Bay area.  

The A’s currently play in Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, California, after their lease of the Oakland Coliseum expired in 2024. They have a contract to play there until the end of the 2027 MLB season. The stadium is traditionally home to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats of the Pacific Coast League and has a capacity of 14,014.  

The new stadium in Las Vegas, scheduled to open in 2028, will seat 33,000 people. It will be a fixed-roof ballpark and will cost around $1.75 billion to build. However, the stadium has not yet reached its funding goal, as ownership is still looking for $550 million for construction. This brings a touch of uncertainty for the move, even with the announcement of this groundbreaking ceremony. And although this is the ceremony, physical work began on the site about a month ago.  

The A’s move to Las Vegas follows that of a sports explosion in Sin City. The Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL, once co-tenants of the Oakland Coliseum with the A’s, have played in Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas since 2020. Las Vegas welcomed the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces in 2018 and the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, and the city has continued to become a hub for other sports such as the UFC and F1.  

This year, the Athletics are currently fifth place in the American League West with a record of 26-43 as of June 11, 2025. Last year, they finished 69-93 at fourth place in the AL West. They have not been incredibly competitive as of late, but with the new move and All-Star caliber players like Brent Rooker and Mason Miller paired with young talent like Shea Langliers, Jacob Wilson and Tyler Soderstrom, perhaps this stadium will serve as a coronation for a new era of competitive A’s baseball starting with this groundbreaking.  

Photo: A person, reflected in glass, walks near the Tropicana Las Vegas, Tuesday, May 16, 2023, in Las Vegas. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo announced Wednesday, May 24, 2023, a tentative agreement between his office, legislative leaders in the state and the Oakland Athletics for a baseball stadium funding plan after weeks of negotiations over how much public assistance the state will contribute to a $1.5 billion ballpark in Las Vegas, according to a joint statement. The bill comes on the heels of the Athletics’ purchase of land on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip where the Tropicana Las Vegas casino resort sits. (AP Photo/John Locher)