A’s, Bally’s Corporation reach ‘binding agreement’ for new ballpark site in Las Vegas

Stop me if you have heard this one before, but the Oakland Athletics have entered into another “binding agreement” for a Las Vegas ballpark. The latest is with Bally’s Corporation and Gaming & Leisure Properties for the team to build a 30,000-seat stadium as part of the current Tropicana Las Vegas site.

The deal is of course pending the project receiving a reported $395 million in public funding for the site per the San Francisco Chronicle. The report also states that the A’s have not submitted a funding proposal for lawmakers. Nevada’s legislative session ends on June 5, but the project could be considered in a special session.

This is the second “binding agreement” that the A’s have entered into in the last month. The previous one was to buy a 49-acre site near the Vegas strip. The team was reportedly seeking around $500 million in public money for that project.

The A’s had been negotiating a potential ballpark at the Howard Terminal location until last month when the team announced its first land deal with Vegas. It is unclear if the City of Oakland would be willing to restart negotiations with the A’s at this time.

This deal, like the last one hinges on receiving substantial public money from Nevada. John Fisher and company can strike all of the land deals they want, but until they actually put forth a proposal for lawmakers, it just seems like more noise.