Photo credit: Eric Nguyen, Vegas Sports Today
LAS VEGAS — The Athletics’ new Las Vegas ballpark is still under construction, but demand for some of its premium seating is already reaching major milestones.
Kelsey Bannister, the Athletics’ vice president of sales and service, said this week that the ballpark’s Athletic Club has sold out as the organization continues developing a variety of premium hospitality options for its future home on the Las Vegas Strip.
“What we were standing in was our Athletic Club, which we actually sold out this week,” Bannister said. “Really exciting space.”
Bannister said the Athletic Club will offer a different hospitality experience from other club spaces throughout the ballpark, with each area designed around a specific experience for fans and clients.
“We have tons of different offerings, especially in the Athletic Club,” Bannister said. “We have a different hospitality plan than we have throughout the other clubs. So each space is very unique, depending on what we’re offering for our clients.”
The premium spaces are just one part of a larger project that is rapidly changing the Las Vegas skyline.
The ballpark’s design incorporates a roof system intended to provide fans with a climate-controlled environment while maintaining an indoor-outdoor feel. Overlapping roof panels will allow indirect natural light into the building, while a large cable-net window in the outfield is expected to provide views toward the Las Vegas Strip.
Construction crews are continuing to work through a detailed schedule involving multiple contractors and subcontractors, with each phase dependent on the completion of previous work.
The project team said the main and upper bowl precast work is nearing 90% completion, with lower-bowl precast work expected to begin later this year.
The construction effort is also drawing heavily on Las Vegas’ existing workforce. Many workers involved in the project previously worked on major developments including Allegiant Stadium and T-Mobile Arena.
“They’re some of the best in the world at it,” the project team said of Las Vegas’ construction workforce. “We’re very fortunate to have such a great workforce here that has worked on these projects.”
The team said the experience of local workers has been an important resource as construction moves forward.
The roof has emerged as one of the most visible elements of the project, with the structure increasingly becoming part of the Las Vegas skyline.
For the Athletics, that visibility is important beyond the construction process itself.
The organization is hoping the developing ballpark will help build excitement and strengthen its connection with the Las Vegas community ahead of the team’s arrival.
“I think it’s really becoming part of the skyline,” the project team said. “We’re trying to build a fan base here, and we’re trying to rile up that local support and be in the community.”
The ballpark is also being designed with technology in mind. General concessions are expected to feature what the team describes as “frictionless” technology, designed to improve the speed of service.
The facility will also have a distributed antenna system supporting Wi-Fi and cellular connectivity, with additional technology still being evaluated.
The Athletics also plan to incorporate elements of the franchise’s history into the new facility. The project team said areas of the ballpark will recognize significant moments, retired numbers, championships and other pieces of the organization’s history.
And the venue is being designed to operate well beyond baseball.
The Athletics envision the ballpark as a year-round entertainment facility capable of hosting concerts, equestrian events and other large-scale gatherings.
Design work has included considerations for staging, loading and unloading equipment and accommodating large event productions. The facility will have the ability to bring a semi truck through the right-field tunnel and out through the left-field tunnel, according to the project team.
The playing surface will also be designed to accommodate non-baseball events, with the turf capable of being covered when necessary.
The goal is to make the ballpark a destination throughout the year, rather than a facility used exclusively for baseball.
For now, however, construction remains the main attraction.
As steel, roofing and other major components continue to come together, the project is becoming increasingly visible from throughout the Las Vegas area — offering an early look at what the Athletics hope will become a new landmark on the Strip.
