John Fisher pledges $1 billion to construction of A's stadium in Las Vegas

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John Fisher pledges $1 billion to construction of A's stadium in Las Vegas

2024-11-01 06:04 Last Updated At：06:10

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Athletics owner John Fisher and his family will invest $1 billion into the construction of a stadium in Las Vegas and U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs will offer a $300 million loan, club executive Sandy Dean said Thursday.

Dean made his remarks to a special meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority board.

Dean said four letters will be presented at the Dec. 5 authority meeting asserting construction details and financing will be in place. Final approvals are expected to be made at that meeting to allow construction of the $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat domed ballpark with a capacity for up to 33,000 fans.

“We feel like we're on the right path and it will become clearer in the months ahead,” Dean told the board.

Construction is expected to begin in the spring with a targeted opening before the 2028 season. As much as $380 million in public funding will go into building the stadium, which will be on the Las Vegas Strip on the site of where the recently demolished Tropicana stood.

Dean said Fisher is still pursuing partners in the Las Vegas area who can purchase stakes in the franchise, which in turn goes toward paying for the stadium.

“We've been consistent in saying it would be good coming to Las Vegas to have outside partners from Las Vegas,” Dean said after the meeting. “That process has just begun. The ability to finance the stadium is independent of that.”

As for the financing, the four letters that will be presented at the December meeting will better address that.

The first is the loan commitment from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs. Dean said it probably would be a five-year term “that would be replaced by a permanent loan once construction is done.”

Another letter, Dean said, asserts the Fisher and his family have the ability to meet their financial commitment. Dean said the third letter from U.S. Bank will show that through a review of the owner's finances that it “concludes the Fisher family has more than sufficient resources to fund the equity investment that's required to build the stadium.”

The fourth laid out the commitments to Athletics StadCo LLC, an entity created to handle the private capital investment.

Also, the draft lease agreement and deed were presented to the board.

“We feel like these documents are on track for the schedule that we have been talking about for a number of months,” said Steve Hill, president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. “We feel like there's a real possibility we'll be able to reach a conclusion on all of them on Dec. 5.”

Dean said an updated construction budget will be presented at that day's meeting, and he acknowledged the final cost likely will rise “by something.”

Hill said documents would be made public several days before the December meeting and he didn't anticipate any issues regarding approval.

“There are a couple of places where we need to get the language right, but we've had enough of a conversation to understand that everybody understands what the outcome is intended to be," Hill said.

He cited ensuring details regarding parking as an example of getting all the proper wording in place.

The A's will play at least the next three seasons in West Sacramento, California. The club announced it will play 60 of its 81 home games next season at night, tying the 1968 A's for the most in their history. That includes 25 of 28 games at night in June and July when temperatures are often 100 degrees (37.8 Celsius) or hotter.

Their first game in Sacramento is March 31 against the Chicago Cubs.

The A's played their last of 57 seasons in Oakland, California.

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Stocks of credit-card companies slump as Wall Street overall drifts in mixed trading

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks of credit-card companies are tumbling on Monday after President Donald Trump threatened moves that could eat into their profits. The rest of Wall Street, meanwhile, was showing only modest signals of concern after tensions ramped to a much higher degree between the White House and the Federal Reserve.

The S&P 500 edged down by 0.1% from its all-time high as U.S. stocks drifted through mixed morning trading, while prices for gold and other investments that tend to do well when investors are nervous rose. The value of the U.S. dollar also dipped against the euro and other currencies amid concerns that the Fed may have less independence in setting interest rates to keep inflation under control.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 179 points, or 0.4%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was nearly unchanged.

Some of the market's sharpest drops came from credit-card companies, as Synchrony Financial, Capital One Financial and American Express all fell between 4% and 7%. They sank after Trump said he wanted to put a 10% cap on credit-card interest rates for a year. Such a move could eat into profits for credit card companies.

But it was a separate move by Trump that was grabbing more attention on Wall Street. Over the weekend, the Federal Reserve's chair, Jerome Powell, said the U.S. Department of Justice subpoenaed the Fed and threatened a criminal indictment over his testimony about renovations underway at its headquarters.

With an unusual video statement released on Sunday, Powell said his testimony and the renovations are “pretexts” for the threat of criminal charges, which is really “a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President.”

The Fed has been locked in a feud with the White House about interest rates. Trump has been loudly calling for lower interest rates, which would make borrowing cheaper for U.S. households and companies and could give the economy a kickstart.

The Fed did cut its main interest rate three times last year and has indicated more cuts may be arriving this year. But it’s been moving slowly enough that Trump has nicknamed Powell “Too Late.”

In a brief interview with NBC News Sunday, President Donald Trump insisted he didn’t know about the investigation into Powell. When asked if the investigation is intended to pressure Powell on rates, Trump said, “No. I wouldn’t even think of doing it that way.”

Powell’s term as chair ends in May, and Trump administration officials have signaled that he could name a potential replacement this month. Trump has also sought to fire Fed governor Lisa Cook.

The Fed has traditionally operated separately from the rest of Washington, making its decisions on interest rates without having to bend to political whims. Such independence, the thinking goes, gives it freedom to make unpopular moves that are necessary for the economy’s long-term health.

Keeping interest rates high, for example, could slow the economy and frustrate politicians looking to please voters. But it could also be the medicine needed to get high inflation under control.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury ticked up to 4.19% from 4.18% late Friday. A less independent Fed and higher inflation in the long term could also erode the value of the U.S. dollar, and it slipped 0.3% against the euro and 0.4% against the Swiss franc.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Stocks jumped 1.4% in Hong Kong and 1.1% in Shanghai for two of the world’s bigger gains following reports that Chinese leaders were preparing more help for the economy.

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.