The A's clear the last major hurdle for a $1.75 billion Las Vegas stadium

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved lease, non-relocation and development documents Thursday to clear the last major hurdles for the Athletics to construct a $1.75 billion stadium on the Strip and bring Major League Baseball to the expanding sports market.

The lease and non-relocation agreements each cover 30 years.

“It’s a really significant day in Las Vegas," Steve Hill, CEO and president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said in his closing remarks. "Today’s a real milestone. I think we should recognize that and celebrate that.”

That drew applause from most of those attendance.

“It's really an exciting day for the A's,” team board member Sandy Dean said. “We're grateful to everybody that helped us be here today.”

Other details remain to be worked out, such as a development agreement with Clark County, but groundbreaking likely will take place in the spring to allow a scheduled opening for the 2028 season.

Dean said talks with the county were in the early stages.

“Clark County has been very receptive to our timeline,” Dean said.

The cost for the A's stadium has risen by $250 million because of inflation and added fan and player amenities, Dean said. They includes an under-seat cooling system and a split lower bowl to bring the crowd closer to action.

He said it was possible costs would rise more based on factors such as interest rates.

“But we're also going to do our best to create a great ballpark and manage the costs the best we can,” Dean said.

Hill said the A's are “committed to the premier world-class stadium that is outlined in the law. They know that is what Las Vegas needs.”

Nevada and Clark County are providing $380 million in public funds for a 30,000-seat domed stadium estimated to have a 33,000 capacity. Public financing doesn’t begin until the A’s have spent at least $100 million, and Dean said the organization already has invested $40 million.

Dean also said club owner John Fisher increased the previous pledge of his family’s money to $1.1 billion. Dean said U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs will offer a $300 million loan. Fisher still hopes to attract investors in Las Vegas and elsewhere who would purchase equity in the team, according to Dean.

“Any overages are the responsibility of the A's,” Hill said during the board meeting. “This may not be the last time the costs rise.”

Hill also said he had full confidence the Fisher had finances to meet obligations. The board also approved that the A's have the ability to pay for their share of the ballpark's construction.

Four letters were included in documents to the Stadium Authority board meeting to show that the financing is in place even if Fisher doesn’t attract investors. They include:

— A loan commitment from both banks.

— Statements Fisher and his family have the ability to meet their financial pledge.

— A U.S. Bank review of the owner’s finances that backs up Fisher assertion he has money in place. Steve Vogel, who oversees the bank's sports investments, told the board based an analysis of Fisher's brokerage statements, filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and other documents that Fisher has “assets more than sufficient to fund the equity portion” of the stadium's construction.

— Commitments to Athletics StadCo LLC, an entity created to handle the private capital investment.

The A’s will play at least the next three seasons at a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento, California. They recently played their last of 57 seasons in Oakland, California.

The LVSA decision came hours after news broke that the A's had reached an agreement to sign free-agent pitcher Luis Severino to a $67 million, three-year contract, the richest deal in club history.

The A's would add another professional team to a Las Vegas market that also includes the NFL's Raiders, NHL's Golden Knights and WNBA's Aces. The Golden Knights and Aces have combined to win three championships in recent seasons.

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FILE - John Fisher, owner of the Oakland Athletics baseball team, announces that his team will leave Oakland after this season and play temporarily at a minor league park, during a news conference in West Sacramento, Calif., Thursday, April 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

FILE - The Oakland Athletics and their design teams released renderings Tuesday, March 5, 2024 of the club's planned $1.5 billion stadium in Las Vegas that show five overlapping layers with a similar look to the famous Sydney Opera House. (Negativ via AP, File)

FILE - The Oakland Athletics and their design teams released renderings Tuesday, March 5, 2024 of the club's planned $1.5 billion stadium in Las Vegas that show five overlapping layers with a similar look to the famous Sydney Opera House. (Negativ via AP, File)

FAIRFAX, Va. (AP) — A Virginia man who had a relationship with a Brazilian au pair is going to trial Monday in what prosecutors say was an elaborate double-murder scheme to frame another man in the stabbing of his wife.

Brendan Banfield is charged with aggravated murder in the February 2023 killings of Christine Banfield and Joseph Ryan at the Banfields' home in northern Virginia. He has pleaded not guilty in the case.

Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães, the family’s au pair, were with the wife and Ryan on the morning the victims were killed in the primary bedroom of the Banfield home, court records say. Authorities have said on that day, Banfield and Magalhães told officials they saw Ryan, a stranger, stabbing the wife after he entered the house. Then they each shot the intruder, Banfield and Magalhães said at the time.

Prosecutors have painted a different picture, arguing that Brendan Banfield and Magalhães lured Ryan to the house and staged it to look like he and the au pair shot a predator in defense. Officials have said Banfield and Magalhães had a romantic affair beginning the year before the killings.

Both the au pair and husband were arrested between 2023 and 2024 and initially handed murder charges in the case. In 2024, Magalhães pleaded guilty to a downgraded manslaughter charge after giving a statement to officials confirming parts of their theory.

In that statement, Magalhães said she and Brendan Banfield created an account in his wife’s name on a social media platform for people interested in sexual fetishes. There, Ryan connected with the account in Christine Banfield’s name, and the users made plans to meet on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023, for a sexual encounter that would involve a knife, authorities said based on the statement from Magalhães.

Prosecutor Eric Clingan said last year that the au pair's statement helped the state solidify its theory ahead of trial.

“With 12 different homicide detectives, there were 24 different theories,” Clingan said. “Now, one theory.”

Not all officials investigating the case have believed Banfield and Magalhães catfished Ryan.

Brendan Miller, a former digital forensic examiner with the Fairfax County Police Department, testified last year that he analyzed dozens of devices and concluded Christine Banfield had connected with Ryan herself through the social networking platform.

An evidence analysis team at the University of Alabama peer-reviewed and affirmed Miller’s digital forensic findings, according to evidence submitted to the court.

Miller was transferred out of the department’s digital forensics unit in late 2024, though a former Fairfax County commander testified the reassignment was not punitive or disciplinary.

John Carroll, Banfield's attorney, argued that Millers' transfer was directly tethered to the case. He also said in court that Fairfax County police reassigned the case’s lead detective after that man had pushed back on the top brass’ catfishing theory.

“It is a theory in search of facts rather than a series of facts supporting a theory,” Carroll said.

Banfield, whose daughter was at the house on the morning of the killings, is also charged with child abuse and felony child cruelty in connection with the case. He will also face those charges during the aggravated murder trial.

FILE - This image provided by the Fairfax County Police Department and taken on Oct. 13, 2023, was submitted as evidence in the murder case against Brendan Banfield shows a framed photo of Banfield and Juliana Peres Magalhães on his bedside table in Herndon, Va. (Fairfax County Police Department via AP, File)