Another funding component for a new Las Vegas MLB ballpark is close to being finalized, as concessionaire Aramark will reportedly invest in the Athletics as well as control food and beverage sales at the facility.
The terms of the deal, according to Sports Business Daily, calls for Aramark to invest at least $100 million in the team while also spending $75 million on new concessions equipment for the new Las Vegas MLB ballpark. That investment in the team—estimated at between 5.5 percent and 6 percent of the total franchise value—will likely require MLB approval.
The impending transaction, if indeed consummated, is another sign that the new Las Vegas MLB ballpark construction is indeed happening. Last week we reported that actual site construction was beginning at the former Tropicana Resort site on the Strip, which prompted many incredulous responses. If you lived an online life and consumed all your news via Baseball Twitter, you’d conclude that the new Vegas ballpark was inexorably doomed, that John Fisher would just hand the franchise to MLB in the wake of certain defeat, and that MLB would move the team back to Oakland. Yet here we are with another sign that financing and construction are proceeding apace.
A concessionaire investing so heavily in a facility is rare, though we did manage to track down a precedent of sorts: Boston Garden owner Delaware North financed the construction of $160-million TD Garden, which opened in 1995, and as owner of TD Garden, Delaware North has funded all repairs and renovations to the arena over the years. And all the major concessionaires—Aramark, Delaware North, Levy/PSC, Oak View Group (which has become a major player in baseball concessions via its MiLB deals), Sodexo Live, Legends—are known to finance new construction and expansions for teams and venue operators when it comes to concessions and F&B. Still, a direct ownership stake in a sports team is a first in the sports world, but with small stakes of teams always available to lesser investors and private equity, we suspect this won’t be the last time we see such an investment.
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