The Oakland A's have hired Galatioto Sports Partners, an investment firm that specializes in sports financing, to secure an additional $500 million in funding toward the team's new home ballpark in Las Vegas.
According to CBS Sports, citing a report by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times, investors identified by Galatioto would then be rewarded with a minority share in the MLB franchise.
Galatioto's website proclaims that the firm has "executed assignments" for the following franchises over the past two decades: the Chicago Cubs, Detroit Pistons, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Angels, New York Giants, New York Jets, New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia 76ers, San Francisco Giants, and Washington Commanders, R.J. Anderson of CBS Sports reported.
Russ Granik, a former deputy commissioner of the NBA, serves as a vice chairman at the firm.
Galatioto's hiring is the latest step in the A's effort to relocate from Oakland to Las Vegas," Anderson wrote. "Last summer, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo signed a bill that granted the Athletics $380 million in public financing to put toward their ballpark, which is expected to be located at the Tropicana site on the Las Vegas Strip. (Major League Baseball's owners subsequently approved the A's relocation bid.) The total cost is expected to run about $1.5 billion."
Following the conclusion of the 2024 MLB season, the A's intend to play the next three seasons at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, Calif., with an option to play a fourth season there if construction on the Las Vegas ballpark, set to begin sometime later this year, is not ready for Opening Day 2028.
