The Athletics plan to launch a personal seat license program to help fund a portion of the team’s costs for their future $2 billion Las Vegas stadium, which is nearly a year into construction on the Strip.

The concept, commonly referred to as a PSL, has season ticket holders pay an extra cost for the right to use their seats and purchase tickets for other events at the ballpark, such as concerts, entertainment and other sports events. It’s uncommon in baseball — only five Major League teams use them — but more common for football.

A’s President Marc Badain told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board Thursday that less than 20 percent of the planned 30,000 seats would require a PSL. He said the designated locations will be premium seating, such as behind home plate.

The team is expected to announce the prices for the licenses and the locations ahead of the A’s spring training games at Las Vegas Ballpark on March 7-8.

“We have a [season ticket] deposit list of over 20,000 people,” Badain said. “We researched the market and the demand was there.” 

The potential use of the licenses is allowed under SB1, the 2023 legislation approved in a special session that set aside up to $380 million in public financing for stadium construction.

Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst at economic advisory firm Applied Analysis who represented the A’s on behalf of the stadium project during public hearings, said Friday that having seat licensing was always a possibility as it was included in the bill, but definitive plans about actually implementing it was never discussed in the special session. 

The stadium authority — a 13-member public-private body charged with overseeing publicly-funded sports facilities in Southern Nevada — previously expressed confidence in the ballpark’s funding structure, which included $1.1 billion from the family of team owner John Fisher and a loan of $300 million from U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs. 

Last May, the A’s struck an agreement with Aramark Sports + Entertainment to provide food and beverage options at the stadium that include a $175 million equity investment into the team.

In July, Fisher told The Nevada Independent the stadium’s cost had risen above $2 billion. 

A’s Vice Chairman Sandy Dean told the authority the team has spent $300 million on ballpark construction in the past year, with the funds coming from Fisher. The team is still developing plans to use its loans and the public financing contribution.

PSLs used in baseball 

Five Major League Baseball teams — Arizona Diamondbacks, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals — offer limited personal seat licenses at their home stadiums with various perks and benefits.  

The Las Vegas Raiders sold personal seat licenses for the vast majority of the 60,000-seat Allegiant Stadium as a way to fund the team’s share of the $1.9 billion venue, which was also publicly subsidized. The costs ranged from $3,900 to $15,000 per seat.

Neil deMause, the author of Field of Schemes, a book about public subsidies for stadiums and the name of a companion website for sports stadium news and analysis, said in a 2023 interview that PSLs are more common in football than in baseball because of the sport’s popularity. NFL teams have up to nine regular-season home games, as opposed to 82 regular-season baseball home games.

Badain said general seating areas within the ballpark will not have PSLs. The facility is expected to have standing room areas for up to 3,000 fans.

Badain said the A’s are “in discussions with hundreds of companies” on naming rights for the stadium. He said there are ongoing talks concerning sponsorships inside the ballpark various areas.

“When we have some deals prepared, we’ll announce them,” Badain said.