Jair Sanchez sat in the first row above left field at the Triple-A Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin with his 12-year-old son, Evan. Below them, players from the Athletics and Milwaukee Brewers were warming up ahead of the June 10 final game of the teams' three-game series in the A's future hometown.

Evan had his baseball glove ready. Maybe he would get lucky and catch a home run ball during the game.

His father, however, was imagining what this scene will look like in two years when the A's play inside a $2 billion, 33,000-fan capacity stadium, which is under construction on the Strip.

"I've been an A's fan for a long time," said Sanchez, who grew up in the Bay Area but now lives in the Southern California city of Cypress. He already comes to Las Vegas a few times a year to watch the Las Vegas Raiders. "Adding trips for the A's is something I'm already thinking about."

Major League Baseball (MLB) last year allowed the A's to move six regular home games to Las Vegas. The games had been designated for Sacramento, the team's temporary home until the Las Vegas stadium opens for the 2028 season, but the visit allows the team to connect with the community — and drum up the enthusiasm to sell season tickets and clubhouse packages that are key to profitability.

"These are really important games for our team. We want to show the community what A's baseball is all about and show off the quality of our young, talented ballplayers," A's owner John Fisher told The Nevada Independent.

Many of the players, including starters such as catcher Shea Langeliers and outfielders Tyler Soderstrom and Lawrence Butler, capped their minor league careers in Las Vegas.

"A lot of our players know what this community is about," Fisher said.

The A's have been in contention for the American League West lead this season, having sat in first place for 45 days.

While the games were an opportunity to drive season ticket sales ahead of 2028, Fisher said he also wanted to show Las Vegas the team is committed to becoming part of the city's landscape and Southern Nevada's expanding sports market, which helps attract some of the 40 million people who visit the city each year, and makes the community proud by winning games.

"From the very beginning it was important to us that we sort of follow the example of the [NHL's Vegas] Golden Knights," he said.

The Golden Knights have reached the Stanley Cup Final three times in nine years, hoisting the trophy in 2023. The WNBA's Las Vegas Aces have won the league championship three times in the last four years. 

The NFL's Las Vegas Raiders haven't been successful on the field, but have filled hotel rooms along the Strip with fans from visiting teams and helped land the 2024 Super Bowl at Allegiant Stadium. The NFL announced in March the Super Bowl will return to Las Vegas in 2029. 

Meanwhile, the NBA is considering an expansion franchise in Las Vegas and reports surfaced that Major League Soccer wants to move the Vancouver Whitecaps to Las Vegas.

"Las Vegas appreciates when people come in and take risks," said Fisher, who moved to Summerlin last year. "I'm the leader of the organization. I need to lead by example. For me it was also kind of an adventure. After 64 years in California, to move to this community and to get to know a whole new group of people, has been an incredible experience."

High-end clubs the focus of sales 

Season tickets and individual game tickets won't hit the market until 2027. A's President Marc Badain, who is overseeing construction of the ballpark, said the team is currently offering seats associated with the ballpark's high-end clubs that offer unique food and beverage options. 

The clubs include personal seat licenses (PSL) for each ticket, which gives the seat holders the initial opportunity to purchase tickets to events at the stadium, such as concerts and other sporting events. 

"What's being done at this stadium is similar to what we did at Allegiant Stadium," said Badain, who added that the PSLs will not go beyond the clubs. He said in February that less than 20 percent of the planned 30,000 seats would require a PSL. 

Badain was president of the Raiders during the construction and oversaw the team's PSL efforts. Like the Raiders, season tickets tied to the PSLs are billed annually. The PSL, which is paid up front, lives with the seat. 

Sales of tickets and suites contribute to profits and aren't as essential to paying off the costs of building the stadium.

"The financial performance on the ballpark will drive returns on the investment, unlike the Raiders deal, which was a lot more debt and a lot less equity," Badain said. "Contractually obligated income (suite and ticket sales) are not necessarily tied to the A's stadium financing." 

The A's stadium offered a dozen what Badain termed as "owner suites." Four were put on the market and two were sold in one week. He did not provide a cost. One suite is being held back and will go to a naming rights partner for the stadium once that's decided. One suite is being held for Bally's Corp., which is expected to build a $1.2 billion gaming, retail, dining and entertainment district surrounding the stadium. Founding partners, primarily from the resort corridor, will have four suites. 

Badain said of the ballpark's 30 executive suites, 10 have been sold but another dozen are being held back for different partners and for the use by Major League Baseball. He termed the sales prices as "very aggressive." 

The team's Ballpark Experience Center in the UnCommons is where the sales for the suites are taking place.

Seats for the Athletic Club behind home plate were "90 percent sold" and Badain expected the sales to reach 100 percent by the end of the summer. Badain said Diamond Club seats "are pacing where we expected them to be." 

Meanwhile, dugout club seats, which have spaces next to the A's and visiting team's dugouts, went on sale a few weeks ago and are 20 percent sold. Badain said the upper level Mezzanine Club, which is behind home plate, should go on sale later this year.

Ticket buyers are required to purchase all 81 home games.  

"A lot of people want to lock in these seats and locations," Badain said. "A lot of folks are buying and then they will talk to friends, family, co-workers and others about buying in some of the games. It's similar to what people did with the Knights games."

The Fisher family is funding the bulk of the stadium's overall cost. U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs are loaning the team $300 million for the stadium's construction. 

Another $350 million comes from public financing provided through the passage of SB1 by the Legislature in 2023. 

Fisher said the team has brought in new investment partners, including partners from Asia that would expand the A's global reach. He said the naming rights for the stadium are still under consideration.

"I'm excited about the opportunity we have with different sponsors and with naming rights partners," Fisher said. "Companies all want to be in Vegas."

Attention focused on the A's

Based on attendance and attention given the game by national sports media outlets, including The Associated Press, ESPN and The Athletic, the A's six games with the Brewers and Rockies were viewed positively. 

The A's won two of three games in each series while averaging 8,450 fans per night at the ballpark, which has an attendance capacity of 10,000. However, according to The AP, MLB officials took away some of the seating so the games met big league standards. Also, each team was allotted tickets to distribute that don't count in the announced attendance. 

During a media briefing before the first of the six games, A's manager Marc Kotsay said fans would see a much different attitude by the players given the games count in the standings, rather than the casualness that surrounds spring training games, which the A's have played in Las Vegas since 2020. 

"Obviously, there's a different mindset, a different attitude and a different approach to our days than there would be for spring training," Kotsay said. 

Playing in Southern Nevada's 100-degree-plus dry outdoor heat, A's players — several of whom spent time with the ballpark's regular tenant, the Las Vegas Aviators — slugged 20 home runs, the most in team history for a home stand of less than nine games.

Hundreds of fans wearing Brewers gear enjoyed the 4-hour, 30-minute series opener, which was won 15-14 in extra innings by the Brewers.

Four lifelong Brewers fans bought tickets behind their team's dugout along the third base line. Three members of the group flew to Las Vegas from Milwaukee. Chris Andrew, who lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, drove to Las Vegas.

"There's a lot of Wisconsin people that live in Vegas," Andrew said, explaining his thoughts on why many fans were wearing Brewers jerseys, T-shirts and caps.

Las Vegas resident Marty Ball, a Milwaukee transplant, said he was happy to visit Las Vegas Ballpark for the first time and said he'll return to see the Aviators. But he will keep his major league allegiance to the Brewers.

Alex Gurnick of Henderson, an Air Force veteran and retired mailman, laid out blankets for four spots on the grass berm beyond right field and behind the A's bullpen. It was his first time at Las Vegas Ballpark and Gurnick, who didn't say who his favorite baseball team had been, said the experience turned him into an A's fan. 

Dave Hon, a longtime Aviators season ticket holder going back to when the team played at Cashman Field in downtown Las Vegas and was known as the 51s, was dressed in A's gear for the six games. He said tickets were reasonably priced because he bought them as a package deal.

Stadium beer vendor Bruce Reiner, a familiar voice to Southern Nevada sports fans with his loud "Beer Here" baritone, said believes Major League Baseball will be successful in Las Vegas as much as any sport. 

"I think more locals will jump on baseball than anything else," said Reiner, who worked for years at Cashman Field.

The games provided the A's with marketing and branding opportunities for Southern Nevada fans through giveaways to ticketholders each night, including caps, replica jerseys, sun hats and team flags. On the final game of the home stand, fans received a coveted bobblehead of A's first baseman Nick Kurtz, the 2026 American League Rookie of the Year, who played 20 games with the Aviators last season before being promoted.

"A lot of our players know what this community is about," Fisher said.

The A's strengthened their ties with the community throughout the week, with players and team alumni — along with elephant mascot Stomper — holding events at local libraries, Sunrise Children's Hospital, the Boys and Girls Club of Southern Nevada and GiGi's Playhouse.

The team store at Las Vegas Ballpark, which is normally stocked with T-shirts and clothing for the Aviators, was turned into an A's team store, with some Aviators gear available. 

During the last two years in Oakland, Fisher avoided the Oakland Coliseum and the often profane outbursts by A's fans who were upset the team was headed to Las Vegas.

During Wednesday's game with Milwaukee, Fisher was the center of attention inside Aviators President Don Logan's packed suite at Las Vegas Ballpark. It was packed with guests that included UNLV Football Coach Dan Mullen, who threw out the ceremonial first pitch, and Nevada Secretary of State Cisco Aguilar.

"We wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Don Logan," Fisher said. "After the commissioner gave us permission to look at Las Vegas, Don was the first call we made. He helped open doors in the market."