Shaped by its location on the Las Vegas Strip, the new ballpark for the Athletics Major League Baseball team – designed by BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and HNTB – will echo the vibrancy of the ‘Entertainment Capital of the World,’ exuding an outdoor feel with panoramic views of the city’s skyline.
The 33,000-capacity covered ballpark will sit on nine acres on Las Vegas Boulevard between Tropicana Avenue and Reno Avenue. Designed by BIG in collaboration with HNTB, the new home for the Athletics has an expected opening date of spring 2028. The project builds on a longstanding collaboration between BIG and the Athletics, dating back to a different ballpark design presented in Oakland, California in 2018.
The new ballpark’s roof is accentuated by five overlapping shells resembling baseball pennants, paying homage to the sport. For players, these arched “pennants” will attenuate direct sunlight glare while welcoming indirect natural light through northern oriented clerestory windows. The domed ballpark is also designed to feature the world’s largest cable net glass wall. The structure’s exterior metal cladding shimmers in the natural daylight and reflects the surrounding Las Vegas lights at night.
“BIG’s revolutionary design, created in collaboration with HNTB, represents a captivating ballpark concept, seamlessly blending innovation and technology with an enhanced fan experience. We are very excited to share the work of our design team with the entire Southern Nevada community.” – John Fisher, Managing Partner & Owner, Athletics.
The resultant architecture is like a spherical armadillo – shaped by the local climate – while opening and inviting the life of The Strip to enter and explore. In the city of spectacle, the A’s ‘armadillo’ is designed for passive shading and natural light – the architectural response to the Nevada climate generating a new kind of vernacular icon in Vegas.” – Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG.
An elevated outdoor plaza connects to the bridges over Las Vegas and Tropicana Boulevards, directing fans to the ballpark’s main concourse, where a large glass atrium pulls the city into the venue. This entrance sequence will immediately orient fans in the ballpark, allowing views of the entire field and seating bowl upon entry while optimizing wayfinding and circulation. Secondary north and south entrances are marked by “bouncing” arches to increase visitor accessibility and promote a connection to the outdoors.
Once inside, fans are met with bright, open atria, which will also serve as multipurpose exhibition spaces to showcase international and local artists.The Athletics Ballpark is an immersive fan experience. Its tiered design and intimacy, inspired by historic ballparks like Fenway and Wrigley – with split upper and lower bowls – bring fans closer to the action than traditional ballparks and provide clear sight lines from every seat.
The ballpark is currently designed to feature an 18,000-square-foot jumbotron, which would make it the largest screen in Major League Baseball. An air-conditioning system distributes at the seats rather than from above, making cooling more efficient and energy conscious. The Athletics Ballpark will have the potential to double as a venue for hosting concerts, conferences and other events. Future development is expected to surround the ballpark, including an onsite hotel and casino. Source by BIG and HNTB.
- Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
- Architect: BIG Bjarke Ingels Group
- Partners-in-Charge: Bjarke Ingels, Daniel Sundlin, Leon Rost
- Project Manager: Aran Coakley
- Project Leaders: Frankie Sharpe, Jan Klaska, Ricardo Palma
- Team: Ahmad Tabbakh, Alan Maedo, Bernardo Schuhmacher, Catrina Nelson, Don Chen, Douglass Alligood, Ema Bakalova, Hongye Wu, Hudson Parris, Jeff Tao, Margaret Tyrpa, Matthew Lau, Paul Heberle, Pooya Aledavood, Sunghwan Um, Thomas McMurtrie, Yuzaburo Tanaka
- Architect: HNTB
- Principal-in-Charge: Lanson Nichols
- Project Director: Brad Albers
- Project Leaders: Emily Louchart, Jeff Goode
- Team: Stephanie Schneidereit, Bryan Rincon, Phil Perkins, Donovan Brook, Jack Swezy, Jimena Dorador, Robbie Powell
- Collaborators: HNTB, Thornton Tomasetti, Henderson Engineers, CAA ICON, Mortenson, McCarthy, Atelier Ten, RWDI, Kimley-Horn, Systematica, WJHW, Jensen Hughes, HKA, WSP, FP&C, Chicago Flyhouse, Duray Duncan, Ed Roether Consulting, Morean, Negativ, Mir
- Client: Athletics
- Size: 33,000 capacity
- Year: 2024
- Images: Courtesy of BIG and HNTB