Sports travel to Las Vegas is set to get another boost with today’s groundbreaking on the city’s new minor league baseball stadium, which will be the future home of the Las Vegas 51s, the first professional baseball team for the destination. The new Las Vegas Ballpark will be set in the Downtown Summerlin planned community, which is about 20 minutes from the Strip. The Howard Hughes Corporation, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), community leaders and executives from Major League Baseball (MLB) all took part in the groundbreaking ceremony.
The 10,000-person capacity baseball stadium will host the Las Vegas 51s, currently an affiliate of the New York Mets, both of which are wholly owned by The Howard Hughes Corporation. The stadium will be set in Downtown Summerlin, on approximately eight acres just south of City National Arena, the practice facility for the Las Vegas NHL team, the Vegas Golden Knights. The stadium will be the second major sports facility in Downtown Summerlin, which LVCVA officials said will help establish the community’s urban core as a sports and entertainment hub.
In addition to serving as the home of the Las Vegas 51s, the Las Vegas Ballpark will host civic, community, nonprofit and sporting events. Designed to create a festival-like atmosphere, the site will be landscaped to complement the Summerlin master planned community and will provide a wide range of seating options, including 20 suites, party zones and decks, a kids' zone, and bars and a pool beyond the outfield wall. Parking will be located on adjacent sites. The Las Vegas Ballpark is being designed by HOK, a global architecture firm with an expertise in stadium design, having designed more than 40 professional and collegiate stadiums worldwide.
Totaling nearly 400 acres, Downtown Summerlin is the planned walkable urban core within the award-winning 22,500-acre Summerlin master planned community. It will have more than 125 stores and restaurants in an open-air streetscape environment.
The groundbreaking marks the latest new development in sports travel to Las Vegas. The NFL’s Oakland Raiders recently announced a plan to move to the city following the completion of a new, 65,000-seat indoor stadium. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, a final development deal for the new stadium could come soon, with current plans calling for completion in time for the 2020 football season.
In 2016, the 20,000-seat T-Mobile Arena opened right on the Strip, as part of MGM Resorts’ new The Park outdoor entertainment space. The area is home to the Golden Knights, as well as UFC events and live concerts and shows.
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