The Athletics have unveiled rendered images of their new proposed ballpark set to be built for their move to Las Vegas, and people are having a field day on social media—namely with how similar it looks to a very popular building on the other side of the world.
On Tuesday, Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal shared the images of what the stadium could look like. Akers reported the 33,000-seat stadium will have a tiered seating system to allow full views from any spot in the park, a fixed roof with five overlapping layers, a league record 18,000-square-foot jumbotron, and the world's largest cable-net glass window behind the outfield with the Vegas Strip in the backdrop.
The new stadium will be built on the site of the Tropicana Hotel, which will close its doors on April 2. The A's expect for construction to begin in April 2025 and be completed for the 2028 season.
"Together with @BIG_Architects and @HNTBCorp, we have unveiled the design for our new ballpark project in Las Vegas on the Tropicana site," the MLB team tweeted on Tuesday. "BIG will serve as the design lead and HNTB as the sports/hospitality designer and architect of record."
Despite the praise for the new stadium coming from the team and its partners, people on social media were quick to compare the ballpark's design to the internationally famous Sydney Opera House in Australia.
"'What if we take the Sydney Opera House and move it over here to Vegas'," one person tweeted alongside a SpongeBob GIF. Another said it resembles what happens "when you order the Sydney Opera House on Temu."
The Athletics started playing in Oakland in 1968 and their lease on the Oakland Coliseum will end following the upcoming 2024 season. In that time in Oakland, the A's won four World Series championships in 1989, 1974, 1973, and 1972.
Check out more reactions to the A's proposed stadium design below.
