Planning pedestrian mobility and crowd management for one of Las Vegas’ major entertainment destinations

The new A’s Ballpark in Las Vegas is a state-of-the-art ballpark currently under construction on the site of the former Tropicana resort along the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. Once completed, the venue will serve as the new home of the Athletics of Major League Baseball, following the team’s relocation to the city in 2028.

The development is envisioned as a major entertainment and urban destination, designed to accommodate approximately 30,000 spectators during MLB games while remaining active and accessible throughout the year, supported by a diverse mix of leisure, hospitality and retail functions.

The key challenge was to plan and optimize the stadium’s interiors and surrounding public spaces to efficiently accommodate and manage large pedestrian flows during peak event conditions, while ensuring safe, comfortable and intuitive use during everyday operations. Set within the highly dynamic urban context of Las Vegas, Systematica’s project team focused on supporting the design process through pedestrian modeling, testing different demand scenarios to assess access performance and overall spatial efficiency.

As part of the multidisciplinary team developing the new Athletics stadium, Systematica was responsible for designing the pedestrian mobility and crowd management strategy for the entire development.

Our work focused on ensuring that thousands of visitors can access, move through, and exit the stadium safely and efficiently, while maintaining high levels of comfort and a positive user experience during both event and non-event conditions.

Systematica applied a data-driven mobility and crowd analysis approach to support the ballpark’s design and operational strategy.

The first phase involved a comprehensive master plan review, including detailed site analysis, evaluation of the surrounding transport network, and assessment of both existing and proposed pedestrian circulation systems.

During the next phase, the Systematica team worked with project partners to forecast travel demand and modal distribution, identify critical peak periods, particularly before and after games. This way, Systematica was able to anticipate crowd flows and develop targeted mitigation measures and operational strategies.

Last, the team built static and dynamic pedestrian models to verify whether the planned infrastructure could accommodate projected demand while maintaining appropriate comfort levels. This analysis evaluated key elements such as the number and location of access gates, turnstiles, entry points, waiting areas, and pedestrian corridors inside and outside the stadium.

Systematica’s analysis supported informed design and planning decisions related to the ballpark’s spatial configuration, functional distribution, and crowd circulation strategy.

The study provided clear guidance for the dimensioning and organization of highly trafficked-areas, including entrance plazas, waiting areas, access gates, and main pedestrian routes, ensuring efficient movement and safe crowd management during peak demand.

As a result, the proposed infrastructure will be able to accommodate expected flows while maintaining adequate levels of comfort, a positive user experience and reasonable waiting times, in line with modern stadium design.

Key projected mobility flows include:

• Expected attendance: around 30,000 spectators during events
• Arrival scenario: up to 12,000 spectators entering within a15 minute peak with 100% of inbound spectators entering within 1 hour from first pitch
• Departure scenario: up to 21,000 spectators exiting within 15 minute peak with 100% of spectators assumed to leave within 60 minutes from the end of the game

Through advanced pedestrian modelling and strategic planning, Systematica helped ensure that the new stadium will operate as a safe, efficient, and vibrant destination, supporting both large-scale sporting events and everyday urban activity.

The A’s Ballpark is currently in design. Watch the work in progress here.