The Major League Baseball team currently based in Oakland will become the Las Vegas A’s as soon as the 2025 season. At an owner’s meeting recently in Arlington, Texas, every organization voted to allow the team to move. While the vote doesn’t guarantee a successful relocation, it’s just another step along the way. If it was completed, it would only be the second team to relocate in the last 50 years. The previous one being the move of the Montreal Expos to Washington, D.C. to become the Nationals in 2011.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said the first meeting he had upon his appointment nine years ago was with Oakland officials to try to keep the A’s in that city. He said he reluctantly agreed to the move after trying “everything humanly possible.”
In June, the Nevada legislature passed a bill that set aside $380 million to build a 35,000-seat stadium for the A’s. The club had initially reached an agreement with Red Rock Resorts for a plot of land alongside I-15 that formerly housed the Wild Wild West casino. But when the owners of the Tropicana casino came forward with a deal that would designate 9 of 34 acres that currently hosts the Tropicana casino, A’s owner John Fisher changed his mind. The Tropicana is owned by the gaming REIT, GLPI, while the casino is operated by Bally’s Corp. If that deal is completed, the stadium would be a part of an expanded casino resort complex.
But some have suggested that deal may also fall through since a stadium with a retractable roof would need more than nine acres. A report on the blog site Vital Vegas suggests the A’s are again considering sites adjacent to the Rio casino. They could also go to the Festival Grounds on the North Las Vegas Strip across from the Sahara casino.
Move Infuriates Most Oakland Fans
The proposed move has raised the ire of Oakland fans, who last year conducted several “reverse” boycotts. They packed the Coliseum, home of the A’s, with more than 30,000 fans. But that didn’t dent the lowest attendance totals in MLB with an average of less than 10,000 fans per game. Fans have become increasingly frustrated with owner Fisher and GM Dave Kaval, who have consistently sold off better players. This year, Oakland also had the worst record in baseball, losing 112 games.
Fisher, who inherited his money from his parents, the founders of the Gap clothing store, said it was a day of mixed emotions.
“I know this is a hard day for our fans in Oakland,” he said. “We made sincere efforts to keep our team in Oakland, but unfortunately, it did not work out. I am grateful to the fans who have supported our team.”
Manfred agreed.
“This is a terrible day for fans in Oakland,” he said. “I understand that. And that’s why we’ve always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid a relocation. And I truly believe we did that in this case. I think it’s beyond debate, that the status quo in Oakland was untenable. Those of you who have been in the building understand what I’m talking about. And I absolutely am convinced that there was not a viable path forward in Oakland.”
There were also reports last week that Fisher is looking to sell at least 25 percent of the team. He lacks the money to contribute to his end of the stadium deal.
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End of Long Search for New Home
The A’s have been searching for a new home for more than a decade, with proposals being shot down by the San Francisco Giants, who claimed San Jose as their territory, or other areas not willing to host a large stadium. The last straw was a proposal at Oakland’s Howard Terminal on the shores of the bay, which would have been home to a stadium and a mixed use development valued at up to $12 billion. But disagreements about who would pay and how much doomed that proposal to failure.
The A’s have a lease at the Coliseum for another year. Their home after that is uncertain. Even if the Tropicana stadium is built by the proposed 2028 opening. The A’s would prefer to stay in the Bay area, where they have a multi-million-dollar TV contract as long as they’re in the area, so they could potentially share Oracle Park with the Giants or play out of a Triple A stadium in Sacramento. Also being considered in the potential to play in the Triple A Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the A’s minor league Las Vegas Aviators franchise.
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