The Athletics appear on track to relocate to Las Vegas by 2027. According to a report from Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the A’s have agreed to a land deal to purchase 49 acres (with an option for an additional eight acres) just west of the Las Vegas strip. The land deal is the only official step to this point. There is no formal stadium agreement yet, but it’s clear the franchise is firmly turning its attention away from its current home.
“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” team president Dave Kaval told Akers. “Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed the news in a statement to the Review-Journal: “We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year.”
Oakland mayor Sheng Thao confirmed that negotiations between the A’s and its current city are ending (via Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle). There’d been reports of progress between the sides in recent months as they negotiated over a possible Howard Terminal stadium in Oakland’s Jack London Square. With the revelation that won’t come to be, the mayor excoriated franchise leadership, accusing them of using negotiations with Oakland merely “to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas.”
“I am deeply disappointed that the A’s have chosen not to negotiate with the City of Oakland as a true partner, in a way that respects the long relationship between the fans, the City and the team,” Thao said. “The City has gone above and beyond in our attempts to arrive at mutually beneficial terms to keep the A’s in Oakland. In the last three months, we’ve made significant strides to close the deal. … In a time of budget deficits, I refuse to compromise the safety and well-being of our residents. Given these realities, we are ceasing negotiations and moving forward on alternatives for the redevelopment of Howard Terminal.”
Howard Stutz and Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent first reported late Wednesday night that the A’s and Las Vegas lawmakers have neared agreement on a stadium deal. Both the Nevada Independent and the Review-Journal report the plan is for a 35,000-seat facility with a partially retractable roof. Kaval confirmed to Akers the site is located roughly a mile north of Allegiant Stadium, home to the Raiders, and around a mile west of the Golden Knights’ T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s really in the sports district,” Kaval said. “So you have all the stadiums kind of clustered in one spot. I think that creates a powerful zone, a kind of energy to it that will benefit the community and also help us be successful running a baseball team.”
The club has not yet gotten official sign-off from state and local legislators. Both reports indicate that Nevada governor Joe Lombardo and top state lawmakers are in general support of the A’s plans, however. The team will make a formal proposal to state and local officials at a later date, though there no longer seems to be much doubt regarding its eventual approval. That the A’s have already entered into the land agreement points to the franchise’s comfort in getting a stadium deal done.
Once an agreement is finalized with the Nevada legislature and governor’s office, the A’s will be able to formally apply to MLB for relocation. Given Manfred’s comments, there’s no reason to believe that won’t receive a stamp of approval. MLB has previously set January 15, 2024, as a deadline for the A’s to have a binding stadium agreement in place if they’re to retain their status as revenue sharing recipients.
Assuming a deal with Las Vegas is indeed finalized by next January, Kaval confirmed plans to begin stadium construction at some time next year. The goal is for the facility to be ready for the opening of the 2027 season.
According to Stutz and Mueller, the plan is for the A’s to cover costs of the stadium. They’d be aided by the creation of a new taxation district covering the area which would allow for the reinvestment of sales tax proceeds and various tax credits. That plan still needs formal legislative approval from both the state and county. The parties will surely work on the specifics over the coming months.
It’s a monumental development for the sport, one that all but ensures the franchise’s forthcoming relocation. It’ll be the first time a club has changed cities in nearly two decades; the most recent relocation occurred in 2005, when the Montreal franchise moved to Washington and rebranded from the Expos to the Nationals. Previously, there’d been no relocations in MLB since 1972.
If the club’s final season in Oakland indeed turns out to be 2026, it’ll end a nearly six-decade run. The A’s first moved to Oakland in 1968, relocating from Kansas City. They’d go on to win four World Series, including a stretch of three consecutive titles within their first six years. They’ve played in the Coliseum for the entirety of that run. Now the fifth-oldest active park in MLB, the Coliseum has been a source of derision from the likes of players, fans and broadcasters in recent years.
Stadium situations for the A’s and Rays have become a significant concern for the league. The Rays have made progress in the past few months on a potential deal to stick in the Tampa area beyond the expiration of their lease in 2027, though nothing is yet official. With the A’s now set on relocation, it seems there’ll be official resolution on both situations within the next three to four years. Manfred has previously suggested the league wouldn’t consider expansion until those stadium issues are sorted out.
The A’s departure comes at a time when the organization has slashed spending and embarked on a full rebuild. No team opened the season with a lower player payroll than their approximate $56.8MM mark, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts. The on-field results have been dismal. They’ve started the season 3-16 and been outscored by a league-worst 86 runs.
The franchise’s likely move from Oakland to Las Vegas aligns with very different trajectories for the broader sports landscape in those cities. Oakland will have lost each of its NBA, NFL and MLB franchises dating back to 2019. The Warriors stayed in the Bay Area but moved to San Francisco; the Raiders preceded the A’s in departing Oakland for Las Vegas.
Meanwhile, the Nevada metropolis will have picked up franchises in each of the NHL, NFL and MLB since 2016. Vegas was granted the Golden Knights as an expansion franchise seven years ago before the Raiders’ relocation took effect in 2020.
Meanwhile the league somehow thinks creating Oakland 2 in Orlando might be a good idea.
Rays to Nashville – that’s my prediction since it has already been rumored for years.
Charlotte makes more sense but Nashville would work too.
Nashville works better for me because I live in Nashville. So full disclosure, I have a bias.
Charlotte is a bit further from Truist Park than Nashville (that’s the closest MLB stadium to both cities) and has a larger TV market.
Paducah too.
SLC has been vying for a team too
SLC isn’t viable for MLB. The city is too small and so is the metro area. They’d have to at least double the population.
SLC has a larger TV market and is further from the closest MLB stadium than Las Vegas. If Las Vegas is viable for MLB so is SLC.
MLB looks at a number of factors when considering a city as a candidate for expansion or relocation of an existing team, all centered around the overarching question of revenue generation. In addition to media market size and ranking, presence of a strong local corporate sponsorship base, a stable local economy and per-capita wealth among them. Salt Lake City checks off several of these boxes, but lacks the local corporate base that cities like Nashville and Portland have within their metro areas.
Nashville is most likely the next city up for a team after the A’s move to Las Vegas, whether by expansion or by the Rays relocating there. The Rays are not quite as far along in their process of finding a stadium solution, so are more likely to look across the bay to the Tampa area where they could tap into a larger part of their fan base. So any talk of relocation for them is — I think — premature.
After Nashville, Portland is poised as a candidate for a team and has a local ownership group in formation already, as well as plans in place for a privately-funded ballpark with retractable roof in a riverfront area just north of downtown.
@jimthegoat – TV Contracts do not matter. SLC couldn’t handle a stadium larger than 20,000 seating capacity.
Figure average ticket price at a conservative $50.
15,000 * $50 * 81 = $60.75MM difference in gate revenues between a 20,000 seating capacity and still smallish 35,000 seating capacity stadium. The TV contract will absolutely not make up for that,
Salt Lake City is utterly non-viable.
@the voice – All of that is true… but
Milwaukee Metro 1.6MM
Milwaukee 500k, Density 6.0k/mi
Kansas City Metro 2.2MM
Kansas City 508k, Density 1.6k/mi
Salt Lake City Metro 1.2MM
Salt Lake City 200k, Density 1.8k/mi
It’s an absolute non-starter. The SLC stadium couldn’t be larger than 20,000.
TV contracts are all that matter. At least 90% of a team’s revenue comes from that. Don’t know the exact figure. Ask outinleftfield or whatever username he’s commenting from today. He’ll know.
Las Vegas is too damn hot. They’ll miss those Oakland breezes.
@jimthegoat – Here is a pretty up to date list of MLB TV revenues by team.
https://blogs.fangraphs.com/lets-update-the-estimated-local-tv-revenue-for-mlb-teams/
Now that you’ve been educated, perhaps you’d care to adjust your extremely confident (yet terribly incorrect) opinion.
Like I said, local TV revenues do not matter for SLC vs. LV.
There will be a domed stadium , Genius
The political environments between Portland and Nashville are so divergent, I don’t see a good business decision favoring Portland.
Tennessee seems to be more business friendly and is friendlier to law enforcement. (Somewhat redundant, I know.)
what does that have to do with a stadium?
Seeing as Vegas is going to be incredibly short on water in the not too distant future (see Lake Mead), seems like a pretty short-sighted move for everyone involved.
I thought CA also got some of its water from Lake Mead via the Colorado River?
not northern california – our water comes from the sierra snowpack. and not from another state
And how is the snowpack these days?
Ridiculously good. We just had the best rain season in 20/30 years
turns out industrial civilization was a pretty short-sighted move
I wonder what this does to the team value. In Oakland vs Las Vegas. Do they start spending more instead of sitting at the bottom with the Orioles?
Nearly every owner is a billionaire. Whether or not they spend doesn’t matter to the franchise value.
State tax structures will benefit employees and players in Nevada. Now, a minimum of 50% of A’s players games will be state income tax free like in Florida, I think Texas too.
That must benefit the front office.
I don’t think you can put all of the blame on the city as it’s the owner’s responsiblity to secure and finance a ballpark. And I don’t think all of the blame is on the fans (either if them).
What happens in Oakland leaves for Vegas.
Why does everyone get all up in their feelings about billionaires not wanting to spend money on a new stadium if someone else is going to pay for it. It’s simple business, if anything get angry at sleezy slimball politicians who somehow agree to pay for it! On a side note I’m happy they’re out of Oakland that stadium is a reflection of the politicians who have ran it into the ground. I’ve lived in Oakland for 20 years until I could finally get myself out of that sewage dump!
@despicable Why do people act like we have to blame the politicians or the billionaires when it’s obvious they’re both to blame?
Politicians work for their billionaire campaign contributors. They’re literally on the same side
Eh, this one seems more on ownership. They had shots with like 3 completely different governing groups and they whiffed every time. I dont know any inside info, but it reads like if every one of your friends says your an a**hole, youre probably one.
While I can’t stand the owner of the A’s, this is the same city that lost its NFL franchise (twice) and just lost its world champion NBA team as well, so I can’t put the blame on the team owner. These franchises brought so much revenue to the city but the city’s financials are so bad that they can’t invest some money up front to keep these significant tax revenues in their jurisdiction? That seems very shortsighted to me, or perhaps it’s a sign of just how bad things are in Oakland right now, financially. Maybe they can’t get the state to underwrite their bonds for them because their rating is so low? Other businesses get tax breaks and other incentives from cities all the time to move (or stay) there and these corporations are 100X as wealthy as any pro sports owner is. You could argue a sports team is even more valuable to the city because all money spent by fans is disposable income. You can headquarter Microsoft in your city but this doesn’t mean all employees are going to spend disposable income in the area. Sure they will get some disposable income spent around the area on lunch, retail and perhaps some payroll taxes too if there are city income taxes but most workers try not to spend money while going to/from work. Fans look for places to spend money in and around the stadiums. This is why cities like Vegas will pay to play because they know the long term upside of doing so.
MLB is a joke. Wolff had a perfect deal in downtown San Jose and the giants refused to give back the rights to Santa Clara that the A’s gave them for free in the 80s to help them get a new stadium. MLB did nothing.
There is no “world champion NBA team” unless you live in “Murica, F@&k Yeah!”
Blame Compton.
Forgetting Canada?
MLB did nothing, because they legally couldn’t do anything there. That one was solely on the Giants.
Why would the Giants give back their rights?
FALSE! MLB and Team owners including the A’s former ownership was involved with blocking the Giants move to Tampa.
A’s only gave up “shared territory” of Santa Clara County/San Jose
so the Giants could build a stadium and move the team there.
THAT DID NOT HAPPEN.
Giants built their stadium in SF.
So, shared territory rights for Santa Clara County/San Jose should have reverted back to the A’s since the reason for giving it up NEVER HAPPENED. Giants did not build their stadium in Santa Clara County San Jose area,
FALSE!!!! Black bear.
Well, they’re on the same side in the sense that a butler is on the same side as the mansion’s owner… most politicians are minions.
Sober up.
And lay off the pipe.
As it states in the article, the plan is for the A’s to pay for the cost of the stadium. Reading is fundamental.
Where does it say the A’s will pay for the full cost? All I saw was this:
“With a site now identified, the A’s will turn toward working on a public-private partnership with state and local officials.”
“According to Stutz and Mueller, the plan is for the A’s to cover costs of the stadium. They’d be aided by the creation of a new taxation district covering the area which would allow for the reinvestment of sales tax proceeds and various tax credits. That plan still needs formal legislative approval from both the state and county. The parties will surely work on the specifics over the coming months.”
They will “pay” for it by taxing the local residents with a “new taxation district” that diverts tax money into footing the majority of the bill. This is the same scheme that Fisher tried to steamroll Oakland with a few years ago. You can be sure that any “public-private partnership” will be 95% public and the rest bank loans. Fisher won’t put up a dime.
Ha Ha!!
Read the fine print on the final deal.
If they A’s were paying the full cost of the stadium , then
they would have already done that in Oakland.
SF Bay Area is a bigger market than LV.
How will the city of Oakland survive this loss? I’m literally shaking right now thinking of how bad this is for all the A’s fans.
I feel no sympathy for any billionaire who demands any municipality pay for their stadium. However, the way Oakland has hardballed the A’s as well is quite hilarious. Very clear the A’s don’t want Oakland and Oakland doesn’t want…sports in general.
By hard balled you mean taxpayer hesitance for providing nearly a billion dollars of “infrastructure costs” for one of the most expensive building projects in the state’s history, passing Apple’s headquarters? San Jose or a number of more fringe locations would have been viable, congrats to the Giants for pushing out a team that gave you the land rights in the first place!
The land right thing is the grossest part by far. Charles Johnson is a terribly low morals inheritance baby, who has never done right by anyone. His reputation is astoundingly bad, even in the circle of MLB owners.
Heh, I was just talking about the A’s move with a friend and he told me about how many people in the Bay Area disliked this guy, I had no idea because the Giants always seemed so spendy, though I can’t say I’m surprised after the stadium wanted to charge me 18 bucks for a small burrito.
I want Charles Johnson to sell so bad. He and his son are both incompetent.
Most expensive??? Surely you know about the bullet train boondoggle. The atate just spend 300MM in 12 days paying for downpayments on homes.
Read more about the land rights. They didn’t belong to the A’s in the first place.
It’s hilarious that you think that if the Giants had given the San Jose rights back this wouldn’t be happening!
Haven’t any of you seen the movie Major League or been watching how A’s ownership has handled itself over the last twenty years?
The A’s payroll is just about entirely paid by the other MLB teams via profit sharing (and is about as much as Max Scherzer makes in a year which shouldn’t be allowed, frankly), they wanted the stadium paid for by the city/municipality, but really nothing was going to keep them from their real goal: relocation! Pay attention!
They own a sports franchise, which is akin to printing your own money in this country…yet they still have the nerve to expect to not have to put any of their own money into their investment. No one should support that level of greed, let alone expect citizens to bankroll it!
bkbk — As much as I detest Charles Johnson, he wasn’t even part of the Giants ownership when the Giants first got their rights to San Jose.
Yes! It is true that if the A’s had been allowed by MLB to move to San Jose and/or Santa Clara County, then this stadium situation would have been resolved a few decades ago.
San Jose, Santa Clara County, Silicon Valley would have made the A’s financially viable and successful.
And, True, the latest A’s Owner appears to be pulling a
“Major League(the movie) on A’s fans and Oakland.
It appears to be his strategy to get out of Oakland
since MLB and the Giants have blocked his best,
current path to financial viability and success in the SF Bay Area
by not allowing him to build the A’s Stadium in Santa Clara County
(like the 49ers successfully built their new stadium
in Santa Clara C0unty).
Bay Area Baseball fans should BOYCOTT THE GIANTS!
Building project, not construction project. A couple news articles said it would have been the most expensive in state history and required taxpayers to cover about 900 million in infrastructure costs.
Yup, that’s why we all stopped going to the games!
I did, and the articles from this and other sites told me that the Giants were able to block development because it was part of the Giants’ “territory”
Who said billionaires? They said they feel bad for the fans.
I was talking about the city part but okay
The city pointing the finger is somewhat ironic considering the Raiders left as well. It’s not like the A’s were the only team that had issues with the city.
Oakland did not “hard ball” the A’s ownership.
The A’s ownership wanted the City of Oakland and the County of Alameda to fork over 2 Billion dollars plus in taxes, subsidies, development rights, land etc
for the site on the Oakland waterfront Pier area.
A’s Ownership asked for much bigger taxpayer subsidies then
they would get from Las Vegas and Nevada.
@SportsFanoooo – Oakland and the surrounding areas were impossible. They rejected half a dozen major proposals over the past 20 years. Howard Terminal’s reconstruction was not for the A’s, it was for Oakland and necessary to make the area viable for an MLB stadium. If there was a viable site already built to put an MLB stadium, ownership would have proposed the viable site as it would be more likely to be approved.
The Howard Terminal project rejection was short-sighted by Oakland and the 937 bureaucratic committee’s involved.
The devil is in the details.
Read the fine print.
Oakland cannot be on the hook financially for billions of dollars
for the A’s Ownership.
That is reckless!
It is corporate welfare.
A’s should be in Santa Clara County and/or San Jose.
LV is a relatively small market.
Will out of town tourists pay top dollar to go to a baseball
game on vacation?!
Dunno!
I actually think it was really clear the A’s wanted Oakland. Like incredibly clear. They’ve negotiated to try and stay in the area for literally 22 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oakland_Ballpark
Oakland mayor rejected Uptown site 2001
Fremont (Oakland/San Jose suburb) rejected 2009
Oakland proposes, then pulls waterfront proposal 2010-2011
Oakland proposes Coliseum site (complete and utter non-starter) 2011
San Jose proposes site, rejected by San Francisco Giants 2012
Oakland college board rejects Laney College site, 2017
Oakland rejects team buyout of Coliseum site 2018
Oakland rejects Howard Terminal site after 5 years of attempts (2018-2023)
I don’t think any team in history has worked so hard to get a new/decent stadium built in a location which works for MLB attendance needs.
You neglected to mention that the Giants and MLB blocked the A’s stadium deal in San Jose and Santa Clara County.
Santa Clara County was and is the only economically viable
site for the A’s in SF Bay Area.
How many SF ballot measures failed to build the 49ers stadium
in SF (4?5?)
before the 49ers build their football stadium in Santa Clara County?!
The 49ers are booming in Santa Clara County.
The Raiders were offered a “shared stadium” with the 49ers
in Santa Clara before they left.
It would have worked well, like the Rams and Chargers sharing
SoFi field in Inglewood.
The A’s tried to go to Santa Clara County and San Jose, but were blocked by MLB and the Giants for no legitimate reason.
SF Giants and MLB should not have been allowed to interfere
in the A’s contractual relationships to build a stadium
in San Jose, Santa Clara County.
That is a monopoly and anti capitalism.
The worked pretty hard to get an Oakland land deal, but didn’t try that hard to stay in the region. The Fremont idea was a pretty good attempt but I understand that people living there didn’t want rough commutes to get even worse.
Your body is literally shaking? lololol.!! Get a grip, it’s just sports!
@Milwaukee: Other cities have survived the loss of franchises to other cities. Why would Oakland be any different?
I think the only possible difference is the other cities , for the most part, still had other professional sports teams. Expos left – Montreal still had the CFL and NHL teams, Lakers moved to LA – Minn still had twins, vikings and northstars. Oakland will survive without the A’s simply because they don’t really support them now so not a huge loss.
I agree with your point overall, but it’s worth pointing out that the Lakers moved to LA before the Twins, Vikings, or North Stars officially started playing in Minnesota.
The Twins and Vikings were about a year later so it wasn’t a long gap, but at the time the Lakers moved, Minnesota didn’t technically have any other team to fall back on.
lol – I wasn’t 100% certain on the timeline and was too lazy to check figured I had a 50/50 shot
They are a part of the San Francisco metro area. Maybe they go take in a few games across the bay. This is more like the Browns leaving St. Louis or the Giants and Dodgers leaving NYC. There is a baseball alternative available right across the bridge.
@CardsFan57: You don’t know much about the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn and the Giants leaving New York, which is understandable given that you’re a Cardinals fan.
Despite the fame and success of the Yankees, Brooklyn (a separate city until 1898 with a population of 3 million by itself) and New York had always been National League towns, and while it was dumb of commissioner Robert Moses and the city to refuse to condemn the downtown Brooklyn site where Walter O’Malley wanted to build his new stadium, greasing the skids for the Dodgers’ departure, the loss of especially the Dodgers was so devastating that Mayor Robert Wagner appointed a lawyer named Bill Shea (namesake of Shea Stadium) to head an exploratory committee to restore NL baseball here.
It was Shea’s idea to create the Continental League as leverage to force MLB to expand, which resulted in four new teams, including the Mets, who adopted Dodger blue and Giant orange as team colors.
The A’s departing Oakland is nothing like the Dodgers leaving Brooklyn and the Giants leaving New York.
So New York didn’t survive the Dodgers and Giants leaving NYC? Tragic. St. Louis didn’t survive the Browns leaving the city? So much less tragic. My point is that claiming Oakland is facing an existential threat by the A’s moving is absurd. I can also add the A’s leaving Philidelphia and the Braves leaving Boston as proof the cities have survived losing a team, especially when there’s another baseball team right next door. Do you realize just how much your extreme local NYC bias is showing?
Of course New York survived, but you have no idea what went into the city surviving and thriving again as a National League town.
Do you realize just how much your extreme provincial bias and lack of respect for history is showing?
I’m sure no city suffered as much as NYC suffered when their only team left. It was 65 years ago. No one outside NYC cares just like no one outside Milwaukee cares that the Braves moved to Atlanta. No one even cares that St. Louis never recovered as an American League town. It’s such a tragedy that the people in Ukraine are still upset about it.
Don’t bother with him. He’s a bitter old man who hates his life and tries to bring everyone down to his level of misery.
I can’t help it. I’m so amused that no other city losing a team is all that bad but it was a tragedy when NYC lost teams. That and the fact that provincial people like myself couldn’t possibly understand the tragedy of losing teams. How horrible would it be if NYC lost their NBA team and two NFL teams? I just don’t know how they would survive.
@Jonny5: I know, right? It must be terrible living in Missouri with politicians like Josh Hawley running the show.
@CardsFan57: That’s just your interpretation, my friend. I don’t presume to compare what happened with the Giants and Dodgers to what happened in any other city. I just happen to have learned about it and thought you might be interested in learning a bit out of a shared interest in baseball and history. I guess I was wrong.
I would certainly be interested in learning more about what happened in other cities such as St. Louis, beyond the little I read about the Browns planning to move to LA before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
If you care to, feel free to share information and knowledge instead of anger and hostility.
That wasn’t tragic. NYC was just so arrogant about how it needed at least one team in each league as the largest city in the U.S. Chicago still had a team in each league, so it was only right for the Big Apple to have the same.
However, in practice, they were just fine with just the Yankees, which even back then (and especially then) was the most successful team in MLB. The two leagues played by the exact same rules, as not even the DH was created yet, so the only thing missing from not having an NL team was that the other NL teams never came to visit outside of the World Series, which wasn’t much of an issue at all.
@Lanidrac: Sorry, but millions of Dodgers and Giants fans were never going to root for the Yankees. You obviously have no clue about the dynamics and history of baseball in Brooklyn and NYC.
What transpired had nothing to do with arrogance and everything to do with population, plain and simple.
Many wouldn’t, but many others certainly would have switched over to the Yankees given enough time. If the others were too stubborn to make such a perfectly reasonably switch in loyalty, that was their own fault.
That being said, it also made perfect sense to put a 2nd team back in the country’s largest city, and the Mets’ color scheme was an ingenious idea.
Nobody cares what you think Blue Baron.
@THEY LIVE!! And fewer than nobody care what you think, so that’s a wash at best.
I will express my opinions as I see fit and you can’t do anything about it.
You care, though.
Heh heh heh…
YOU do.
The Brooklyn Dodgers were before my time. But having seen that HBO Ghosts of Flatbush series, and reading about Duke, Jackie, Carl Erskine and the Boys, it made me sad in retrospect. Seemed to rip the heart out of Brooklyn.
Current Athletics fans will do what ancestral Athletics fans in Philadelphia did. They’ll shift to the team that remained behind (the Phillies in the case of Philadelphia, the Giants in the case of the Bay Area)..
Hell no
Hell no.
Not here
no way
They won’t. Their fanbase is far too bitter to go for that. To be fair, I empathize with them a lot, as they’ve had to put up with such terrible ownership for such a long time.
Playing 2+ lame duck seasons in Oakland sounds insane to me. If you think their attendance is bad now….. Unless MLB plans to have them play a bunch of games in San Juan or somewhere in Mexico. They just might get better attendence at the AAA park.
Athletics is pretty drab for Las Vegas. What should the new name be?
Aces
I think this is the best choice. They could stick with A’s as a primary name as well. Heck they could even stick with an elephant mascot.
just add C and E to jerseys!!! Cost savings
Leave it to John Fischer to try to save a buck.
There is already a defending world champion professional sports franchise in Las Vegas called the Aces.
The Las Vegas Aces are not a “world champion professional sports franchise” unless you live in “Murica, F@&k Yeah!”
Pull that “world champion” s#!t outside the USA and you’ll be quickly told “go back to your cave, you ugly American!”
Um yeah, we are talking major sports here.
trademarks and copyright suggests otherwise, but yeah you’re right f me.. Maybe it’ll be like a player on a new team wanting a jersey number, and the A’s could just buy the Las Vegas Aces a watch or something for the name.
Something is seriously wrong with you.
yeah but there is already a Nevada baseball team called the Aces, it is the AAA A’s team the Reno Aces
World Champions, World Champions.
WorldChampionWorldChampionWorldChampion.
WorldWorldWorldWorld. ChampionChampionChampion.
World. Champion.
We call the shots, pal. Deal.
The Reno Aces are likely to be moved…possibly to Oakland, once a Vegas move is complete.
Shove your ugly cave up your ugly keister.
America FIRST!
I doubt they drop such a historic name. Though, a revival of the 51’s would be fun.
Area 51’s was my favorite minor league team name when playing the show, for some reason it reminds me of the Springfield isotopes.
Wasn’t it the Albuquerque Isotopes?
The former is/was the basis for the latter.
Still is in real life. But on the Simpsons it was originally the Springfield Isotopes. Albuquerque came into play on a later episode where the owner of the team was planning to move the team to Albuquerque and Homer found out and had a hunger strike. It was a good, not great episode.
Formerly, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ AAA affiliate was the Albuquerque Dukes.
Currently, the San Diego Padres’ AAA affiliate is the Portland Beavers (Formally Albuquerque Dukes)
Currently, the Colorado Rockies’ AAA affiliate is the Albuquerque Isotopes..
Currently, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ AAA affiliate is the Las Vegas 51s (Formally Las Vegas Stars).
The Padres
AAA team is
El Paso
Chihuahuas!
The El Paso Chihuahuas have the best logo in all of sports.
The Dodgers current AAA affiliate is Oklahoma City.
@GarryHarris you messed up a lot of these lol
The current AAA for the Dodgers is Oklahoma City (it used to be the Albuquerque Isotopes).
The current AAA for the Padres is El Paso.
The Portland Beavers haven’t existed in 13 years.
The Las Vegas Aviators (formerly the 51s and Stars) are Oakland’s AAA team
Yeah, I haven’t kept up…. In a couple years, they will all be different
Macon Bacon…because its bacon.
interesting – didn’t know the Portland beavers are now the SLC Bees – as a giants fan we have an AA team in the area with the Eugene Emeralds – not sure what other Oregon teams may exist nowadays
Athletics have been a staple in Major League Baseball for over 100 years. The name ain’t changing.
So was Indians. So was Senators. So was Senators again. So was Expos. So was Browns. Now we have the Guardians, Twins, Rangers, Nationals, and Orioles. And it is only a matter of time before political pressure falls on the Braves to change as well.
I’d be okay with a name change just to get rid of that completely generic name. Although if they planned on something equally generic like Guardians, I’d prefer to just stick with Athletics.
but that’s what makes Guardians so deft… it’s old timey in its way. Athletics, Reds, Dodgers, White Sox, Red Sox, Phillies.
even the cardinals were named for the color not the bird
It sounds lazy
the Braves got through 2020 hearing those calls and are going strong. All the money that team brings in and with them being as good as they are, that name ain’t changing, It also helps they don’t have a meddling owner who could be swayed by teenagers looking to be upset by something on twitter.
but you can continue to play the “matter of time card” if it sounds better.
The Indians lasted a while too. So did the Redskins. Braves and Chiefs likely WILL have to change their names at some point.
The perpetually offended people that got the Skins and Indians to change their name now know that what they do works. Do you think they are going to be satisfied now? Nope, they are going to go after the next target(s)..
Dodgers were also named Atlantics, Grays, Bridegrooms, Grooms, Superbas and Robins.
The Browns only existed for a little over a half century, the Expos even less than that, a third Senators team in D.C. would’ve been awkward and confusing, and the Indians were of course renamed for political reasons that aren’t an issue for the Athletics name.
Careful, the deep state coming for you, hiflew.
You must be thinking of Stanford University: “The Cardinal” is named after the color, much like the Harvard Crimson.
At the risk of triggering the aggrieved masses, the Stanford Cardinal was the Stanford Indians until 1972.
I call Cleveland the Gardenias now.
Referring to the Cleveland MLB franchise as the ‘dians might provide all parties some sense of satisfaction.
Hookers & Blow. Cause when you think Vegas you think hookers and blow.
Well played like an inside straight!
Fear and Loathing?
The Craps?
Good one for as long as John Fischer owns the team!
Las Vegas Gambling Addicts.
Las Vegas Degenerate Gamblers?
The Bellagios
The best triple AAA team is the trash pandas
Nothing this is a more than century old brand…stick to your team
You can do a lot of marketing and advertising with A’s in Vegas. A’s meaning aces in card terms. Leave the team athletics use A’s more often
Bring the elephant back.
Las Vegas Card Flickers after those guys on the strip who flick the discount club coupons at those passing by.
-Lonely Virgins
-LMAO’s
-VeryRichDudes
-Lurids
-Lunkers
-Lost
-Verisimilitude’s
Some Very Similar Dudes
Las Vegas Card Counters.
Scorpions
They should just keep them as the “Athletics.”. It’s one of the early, more generic names that worked just fine in Philly, KC, and Oakland, so it will work equally as well in Vegas.
@LazingLeopard: History and tradition. Athletics was good enough in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland, so it’s good enough for Las Vegas as well.
But it doesn’t really matter.
Adios pelota!
Grats to the Giants organization and all their fans, a shining example of third wave gentrification :)(:
One of the smartest decisions Oakland ownership has made in the past decade plus. There was no path to success in Oakland. A domed stadium (or retractable roof stadium) in Vegas will be at least 3/4 full for every game after the first year or two of sell outs. They should be able to negotiate a great television deal as well since there is limited competition out there, plus since the media market is small, they’ll get the extra benefits (draft picks, etc) for being a small market team even though they will finally be in the top 15 in attendance for the first time in decades. Maybe the team can actually start spending on players now since their revenues will increase drastically with the move to Vegas.
Cool, cheer on the scumbags tanking MLB teams as leverage for a real estate deal, true heroes of the age.
Yeah, much better to root for the scumbags tanking MLB teams for 3-5 years to get higher draft picks and build farm systems instead of signing MLB free agents.
It’s that the only alternative to rooting for the A’s? The Royals and Pirates?
Are those the only two teams you think did that? How about the Astros, Tigers, Orioles, Marlins, Padres, Reds, Cubs, White Sox, and probably a couple more that I have forgotten.
Probably a lot more, most organizations do it at some point. The Pirates and Royals were the only ones I could think of that seemed dedicated to this concept for the majority of the past 20-30 years. The issue here is more the management that refuses to spend even when the team is good, and all I can think of are the A’s and Rays (also in danger of moving).
I don’t think of the Pirates or Royals as the best examples of tanking. They were always just organically bad. Kind of like my Rockies. The best example of tanking is Houston. The owner specifically came out and said that they were going to be losing the first three years he was in charge and he was not going to pay to field a team that was mediocre.
Rockies always felt like a squandered opportunity, great region/fans for an expansion team. I remember Larry Walker always loved playing and living there and the management just kept bringing him back to losing teams so they could constantly trade him at the deadline while never learning a lesson about investing in starting pitching.
They invested in starting pitching. Remember Bill Swift, Darryl Kile, Mike Hampton, Denny Neagle. All great starters that failed in Denver, The Rockies always did better with homegrown starters that could get used to altitude in AAA at Colorado Springs and now Albuquerque.
BTW, they only traded Walker once, to the Cardinals in 2004.
Swift was before my time, but I remember Kile as an obvious PED contract year guy with no track record and Neagle as an aging regular season workhorse. Hampton was a reasonable gamble at someone that could help them make a deep playoff run, but for the most part I just remember some sporadic homegrown SP talent and a lot of pointless mid level signings that weren’t going to make a dent in the Dbacks, Giants, and Dodgers dominance of the division.
I’m not going to hate on teams for operating within the rules created by MLB. If you reward losing, don’t be surprised when teams try to lose. The solution is creating a better method to award draft picks/position, not to harp on teams for not signing over priced, likely to decline free agents.
The Tigers aren’t tanking. They are incompetent.
The Rockies tried to win. They build a strong lineup that could defend well too. Theres something about when a pitcher works in Colorado, they become poor pitchers on the road too. They tried developing pitchers, using good free agent SPs, good free agent RPs and Walt Weiss was the first to try Openers. Nothing has worked.
Carlos Zambrano once told Lou Piniela that he wouldn’t pitch in Colorado minutes before the game.
Then how come Darryl Kile was nearly as good with the Cardinals as he was his last year in Houston? He just couldn’t figure out how to pitch in Colorado.
@case
It’s hard as H*** to develop pitching for elevation. We worked our butts off at it. You can’t make mistakes at all there. And you also can’t attract major free agent pitching.
Weiss never used openers. Well not really anyway. In 2013, the Rockies used a 4 man piggyback rotation with 4 starters limited to 75 pitches per start (no more no less) and 3 piggyback long relievers that would get 50 pitches to get to the short relievers. It was hugely unsuccessful and scrapped before the All Star break.
Basically what happened was that instead of hoping for one pitcher to not have a bad night, you had to hope that both pitchers did not have a bad night.. In Coors, that is a recipe for disaster. Maybe it could have worked somewhere else or with better pitchers because the Rockies were not exactly ultra talented that year. But it was a disaster in Denver,
Once Mike Illitch passed away and his cheapskate son took over, the Tigers prematurely attempted a tear down through trades to get younger players and rebuild the farm system.
Unfortunately, Al Avila was one of the worst GMs in professional sports history. He could not keep his big mouth shut when talking to the media, which eliminated any leverage he may have had to get the best deal and got back crap. For example, he traded Verlander and $10M per year year to the Astros who needed Verlander more than Detroit needed to make a deal, for Jake Rogers, Daz Cameron, and Franklin Perez. Perez was damaged goods, Cameron could not hit his weight, and Rogers is a no hit but good defensive catcher. Verlander won 2 Cy Youngs and 2 WSs. He traded JD Martinez for three low level minor leaguers and he consistently hit for power, average and won a WS. That’s just two of the several one sided trades Avila made.
Drafts – he passed on Marcello Mayer for a one year wonder HS arm who is now having arm issues. I have not even touched his disaster free agent signings (Upton, Zimmerman, Baez, Rodriguez, Lowe, Pelfrey, etc.) and selling low (Boyd, Fulmer, etc.)
Avila was finally fired, but way too late and now the Tigers have one the worst minor league systems with strung out arms and no bats, and no international system. Maybe tanked a little, but overall, that was not the plan. Avila’s ineptitude turned his reign into a potentially decade long rebuild because he was a GM who was completely lost and overmatched at every turn.
What are you talking about?! The rebuild in Detroit was long overdue and should’ve started years earlier! Mike Illitch was too greedy for a Championship in his lifetime that he tried to keep them in contention without any good young talent left. It’s mostly because Illitch waited too long to rebuild that the rebuilding period is taking a lot longer than it normally does. The bad farm system is partly because Illitch didn’t start trading away his veterans for prospects soon enough.
If you want to blame the rest of it on Avila, go ahead, but the biggest share of the blame goes to the late owner.
When the Blake Street Bombers were in their heyday, they were must see baseball. Didn’t matter if they were a playoff team. They had 4-5 guys who could literally turn any game into a slo-pitch softball HR contest. Even in San Diego, I’d go watch them hit bombs. One game Galarraga hit 3 HRs in 3 innings… lower deck, middle deck and upper deck, in that order.
Colorado should have been able to parlay that into a consistent moneymaker.
cheer on the scumbags tanking MLB teams as leverage for a real estate deal
===========================
They didn’t tank for real estate. They tanked because their run had come to an end. This is the way small-market teams operate. You have to accept the reality.
Google A’s tv contract, it’s not a small market. The Cards are a good example of how a respectable ownership group can run a mid market team.
It technically is a small market when you consider that the majority of the market roots for the Giants.
Will Vegas support a baseball team that much?
If they are willing to support a hockey team (and they did) they will support a baseball team.
How many teams can Vegas support? They support the Knights, the first team in and a very competitive team from the start. And the NFL is the NFL.
Oklahoma City supports an NBA team. Doesn’t mean its more than a 1 team market! So is Vegas a 3 or 4 team market? Or are the A’s going to be the team for visiting fans while the Knights cater to locals? I’m genuinely curious how this works out.
I think it will just depend on how long it takes for the team to field a winner. Your OKC example didn’t really support the team that much until after they had the Durant, Westbrook, Harden team built and they kind of fell off quite a bit when that team was broken up.
That area of the country has not really been given a reason to love baseball. Even the Rockies that are always in the top half of attendance despite their losing ways, usually has a large crowd of visiting fans. The Cardinals series from a couple of weeks ago seemed more like a St. Louis home series instead of a Denver one.
i know OKC did well right away. believe me, i was paying close attention and yes they’ve fallen off in support since the disastrous Harden trade and the blessed liberation of KD. (didn’t realize they were LAST in attendance this season. hahaha)
which actually supports my vegas skepticism, as it has been easy for Vegas to support the powerhouse Golden Knights. will Vegas support a loser for 41 or 81 home games? it’s never been tested.
The best comparison would be Washington in my opinion. The Expos/Nats were among the worst teams throughout the first few years after the move. The first seven years of the Nats existence had more overall #1 picks than winning records. The Nats had big attendance numbers their first year, then dropped by 30-40% over the next few years. The Strasburg/Harper Nats from 2012-2019 had very similar attendance numbers to the first year though. I think that would be a best case scenario for the A’s.
As long as they can build a winner within that first five years or so, they should be fine. If it takes them a lot longer, they could be in the same boat as the Rays. The Rays have been a winning franchise for a while now, but screwed up when they should have been building a loyal fanbase. They started out just as strong in attendance as Washington their first year, but they lost over 90 games every year for their first decade. They were losing so much that no one cared about them when they finally did start winning. That would be the worst case scenario for the A’s.
I dunno Darkside. TampaBay sells out every Lightning (Hockey) game, yet other side of the Bay? Rays lucky to get 10k fans for Rays games, sometimes lucky to out draw Lightning games when both are in same season.
Some might be the atrocious bridge separating Rays stadium from most of where the population is, but it’s not all of the excuse for Rays non attendance.
Is it over-simplifying to say that Vegas, a tourism destination by itself, becomes more of one to fans, particularly of visiting teams, as an additional draw? Admittedly, “locals” will need to support a team for it to be truly sustainable but I don’t see a downside to a move there. It’s even close enough for a few Oakland-based fans to commute fairly regularly, possibly on a season ticket basis, for a small handful.
That’s how you can tell if a city is a real BB town. Attendance will always drop when you perform badly, but in places like NYY, RS, Cubs, and StL, the fans will show up even if a game was rained out.
The Aviators draw quite well for a AAA team, apparently.
it’s pretty much a transient population. Allegiant Airlines has worked hard to get visiting teams fans to travel to Vegas for games.
Agreed. Now that the stadium situation is finally resolved, give MaMi a contract. I know he’s barely pitched 1 game but he’s the real deal. Lock him up.
Are you calling mason miller, mami?
Please stop
Including a contract clause that has him perform weekly shows at Chippendales.
Is there another city in America that has such a large percentage of its employees work at night?
DC
Vegas thinks they are getting something great but watch out they will find out they get a owner who only cares about money and profits. Wait until their tax bills go up paying a billionaire for a new stadium.
the As won’t be out of Oakland till 2027, which gives them 3+ seasons to get a good team going. If you look at the tear down of the 12-14 playoffs team to the 18-20 playoffs teams 27 should be a good team. I envision that fisher might spend a little to supplement the core in 2027. Problem is fisher never spends and the As are horrifyingly bad with very little high end upside in the minors.
Who says they will still play in Oakland. They might move into Vegas AAA stadium early. Oakland is not giving them a sweetheart deal like the one they have now. wait until Fisher demands Vegas property owners pay for his new stadium.
I remember that even during the 1970s dynasty, the stadium was never very full and often nearly empty.
In the 80s they were the top draw for a few seasons.
They were 2nd in the AL in attendance twice in the early 90s. Through most of the 80s they didn’t draw that great, aside from the very good 1981 team and Rickey’s stolen base record chase in 1982.
The Coliseum was a nice place to see a ballgame back then.
That’s actually not very good if they will only draw an average of 3/4ths of 35,000 seats or an average of only 26,250 per game.
I’m not sure Las Vegas will be considered a small media market. The metro area population will pass 3 million this year.
Libby Schaaf watched the Raiders leave for Vegas and the Warriors move across the bay. Sheng Thao will now likely watch the A’s follow the Raiders to dessert. The proverbial last nail in Oakland’s coffin as there is literally zero reason for anyone to go to Oakland if all the pro sports teams leave
Raiders had a gross deal where taxpayers reimbursed Al Davis for empty seats, good riddance. Losing the A’s is more of a bummer.
Oakland will be better than fine. Now they can spend their tax dollars on fixing potholes, etc.
city population is less than 500,000
Went to the game in Oakland yesterday and that mayor has way more better things to handle in that city. It’s like Thunderdome but with more trash.
Oakland is another Democratic cesspool.
If I may play politics for one minute.
Indeed, off to a more socialist region where politicians are more pliable when offering corporate welfare tax dollars 🙂
You weren’t even intelligent enough to “play politics” longer than one sentence.
I think you’re confusing political parties with the definition of socialism, which is the redistribution of the people’s wealth (money or labor) for public projects and programs deemed beneficial to common good. Thanks for playing though 🙂
I’d rather the people get the dollars instead of a billionaire. Stadium deals are ALWAYS money pits…..
You are aware that Vegas voted Democratic in 2020, right? It also is rated as “somewhat liberal”. Both Nevada senators are Democratic. Ah-h, those messy facts.
I don’t think neoliberalism has a WAR rating, but Nevada’s would probably be higher.
There is also a big difference between being liberal/democrat and a “democrat cesspool”.
I’m sure Tucker and Co. are saying Oakland is an example of “go woke, go broke.”
Tucker and Co. will lie through their teeth, if it’s about something their audience wants to believe. That’s been made crystal clear.
Still, a good opportunity to pivot away from Disney owning Desantis. Waiting for the English royal bloodline to die out will probably take a while.
They already saved the queen’s brain in a jar ala Futurama.
I don’t think Disney owns Desantis, that’s one of the few properties they haven’t purchased yet…they’re still trying to pay off that Star Wars acquisition.
disney might not own desantos but they are living rent free in his head.
seriously they spoke out against some bill, it passed and he signed it. he won! wtf is he still ranting against them for? lol
They sure aren’t talking about the Dominion settlement. Oh, those
messy facts!
Cucker Tarlson has more of a ‘go wack, smoke crack’ vibe going for himself these days.
Can they leave Dallas Braedan in Poundtown when they head to Vegas?
I dunno, how is Vegas with dad joke announcers?
It’s possible Manfred is a robot built by real estate developers and other wealthy investors excited about MLB’s government anti-trust exemptions. Installing him with chatGPT really helped this deal across the finish line.
A sad day. Much respect to the Oakland A’s fans. I have many memories of the Mariners visiting the Coliseum only to get our hearts broke one way or another.
For anyone that is laughing at this or hitting at Oakland, please know this is a truly depressing day as a lifelong Oakland A’s fan.
I don’t root for a team because of ownership or management. The team’s city is a core part of their identity. Sad to be losing them.
Hugs to you Waldo29, I’m a Giants fan and I find this incredibly sad too. I loved having the A’s here. I was here in ‘89 for the quake too. I’m so sorry.
It’s too bad we could never get another Haas family type ownership to help move the team into the new century, many happy childhood memories of fun games with a great crowd atmosphere.
Waldo.. I hear ya.. no bone in this battle, but I know it hurts the loyal die hard fans.. the old jokes of 2 fans, etc.. we all know that isn’t the real case.. just the city and the team never willing to work together while the die hard fans get caught in the middle.. Tough situation.. I’m sorry it’s your team going through it..
Vegas would be the franchises 4th city in their existence so unfortunately for them the team’s city is less “a core part of their identity” and more “it was fun while it lasted”
@Rsox,
55 years in Oakland has to count for something. The Braves are in their 3rd city, having been in Atlanta for 57 years as a point of reference.
Unfortunately it obviously doesn’t. The fan base will suffer most as unlike the Raiders, whose fans will make the trek to Vegas multiple times per season i doubt the A’s fans will
Sounds like you know a lot about the situation. I go to a few A’s games each season, so I’ll probably see you there.
I Definetly feel for you my fav nl team left montreal 🙁
And another $500 million in taxpayer money goes to the already rich!!
Well done, America. Well done.
The Golden Knights owner paid for his stadium. The Raiders didn’t. If the A’s come here, the owner can foot the bill. He’s certainly saved enough from playing AAA teams for years.
He didn’t pay to build the arena. He bought a stake in it from MGM. Why not? It’s an arena on the strip that can host a bunch of other events. Baseball stadiums are less versatile than an indoor arena. Also the owner of the Golden Knights moved the minor league team to Henderson and tax payers are supposedly footing the bill for that arena
“According to Stutz and Mueller, the plan is for the A’s to cover costs of the stadium. They’d be aided by the creation of a new taxation district covering the area which would allow for the reinvestment of sales tax proceeds and various tax credits.”
Fisher right now is trying to figure out how to build a stadium for the cost of building an Old Navy store
I’m sure once the A’s move to Las Vegas, they’ll become the big-spending powerhouse we’ve all been waiting on. Just you wait!
Mile west of T-mobile arena, mile north or Allegiant. That’s like Polaris and Tropicana to Arville and Tropicana area? That’s not the sports district, that’s the most popular hooker street in Vegas with a bunch of adult stores on it.
Just makes the rebranding as the Vegas Hookers & Blow more appealing.
That’s kinda long, I think you need to choose one and then you can name their mascot the other.
Thanks for the info!
I can’t wait to fly to Oakland and watch the…Howard Terminal.
The Las Vegas DraftKings here we come!
So glad they’re finally leaving that joke of a town. The whole bay area is trash.
Yea West of the Strip may still be a trash drug infested environment. Naked City has its reputation
Naked City?
Just west of the Strat Casino. Nicknamed Naked City bc that’s where the showgirls used to tan naked decades ago. Now it’s one of the worst spots near The Strip.
Sounds like an awesome place
While I don’t believe cities should pay for stadiums, they absolutely should pledge some public funds for infrastructure improvements and other development costs. Out of all the pro sports, MLB teams generate the most revenue for their respective cities. They have 81 home games per year, not to mention concerts and other non-baseball events that brings 10’s of thousands of people to the area for over 100 days per year. This results in many new businesses being built around the park, generating significant real estate tax revenue and business tax revenue the city and state would have never seen without the team coming there. It makes perfect sense to invest some money up front for the guaranteed revenue stream that will come from the team moving to the area. Cities do this for corporations all the time, just for the payroll taxes and business taxes. It should be no different for professional sports franchises as well.
Even the pathetic attendance in Oakland generated millions of dollars per year in tax revenues for the city of Oakland, not to mention the lease revenue for the park itself. If Oakland is running at a deficit now, just wait and see how much worse it will get once the A’s vacate the city. There was a deal to made here but the politicians played hardball and they lost. I feel bad for the A’s fans and the Oakland residents too as things are going to go from bad to worse once the team leaves. Oakland went from 3 professional sports teams down to zero, losing 2 teams in the last 3 years alone (Warriors and now the A’s). It speaks volumes on how hard it is to work with the city and its elected officials. I don’t see Oakland getting another pro sports franchise for a very long time now. It’s such a shame as it had a very loyal fanbase.
You need to talk to some economists. Stadiums are
always money pits.
Field of Schemes blog
would be a good start!
Open your eyes to the
truth…..
I’m such a fan of this franchise, win, lose, bad owner, good owner (one day), trades good or bad.. prospects good or bad..I’ll complain when they crap the bed.. My dad followed them when they were in Philly, then to KC, then we cheered them together in Oakland. We go to Baltimore every year cause Dad hated the Yankees. Before my dad passed, we did A’s trips to Fenway, Wrigley, St Louis, Denver, Pittsburgh, San Fran. But he hated the coliseum. He would love them in Vegas.. he would hate that they suck right now.
Viva Las Vegas.
Just hating the Yankees and teaching you properly, makes your dad a mench.
Alas, Brodie Brazil can FINALLY shut up about Howard Terminal!!!!!!!
Their 9 fans will miss them hahaha.
Pretty ironic coming from a Marlins fan..
Why? He can relate.
Nice. This should be good for the Giants, as it takes the only local competing market out.
Now expand to Portland and Nashville. Or maybe Salt Lake City, New Orleans, r Indianapolis. Or Buffalo, Jacksonville, or somewhere outside the box, like Honolulu. I doubt that they’d pick Mexico City. I can see Canada maybe being considered again.
Do it MLB, it’ll be fun!
You left out San Antonio.
If Jacksonville was viable
the Rays would threaten
to move there.
No more Florida teams!
I think if Jacksonville wasn’t viable, the NFL probably wouldn’t have expanded there.
End of day, fan or not. We’d all like the A’s to stay. But it looks like all the ships have sailed on the new stadium front.
That said, they’ll make more money. But will the cheap owner spend more? I’ll bet marginally more. They’ll need an ownership change on top of it.
Congratulations Vegas on winning a trash franchise run by a trash owner whose gotten nothing but trash results. I’m sure things will improve the minute you cut that check and your citizens mortgage the 2nd half of your children’s trust fund you haven’t gambled away yet on the slots.
The residents aren’t typically the gamblers
I thought it was gonna be Portland.
Oakland was a thriving community when the A’s moved there so many years ago. Now it’s a cesspool
I generally take the side of the city when the owner wants a new stadium funded for them, but in this case it’s clear the city had no intention of allowing the team to stay. Oakland is more concerned with spending billions to make sure to fund it’s city government while also ensuring that same government holds nobody accountable for their actions. It isn’t sustainable. The city is an absolute disaster, which is a shame because it used to be a positive example for other communities.
San Francisco has plenty of warts, but they were at least smart enough to know that allowing a team to fund and build a stadium in a rough area would lead to a revitalization of that area. And it did. Oakland has yet to figure that out, and now it’s too late. They’ve completely lost their way.
Why let a handful of oligarchs control the game? Why give millions, sometimes billions, to billionaires? Why do fans constantly support socialism for a few rich guys who blackmail and bribe politicians and communities? Let’s end socialism for oligarchs. Let the fans/communities own the team if they are going to give free taxpayer cash away anyway. The Packers are owned by the fans. Soccer clubs in Europe are owned by the fans and communities. The Os used to be owned by the fans. No more taxpayer cash for criminals! We pay for stadiums and infrastructure we own the team!
In Oakland through ‘26, woof. That situation is already a complete embarrassment to baseball, 3 more seasons AFTER this one is brutal.
And they won’t hire someone to remove the possum from the visitors
TV booth! Talk about petty…..
They need to hurry up and get this done so baseball can expand. Need a team hear in North Carolina.
This should’ve been done 10 years ago. I guess better late than never
The Oakland city council can F’ up a two-piece puzzle. The A’s should have left five years ago. The endless lawsuits, environmental impact statements, red tape and ballooning costs to build the stadium in Oakland finally forced the issue. The stadium will get built on Vegas at or under budget and on-time. Oakland is a dying city.
Needed to happen. I assume the Vegas stadium will be indoors or retractable roof at least. Has to be part of the holdup. So they are going to be a nonentity for 5 years? Seems like this should happen sooner
What do you expect when the team is almost as bad as the stadium. This is long overdue Oakland has been a complete and total embarrassment to MLB. The team they are putting out this year may be the worst I have ever seen. I am happy to see them go I always hated Oakland.
StupendousYappi- You obviously didn’t witness my Tigers’ 2003 season,
How does an old stadium survive when all the teams leave ? Is it knocked down ? What happens ? Concerts and random college games ?
Interesting juxtaposition with Manfred complaining about over-long contracts. MLB remains a highly profitable business, even more so when there’s a competition among potential stadium sites and politicians willing to offer up $.
Yes. MLB is the second highest revenue generating league in the world.
Vegas taxpayers can feel so lucky. They’ll have the honor to shell out another few hundred million bucks to subsidize a billionaires’ business ventures.
Thankfully the city doesn’t have any other problems. OK, maybe besides hordes of homeless all over town and in the sewer tunnels. One could say that the east side along Boulder Highway resembles something closer to Calcutta than a city in an allegedly “developed” country. When the counters at the local 7-Eleven sit behind bulletproof glass, you kinda guess that this isn’t exactly Munich, Zürich or Oslo.
@waldfee – Homeless *people. You left a part out. Seemingly intentionally. Homeless people aren’t a problem, unless you’re just looking for people you see as weaker, to push around.
I’d say corporate greed is probably Las Vegas’ biggest problem.
A shame.
Also, a partially retractable roof? What does that mean? No one will want to sit outside in Vegas in the summer.
This will really hurt attendance in Oakland. Oh, ok, fine that’s not possible. The A’s will be a zombie franchise for the next three-and-a-half years, yet still
…profitable as they’re subsidized by the rest of MLB, and indeed, rewarded with higher draft picks for losing.
It sounds like they’re counting on the roof being broken all the time. It’ll serve just well enough to block out all that Vegas rain while letting in the 120 F heat.
Yea, that point jumped out at me too. Also consider night games and how fast the temp drops at night in the desert.
ill bet if the Athletics had a competitive team they wouldnt have attendance problems. owners fault not the fans
They did have competitive teams and still didn’t draw.
The Giants own the Bay Area market. Very few people outside the city of Oakland pay attention to the A’s.
Assuming the name “Athletics” will also change, what would it be?
Why would it change? It stayed the same in Philadelphia, Kansas City and Oakland.
San Diego fan base is about to explode……….
I can’t wait for every team that has a few consecutive low attendance seasons in the midst of an obvious tank with an owner looking for a municipality to leverage a real estate jackpot against to relocate in the next ten years.
I can’t wait for every team that has a few consecutive low attendance seasons in the midst of an obvious tank
===============================
LOL!
A few seasons? When they won 3 consecutive WS, their attendance was 845,693. They’ve been a semi-successful team over the past 11 years with 6 playoff appearances, 4 seasons with 94+ wins.
In the three-game series against Cleveland, they averaged less that 4,000. A lot of teams can draw for nothing more than batting practice.
The people of Oakland don’t deserve a team if they refuse to support it. For all the legitimate concern about the big market/small market dichotomy, some fans support their teams better than others. If you are the type of city that will only spend money on your team when they make the WS, then you don’t deserve a team to root for.
Took the words right from my mouth. I was typing the same reply. lol
I wasn’t specifically calling out the A’s I mean this is setting precedent but maybe continue to insert your own nuance into other peoples posts it is the internet after all.
Many cities only really support teams when winning, almost all mid to small market teams that is. When your (cheap) ownership repeatedly guts teams and in some cases like this last one, prematurely, since they are too cheap to support a 100 million payroll and probably not caring about attendance, fans get tired of the repeated act.
Using attendance totals from 1974 is an interesting pull. In 1990 they were 3rd in baseball with 2,900,000 fans. When owners paid for a winning team fans showed up in force. The Haas family cared about winning.
The team has been very successful the last 25 years, the 6th best record since 2000 with a shoestring budget. Calling them semi-successful is disingenuous.
When your (cheap) ownership repeatedly guts teams
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Nonsense, imho. The average Oakland fan goes to one game a year, and doesn’t understand why they don’t have a $200M payroll. This is not unlike any other business in the country. The local diner isn’t going add an espresso machine if only one customer a day orders it.
But in fairness, the Oakland Coliseum is a dump, some of which can be laid at Al Davis’ (now underground) feet.
So, after 120 years of having the name Athletics in numerous cities, why would we need to change the name? Leave it as the Athletics.
If you’re a billionaire owner of a sports franchise why would you trust the city of Oakland as a partner in future plans for the team when they don’t do basic maintenance on the Coliseum now? The city of Oakland has completely neglected maintenance and upkeep of the Coliseum. We’re talking about a history of raw sewage showing up in the dugouts, feral cats and other wild animals using the building as a home, mold infestations, broken seats….the list goes on and on.
Mayor : I refuse to compromise the safety and well-being of our residents.
Me: isn’t an increasing crime rate comprising the safety and well being of the residents?
The amount of bodies they’ll find when they break ground in Vegas will be greater than the number of people attending their games in Oakland
Your new MLB team, the Las Vegas Regrets.
…I refuse to compromise the safety and well-being of our residents…
Has this mayor gone for a stroll down the streets of Oakland in the last 3 years?
I lived in Oakland from 1998-2003 and it was insane. They’ve come along quite a bit but there are still huge areas of the city that look like a WW2 era eastern bloc country.
It has to be an indoor stadium, right? Can you imagine those game time temps in the summer?
The A’s triple AAA team is in Las Vegas and they play in an outdoor stadium. They play at night and, believe it or not, the players and fans don’t melt. People in Vegas are used to the heat.
Oakland just has to wait another 50 years. When all the water dries up in Nevada, they’ll get their team back.
California has no water either, at least every other year.
Water in SoCal is an issue. Not in the Bay Area.
Parts of California average over 100 inches of rain a year, and the majority of California gets more than enough. When somebody tells you California has a water shortage, they mean the almond farmers in the semi-arid San Joaquin valley are struggling to get water piped in from elsewhere for cheap enough to make a profit. Even people living in the deserts of SoCal don’t have a real water problem because they can always steal enough for residential use.
Las Vegas doesn’t have anywhere else it can steal water from, it’s entirely dependent on the Colorado River, for which it has unfavorable legal restrictions on how much of it can be used.
How does the ball fly in Las Vegas? Is it going to be another joke franchise like Colorado? Why would that be good? Sounds like a bad idea to me.
Vegas’ altitude is less than half a mile. Shouldn’t be an issue, especially if the Aviators don’t have a problem with it
I looked at the Oakland roster. I don’t they have a lot to worry about with the ball flying out.
It sucks that Oakland residents and fans are losing their team.
But with progress in the Tampa Bay stadium situation making a resolution hopeful, expansion is now going to move forward from the back burner.
If Oakland wants a team, they can still be a very very attractive location for an expansion team.
Move on, find a potential ownership group and a workable location and stadium plan. There is plenty of time.
If they can manage that, then Portland becomes the worst affected area, as it could all but kill their expansion hopes.
I can’t see 2 new teams moving into the west unless they expand by 4
If Oakland wants a team, they can still be a very very attractive location for an expansion team.
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They drew 700k+ the past two seasons, and drew less than 12,000 fans for the three-game Cleveland series.
That’s hardly an attractive location.
How much of that is a dreadful stadium and AAA team.
How different would attendance be in a brand new stadium and $150M payroll.
I doubt it makes any difference. Everyone is different, but I go to games to watch the game and drink some beer.
Oakland is not getting an expansion team over Nashville, Charlotte, Portland, San Antonio, Vancouver, Indianapolis or Montreal.
zero chance
This is exciting for baseball. Relocation has almost always lead to success and the A’s needed change badly.
Las Vegas is a great destination for fans.
Income streams will make it all but impossible for ownership to NOT spend money on talent.
By 2030 (or sooner) the A’s will be perennial contenders.
If the mayor thinks “The City has gone above and beyond” then he should have already withdrawn. There is always a number, 100% of the time, that makes sense. Put that number on the table and then walk away. Going “beyond” is a waste of taxpayer money.
Way too many people want to make this a moralistic discussion rather than a business discussion. Not every city can afford a baseball team. Don’t make it seem like the team has an obligation to stay in a city where no one attends baseball games, and don’t make it seem like the taxpayers have an obligation to pay for a stadium.
Good for the A’s and good for Las Vegas. Given the crime/homeless issues in the Bay Area, I suspect they will use the site for a homeless village and drug den.
Las Vegas famously has very little crime and few homeless lol
“According to Stutz and Mueller, the plan is for the A’s to cover costs of the stadium.”
This is either a straight up lie, or this special tax district is going to be so favorable over the long term that it would have been cheaper to just have the city pay for the stadium itself.
Oh well, this is what people want: to give billionaires whatever they want with zero oversight and no fear of being held accountable via an election. Then years from now we’ll all have to hear the inevitable whining when school quality declines or that vital service you need to get to work or make ends meet is no longer considered profitable.
Honestly, you may as well just dissolve all local government in that case, let the local billionaire run things. I’m sure he’ll care about your problems… as long as it’s good for their bottom line.
Well, since MLB is fully in bed with gambling with Bally, Fan Duel, BetMGM and now Las Vegas itself, maybe Pete Rose can get in the Hall now.
I wouldn’t have him manage the Vegas team though.
@This one belongs to the Reds
The MLB would have to unban him and then you’d have to have the writers vote him in, and both situations are quite limited in happening, if at all.
The point is made.
MLB are hypocrites to be in bed with gambling entities. It is not a good look when they are supposed to be removed from it for the integrity of the game.
Proves that it’s all about “the green salad of salvation.”
@This one belongs to the Reds
Not really. They’re looking for investment dollars so they allow the ads to be shown to the fans but they do not accept players and managers betting on their games. Back in the good ol’days, MLB allowed ads for tobacco and cigarettes all over MLB and promoted it, despite being so unhealthy for you and their players.
Please move the Rays out of undeserving Tampa next.
The “I don’t want to drive 35 minutes to see my team” excuse is the weakest thing in baseball. Being able to park close to the stadium in super accessible lots more than makes up for the 15 minutes of congestion on the bridge.
Have had a great team for years and the city couldn’t care less. Get them out of there
well now they can use the Coliseum for some updated entertainment,
Just throw some money and drugs onto the field and open up the gates, it will be like modern-day gladiators fighting over the goods.
I
Instead of revenue sharing where the big market teams have to redistribute money to the small market teams that almost never actually gets used on the team itself perhaps MLB should take that money and create a stadium fund to help pay for new stadiums, especially for small market teams. If MLB paid a third/half and the owner paid a third leaving even a little to the city itself would go a long way to solving this (and the Rays stadium issues) and future issues down the road
I love it when large market fans pretend to know how small market teams spend what little revenue sharing comes their way to fit their agenda that their teams gave a huge advantage in this fouled up system.
It’s not like they want to admit the obvious revenue disparity problems with 2/3 of the league or anything.
I’m surprised the A’s ownership didn’t take up the offer where some billionaire mogul offered the land for free to build a new stadium.
110 degrees in the summer with thunderstorms and only a PARTIALLY domed stadium? It’s also not tourist season in the summer.
They’re gonna have a lot more night games. It can be 90+ degrees at 4am.
Same as ARI, TEX, HOU, ATL, MIA, TBR and sometimes STL, CIN and WSN
As a Bay Area resident and A’s fan for 30 plus years, this sucks. That said, I never had an attachment to the city of Oakland other than going to games but I still wanted them to stay. My family are pseudo residents of vegas and it’s a short plane ride but I have no interest in being an emotionally invested fan anymore. Tempted to just put all my A’s hats and jackets on eBay right now
It is about time the get off the pot. 2027 is too long to wait but better than waiting another decade. A’s need to ramp.up the move and leave the pit that is Oakland in the dust.
SF Bay Area fans and Cities SHOULD SUE MLB in a multibillion dollar class action lawsuit.
MLB and SF Giants CONSPIRED to FORCE OUT the A’s out of the SF Bay Area and to give the SF Giants a “BASEBALL MONOPOLY monopoly” in the SF Bay Area.
SF Bay Area population is between 7-8 million.
SF Bay Area is headquarters to some of the richest companies in the World including technology companies.
Two MLB teams ARE VIABLE in the SF Bay Area if the A’s team is ALLOWED TO RELOCATE TO:
Santa Clara County /San Jose (Silicon Valley) or one of the nearby cities where tech companies are BOOMING.
MLB and Giants ownership have BLOCKED the A’s FROM MOVING to Santa Clara County and San Jose Area FOR DECADES.
A’s former Ownership helped to save MLB SF Giants baseball for the SF Bay Area when the moving Vans were lock and loaded for Tampa Bay a few decades ago. The A’s former owners helped line up new, well funded ownership for SF Giants and with the Dodgers, helped block approval of the Giants move to Tampa Bay.
And, former A’s ownership gave up the shared Santa Clara County territory
to the Giants IF the Giants built their new stadium in Santa Clara County, San Jose or one of the towns nearby.
But, the Giants built their new stadium in downtown SF.(50 miles from Santa Clara County and San Jose)
So, logically, the given up shared territory of Santa Clara County and San Jose from the A’s to the Giants to save the franchise for the Region and prevent the move to Tampa should have reverted and
gone back to “shared territory status” with the A’s
The SF Giants “thank you to the A’s” for saving SF Giants baseball for the Bay Area
was to STAB THE A’S IN THEIR BACKS and to block the A’s viability in the SF Bay Area by preventing the A’s from building their new stadium and relocated from Oakland to the Santa Clara County suburbs or San Jose the Capital of the Silicon Valley with high population in the millions and world wide tech leading companies with trillions in value and much money for endorsements and to sell out A’s games.
The SF 49ers built their new stadium in Santa Clara County Silicon Valley and ARE BOOMING.
The A’s and their fans are getting HOSED BY MLB AND BY SF GIANTS OWNERSHIP.
.
What a babblefest!
So the Giants got over on the A’s.
Psssh. Call the whaaaaaaambulance.
Well, it sucks for Oakland fans, but Fisher never intended to spend money out of pocket to build a new stadium. At least Oakland’s politicians didn’t foot the bill to its citizens. I don’t think you can have the team ownership pay for the whole stadium, the city does benefit as well, but it can’t be the city paying for 90 percent of it either. That’s just my two cents.
While it has to be better than the current situation in Oakland, how much will the Athletics’ finances actually improve with such a relatively small stadium, especially in such a small market compared to most other MLB cities?
You’ll get the tourist trade. I think they’ll be a ton of people that love LV, like I do, and will time their vacation to see their favorite team.
This is such a real life “Major League” playing out in Oakland. John Fisher is a real life Rachel Phelps. MLB shouldn’t allow teams to tank at this level and put a non-MLB level team on the field. It is wrong for the fans and the sport. Instead they will spill propaganda at how little money they make (anyone that believes that needs to get off the acid they are tripping on ) just so they can make even larger amounts of money in a new city that they won’t spend on the team. This is disgusting.
what is interesting is that every trade they made it seemed that their returns were horrible.
This is what happens when you negotiate anything with the city of Oakland. Warriors? Gone. Raiders? Gone. Now the A’s. Oakland has nothing now,
They got two historical buildings that you can see off 880
Let’s see sewage in the dugouts, possums in the press box., other issues. Been negoiating for a new ballpark in Oakland for the past few years, but Oakland representatives cannot come up with a solid plan, well that equals to hey we will do it on the city of Oakland time. MLB gave them ample opportunity to come up with a plan, it is time to move on. City of Oakland has a lot of problems, brought on mostly by their own doings, to lose all your sports franchises shows the city really don’t have them as a high priority.
Another uninformed loser proving itself to be just that…
Great article with the most detailed reporting of the transaction. Good work!
Oakland Raiders —-> Las Vegas
Oakland (GS) Warriors.—->San Francisco
Oakland A’s —–> Las Vegas A’s
Way to go!
what will happen to Aviators — Oakland is available
Vegas: Criminals with guns get shot, the laws that protect citizens are usually enforced, homelessness is dealt with, no pooping on the streets and no state income tax.
I just hope that their “regional rival” gets switched to the Padres and the Giants and Mariners are paired up.
It will be more attractive to players too. Put Manny Machado-sized contracts in Nevada and there’s a 20%-25% (or so) savings in taxes over California! (Plus housing is cheaper there…)
Do you really think state taxes in CA that high?
good we don’t need trash team here on bay area
F U Al Davis, F U John Fisher
SF Giants Fans, if they are “true baseball fans”
SHOULD BOYCOTT THE SF GIANTS GAMES AND MEMORABILIA SALES
to try PUT PRESSURE ON SF Giants Ownership, MLB and owners of other teams
TO STEP IN AND STOP THE PROPOSED MOVE OF THE A’S TO LAS VEGAS!
Like the former A’s Ownership did in helping Save the SF Giants from moving to TampaQ
decades agp!@
Imagine the swamp ass during the dog days of summer in Vegas. I feel for the equipment crew who has to wash them draws.
If Vegas were smart, they’d make it binding in their contract that John Bundle of Sticks Fisher has to invest a certain percentage of team profits into the team itself. Vegas, you were SMART enough to include that language in your binding agreement with the losers, didn’t you???? Didn’t you?????
Dial it back, chief.
Good civil discourse.
If Vegas doesn’t work out, they can try Salt Lake City next.
Then Portland. Then…
In truth, Slob Manfred is just as big a villain than the John Bundle of Sticks Fisher is. One giant pu$$y: two different lips.
Its interesting that Mark Davis is trash talking the A’s saying they screwed over the bay area when his family has done it twice. Even more so when you consider it was the renovations and accommodations for the Raiders that ruined the stadium in the first place.
I see no blame in the fans. The A’s draw when they put a decent team on the field. Even with the worst ballpark in baseball the Attendance was 1.7m in 2019 and thats been the average for the last 20 years This is on ownership, city of Oakland, and MLB.
FINALLY …. when the Athletics move to las vegas….. i will be able to go see my beloved YANKEES …….. cant wait !