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.
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.
Athletics is pretty drab for Las Vegas. What should the new name be?
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.
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
=============================
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 !