The A’s relocation plan took a couple steps forward this week. On Monday, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld a November 2023 lower court ruling that stopped a petition to put public funding for the stadium up for a vote this year (link via Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times).
A Nevada teachers union had sought a referendum during this November’s elections on the $380MM earmarked by the county and state for construction of the Vegas stadium. (Voters in Kansas City rejected a public funding measure for the Royals and Chiefs in a referendum process in April.) The court agreed with arguments by a coalition which included the A’s that the language of the proposed petition was misleading and did not abide by state law. That takes the possibility of a 2024 referendum off the table.
A political action committee backed by the union filed a separate lawsuit in an attempt to challenge the funding in February, arguing that the law didn’t meet the procedural requirements of the state constitution. The A’s were not named as a defendant — the suit was against the state and its governor, Joe Lombardo — but the team filed a motion last month attempting to intervene in the proceedings. There’s no current indication that suit poses a serious threat to the relocation plan.
On the heels of their legal victory, the A’s presented their non-relocation agreement to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority on Thursday afternoon (link via Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal). That’s one of a handful of documents which the Stadium Authority needs to approve before construction on the facility will officially begin. The Authority has already signed off on a community benefits agreement. They’re now evaluating the lease and non-relocation agreements.
The final, most important, of the group is the development agreement detailing how the A’s plan to meet their commitments (projected north of $1.1 billion) for construction costs. Shaikin reported last month the A’s are seeking $500MM in private funding, potentially offering minority ownership shares of the franchise to incentivize investment. Akers writes that the team plans to submit the development agreement for review at some point this summer.
Don’t need them, don’t want them. Funny how now that the “A’s” are leaving, all sorts of A-List movie actors are moving in right next to the stadium. They see the streets virtually paved with gold there, they were just waiting for the rot (the “A’s”) to leave.
good job Oakland has chased everyone out, must be everyone else is wrong couldn’t be Oakland
Tell that to Depp, Cruise, Clooney, Hayek, Costner, etc.
Oakland is still blessed with mad maxine. Maybe that’s part of the problem it’s in the poor state it’s in tho.
She’s in Southern California not northern
Are you suggesting these people have made Oakland their residence?
@Trojan Toss is just a liar or troll. There is nowhere to live near Oakland Coliseum.
google.com/maps/place/Oakland+Coliseum/@37.7515483…
You can clearly see the Coliseum is completely surrounded by industrial buildings, empty dirt lots, and automotive service and dealers. The only homes in the area are low density, small, dilapidated, cheap places.
Don’t let facts get in the way. .
Yeah they think taxpayers shouldnt pay for billionaire owners stadiums. Whats the matter with them?
Remember, it’s not socialism if it’s for sports.
The public is funding thev 1.5B stadium???? Wow no natter you’re mad!!!
Oh crap I checked the actual facts, they are funding less than 1/4 of the stadium and those SB1 funds are not simply a general tax increase
I am excited to have the A’s in Sacramento to see the best teams in the world playing against them. Any lawsuits that keep the A’s in Sacramento longer are A-ok with me.
You are smoking some good stuff.
I’ll invest $5 dollars but only if i can get controlling interest in the team because there is no possible way i could do worse than Fisher
Given what a cheapskate Fisher is, the A’s are slightly exceeding expectations this year
there is no possible way i could do worse than Fisher
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The As have been one of the most successful teams in baseball since Fisher owned them.
Sometimes things happen in spite of, not because of. When Billy was GM things seemed to run a lot smoother
Sure, anything can happen. But we still need to give credit when people are successful.
And things for small market teams are generally not supposed to be smooth. Virtually all of them go thru streaks. It’s almost impossible to always be good, while you shouldn’t always be bad.
lol
Fisher loves him that sweet sweet revenue sharing welfare check. He never has to invest in the team and he still comes out flush with cash every year. Outside of wanting to win, why would he change?
The A’s haven’t received revenue sharing checks for several years
The A’s got their revenue sharing back in the last CBA
They could be building the new ballpark in Oakland right now instead of all this ridiculousness.
Sell the team.
Except oakland rejected all their proposals…
Ridiculous post. They tried to build in Oakland for decades.
Ridiculous reply, they failed to build in Oakland and in other places like Fremont and San Jose due in large part to their incompetence.
Their incompetence was being located in Oakland. They’re correcting it now, but it sure did take them a while.
They really didn’t. Always a tell that somebody hasn’t really followed this situation.
Absolutely nothing binding signed in Vegas. The A’s have had 7 ballpark sites since Fisher took ownership.
Cisco field in Fremont went as far as creating A’s/Cisco branded merch.
Citing Mick Akers in a serious article is journalistic malpractice. He’s basically PR for the A’s.
Considering the money Fisher and the A’s gave to keep the “newspaper” he writes for afloat, he is really an A’s employee.
Embarrassing stuff. I have managed to push this situation far out of my brain for the most part, too aggravating to even think about so I have pretty much ignored it. I saw this slow death happen first hand with my Sonics, and the bureaucracy is intense enough to remove the passion from a fan.
I feel the same way about my hometown, St. Louis, losing two NFL teams. I couldn’t do the NFL for several years. It’s a painful process to go through, regardless of who is to blame in a particular situation.
never forget the sonics
never forgive Howard Schultz and clay bennett
20 years of potential sonics history that never happened
Those Sacramento city connect jerseys will be fire yo
I ain’t worried about the Sacramento Queens
Except the city won’t be referenced. The A’s have said that there won’t be any city affiliation while they are in Sacramento, the will just be the Athletics. Who knows, the A’s ownership group is a bunch of liars and they may end up in Sacramento for good.
The lawsuit holds a greater threat to the A’s ever building a ballpark in Las Vegas than the referendum ever did. Its cut and dried. They violated the state constitution on two counts and the A’s have already had their petition to argue on behalf of the state of Nevada in the lawsuit denied.
Fisher does not have financing to build a ballpark. That we know for a fact. He hired Goldman Sachs and they were unable to procure financing that would meet the requirements set forward in SB1. He is required to find an A Lender in order to get that taxpayer money from Nevada and Clark County. B and C lenders will charge higher rates and Fisher is not allowed to do that by the terms set forth in SB1.
Now Fisher hired another company to try to sell 10% shares in the A’s for $200 million each. So far, they have been laughed at since the A’s are valued at between $1.2 and $1.4 billion and nowhere near the $2 billion Fisher is trying to value the team at.
When that effort inevitably fails as everything Fisher touches does, the A’s will be sold in their entirety. My money is on a group headed by Vivek Ranadive buying them and keeping them in Sacramento.
I think Vivek is betting on that too. But then the question becomes, can the A’s get a MLB stadium in Sacramento? It appears West Sacramento is more focused on getting a new hotel and a light rail station in the Bridge District and not a new stadium.
Sutter Health’s max capacity is 14,000 and it’s 25 years old. It would be pretty laughable (and sad) if the A’s franchise rids itself of Fisher only to find itself in the same situation in Sacramento. One reason I think MLB wants this relocation to Vegas to work is because if it fails that lessens Vegas as a threat other MLB owners can use to get public money for a stadium in their current city. Vivek is personally worth $700 million, so if he threatened to move the team to Vegas to get $ out of Sacramento, he couldn’t realistically do it either without doing something like reducing his 65% ownership of the Kings.
Vivek is more broke than John Fisher. He’s not buying that baseball team as anything less than a minority partner.
You talk about Fisher’s net worth being tied up? Vivek is even worse with the Kings. GAP stock is a little more liquid than an NBA team.
The lawsuit holds a greater threat to the A’s ever building a ballpark in Las Vegas
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Does Vegas actually have a real set of laws? I’ve been going there for almost 50 years, and the entire MO is that you do whatever you want, so long as you have money and don’t annoy anyone else that has money.
@websoulsurfer where do you read the request to intervene was denied? The 10% shares for $200m?
I pay close attention and haven’t seen any of this.
The A’s are gone. Maybe Oakland, the bay area and their residents should have supported the team if you want them around now?
Shush troll
Just stating a reasonable position. The Coliseum was deemed obsolete and in need of replacement in 1990. It’s unbelievable the team is still playing there.
Attendance has been lousy.
Every attempt at getting a new stadium has been shot down.
The stadium is non-viable in location, and in dilapidated condition.
4 ownership groups/individuals have tried to get a new stadium for 35 years now.
The funny part is, the Oakland fans are getting exactly what they want-which is to get rid of Fisher.
Now a new owner can come in, and the city will help them build a brand new stadium, and the loyal and enthusiastic fans can flood into their new stadium.
When John Fisher bought the team in 2005 they were averaging about 26k a game. He drove that down to less than 10k. But sure, it’s the fans’ fault.
Even without considering the recent divorce, what did they average from 2006-2020? You guys went to the playoffs 7 times in 15 years. That’s pretty good. But you were maybe 25th overall in attendance?
But it is a moot point. If Oakland is a willing partner, and if the Oakland fans are enthusiastic and willing to spend money, you will have a team in no time.
Right?
websoulsurfer1 day ago
Now Fisher hired another company to try to sell 10% shares in the A’s for $200 million each. So far, they have been laughed at
=========================
So you were ACTUALLY at the meeting and heard the investment bankers laugh?
How much to be part owner of the A’s? I wouldn’t mind.
Philadelphia
Kansas City
Oakland
soon Sacramento A’s
Although the team get ripped and deserving with all their fire-sales and lack of return
They are ahead of many teams in standings like the Angels, White Sox, etc
They had an off season of picking up ex-Giants on the cheap, yet they lead Giants in almost every statistical category as a team. The Giants spent quite a few $$ and right now stat wise those Giants are worse off. than A’s
Datashark
They are ahead of many teams in standings like the Angels, White Sox, etc
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I have no dog in this race, though I have a slight preference for LV since I’ve already seen them in Oakland.
But it’s always nice to see someone recognizes that the As have been a lot more successful than many other teams. IMO, it is ridiculous to even compare them to teams like the Mets and Angels.
Gotta be a recency bias because they’ve been a dumpster fire for the last few seasons but they certainly have not been the worst.
The Angels have spent so much more money with less to show over Fisher’s ownership.
It’s crazy, imo.
The Angels had two 1st ballot HOF players, and will not have made the playoffs in ten years. The As have made it 4 times in 10 years, but Fisher is the problem.
The Mets have made the playoffs 4x in twenty years, and have spent untold billions. The As have made it 7x in 20 years, but Fisher is the problem.
None of that was because of Fisher though. And now all the people who helped the team succeed at various points against long odds are gone or completely marginalized. What’s left is a bottom 5 major league team with a bottom 5 farm system. It’s a team in Fisher’s own image.. The only exciting part of the organization is Mason Miller, who is already rumored to be on the trading block. Their top prospect is a guy who might hit .300 in the majors but probably nothing else. The cupboard is bare, and outside of normal baseball variance, there’s really nothing to be excited about for the foreseeable future.
The thing that people don’t understand about attendance is that it is much more tied to fan experience and star players than it is winning. Most people at a baseball game couldn’t even tell you the records of the teams playing. They’re there because it’s the place to be and there are name brand players the organization is committed to keep on the field. Selling off every few years and letting your stadium fall apart while constantly threatening to move is obviously a terrible way to grow the fanbase (which was fine when Fisher bought the team 20 years ago, FYI).
Tanking the team on purpose in order to justify moving the team to a smaller market where most people are Dodger fans is also a pretty terrible away to grow your fanbase, which should probably tell you that this was never about doing what’s best for the team, or growing attendance. It’s a quick cash grab (or at least it was supposed to be) and a way to stay on revenue sharing in perpetuity. John Fisher isn’t moving to Vegas himself. He’ll be back in his Bay Area mansion watching his beloved Giants, collecting MLB revenues and whatever he can squeeze out of the people of Nevada.
Which part of any of the A’s success was Fisher would you say? What steps has he taken to improve the fan experience and bring in greater attendance figures. Please be very specific.
He made the playoffs 7x in 15 years. That’s what draws me in.
John Fisher was formerly part of the SF Giant ownership group then sold to buy A’s in 2005. Since 2005, they have reached playoffs 7 times. I think that is some success.
Years on, we’ll all look back and remember when the Oakland A’s were supposed to move to Vegas but never did.
As should move to San Jose. Give the big middle finger to the Giants and Manfred. They would win the lawsuits that follow. The stranglehold on San Jose cannot possibly be legally sound.
Yes it is, and it’s not even a question. Congress gave MLB an antitrust exemption over 100 years ago in 1922. It updated that law in 1988.
The San Jose A’s possibility was settled almost 10 years ago. In 2015 the Supreme Court refused to hear San Jose’s appeal of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals 3-0 verdict against the city’s argument that the MLB antitrust exemption is unconstitutional.
Sorry, but San Jose’s never getting a MLB franchise of its own. To even get an expansion franchise the Giants would have to be placated the same way Selig did a deal with the devil (Peter Angelos) and the Orioles so MLB could sell the Expos to Ted Lerner. Any fan or potential owner of a MLB team in San Jose wouldh’t want that because they’d never own even 50% of their broadcast and streaming rights *forever.*
Move the A’s back to Philadelphia. Rebuild Shibe Park.
This is a very smart comment. Bring back Al Simmons as well.
Connie Mack and Jimmy Foxx also
Back then when I was in seminary school, there was a preacher there who put forth the proposition that you can petition the Lord with prayer. Yes, petition the Lord with prayer. SMH, YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD WITH PRAYER!!! (Some lessons take awhile to sink in.)
You can, but sometimes the answer you seek is not the answer you need.
I hear ya JoeBrady.
“Nevada teacher’s union” puke at public and teacher’s unions.
All that free taxpayer money…and the legislative and legal tools to keep taxpayers from voting on it.
Move the As to Pittsburgh. We need an MLB team
I’m the only upvote? That’s was funny.
Yeah, people in charge definitely don’t want referendums where the voting, paying taxpayers have a say about what their money pays for……..
How quickly they forget:
“…a government of the People, by the People and for the People shall not perish from the Earth.”
The people already voted. They voted for the people that create the budgets and pass the laws. But I voted for the mayor, and he won. But that doesn’t mean I will like everything he does.
And if the voters don’t like it, they can vote for a new mayor.
Direct democracy is a gift when you can get it. You’re allowed to have both sorts of democracy.
That’s sounds good on paper, but I am not so sure. While Americans are smart enough, our voting leaves a lot to be desired. I would just as soon not trust them to make decisions for which they aren’t equipped to make.
I have my MBA and have done okay. But an issue like stadium funding is extremely complex. And both sides can be guaranteed to give you a one-sided story. I’d barely trust myself to make the correct vote.
Just imho, I’d prefer these issues be sorted out by professionals.
Long time baseball fan here. I believe that public money should not be subsidizing professional sports. Most taxpayers are not baseball fans and should not be forced to subsidize baseball and my entertainment. The same goes for other sports. There is a lot of money flowing through baseball and other professional sports as witnessed by players’ salaries and owners’ profits. They do not need nor deserve public money which could be better spent on infrastructure, services or lower taxes.
In my own personal case, I have no objection to the taxpayers helping to fund Yankee Stadium. The numbers are all over the place, but using $800M as the starting point, that costs the city $27M/year over 30 years.
If the numbers I read are accurate, the NYY sold $345M worth of tickets. The sales tax on that alone is $31M. And that doesn’t include parking tax and merchandise sales tax. Even adding in police cost, etc., it doesn’t feel like the annual cost divided by 8M people, is immaterial.
IRT not everyone being a BB fan, sure, but Broadway tickets have no sales tax. And not everyone uses the airport, but we still support them. We entice businesses all the time with reduced property taxes.
I think part of the duty of the city is make it a nice place.to live, and that means putting some money on the table to attract businesses.
IMHO
What are you all going to complain about when the Las Vegas A’s play their first game in Vegas? I’ll bet EVERY naysayer in this chat that it will happen. But I guess time will tell. The A’s will raise their share of the $ and everything will proceed accordingly, just not on the medias preconceived schedule but it’s happening and you can bet on it.