If it wasn’t already inevitable, the Oakland Athletics are positioning themselves as hellbent on leaving Oakland for Las Vegas.
The Athletics signed a binding purchase agreement for land near the Las Vegas strip with the intention of building a $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark. The franchise is shifting its attention away from the planned $12 billion Howard Terminal site on the East Bay’s waterfront and toward the desert.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal was the first to report on the Athletics’ land purchase.
“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,” A’s president Dave Kaval told the Review-Journal on Wednesday. “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.”
The city of Oakland is going to go from having three professional sports teams in the four traditional leagues to zero. Naval told the Review-Journal that the team plans to move into its new ballpark for the 2027 season.
By then, the A’s will have been in Oakland for 59 years — longer than they played both in Philadelphia and Kansas City.
The A’s moved to Oakland in 1968. There, they won four World Series titles and went to two more. Their front office revolutionized the way the game is viewed both at its highest level and by the common observer. Iconic players like Rickey Henderson, Dennis Eckersley, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Reggie Jackson donned green and gold.
But recently, the Athletics have had to operate in peak-and-valley windows due to their status as a small market team. They’re currently in a rebuilding stretch; Oakland is 3-16 with a -86 run differential — by far the worst in MLB.
Purchasing land in Las Vegas waves a white flag on the Bay Area and flashes a middle finger to loyal A’s fans who have endured despite inadequate investment into their favorite team.
In the decrepit Coliseum, where the franchise’s lease ends after the 2024 season, attendance has sunk to as low as 3,000 this year. Some who do go bring signs that plead for the team to stay in Oakland. One recent sign read: “Stop Blaming Us,” a clear dig at A’s ownership.
The team had been working with the city of Oakland on a deal that would keep the franchise in the East Bay and build a massive waterfront stadium, ballpark village, affordable housing and more near Jack London Square. But red tape and a number of issues on both sides have stalled the process.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao criticized Kaval’s announcement.
“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 in a statement. “Yet, it is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game — the fans and our residents deserve better.”
It’s unclear how serious the A’s were about staying in Oakland while knowing a more preferable deal likely awaited them in Vegas. The state of Nevada has, especially recently, been open to public-private partnerships to finance new stadium and allure professional sports teams.
Vegas already took the Raiders from Oakland. The Warriors moved across the bridge. Now the Athletics are likely departing, too, leaving the city bereft of a major professional sports team.
Kaval has already begun discussing the new site as a foregone conclusion, praising its proximity to other stadiums in Las Vegas and its accessibility to tourists and locals alike. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, too, is on board.
“The A’s have remained in Oakland long past the departures of other teams in the market,” Manfred said. “In 2021, given the continued lack of progress, MLB instructed the A’s to explore a parallel path plan with Las Vegas. Since that time, the process in Oakland has not progressed and Las Vegas has presented a comprehensive path forward for the A’s that will preserve this historic franchise forward and set the stage for future success.”