Oakland As

[Vegas]

Where will the Oakland As move to? Or will they stay in Oakland?

[TTX]

they'll finally break that tie with the Braves and Las Vegas will have another team.

[Vegas]

Oakland As President Dave Kaval and other officials spent a few days visiting Las Vegas (and in the process, Kaval pissed off the Oakland fan base as he tweeted about his excitement at being at a VGK home playoff while the As themselves were playing a game in Oakland.)

If the city of Oakland in July does not approve the funding for a planned waterfront baseball stadium, it sounds like Las Vegas is the first choice for the As as Kaval says he has no other trips to any other cities planned (although I thought the As were also going to visit Portland.)

But it sounds like the state legislature will not approve the funding for a new MLB stadium since it recently approved the funding for the Raiders Allegiant Stadium which cost over $2 billion to build.

[Vegas]

The Oakland As announced they are making a 3rd trip to Las Vegas on July 5th to look at over 20 possible stadium sights they are considering for a new ballpark.

I still think the As will remain in Oakland as that city will probably vote next month to build them that ballpark on the waterfront, but if not it sounds like Las Vegas is the first choice of the As who so far have not made any visits to any other city.

When I grew up in Tacoma in the 1980s, the Tacoma Tigers were the AAA team of the Oakland As and I saw guys like Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Jose Rijo, etc play for Tacoma before they got promoted to the As who every year came to Tacoma to play an exhibition game against the Tigers.

[Vegas]

Today the Oakland City Council approved a plan to build the As a new ballpark.

However, they approved their latest counterproposal- which the As have said is not sufficient- and not the plan the As actually want and the As have said today's vote was essentially a no vote as far as they are concerned.

[Vegas]

Oakland A’s not on board with ballpark plan approved by city council

The Oakland Athletics’ possible path to Las Vegas got a bit clearer Tuesday as the team’s proposal for a Bay Area waterfront ballpark was not approved by the Oakland City Council.

The city council instead voted 6-1, with councilwoman Carroll Fife abstaining, to approve its amended counter proposal, which team president Dave Kaval said essentially amounts to a no vote.

“The current term sheet, even with these amendments is not something the A’s have consensus around,” Kaval said during the meeting. “I just really want to stress that voting yes on something that we don’t agree with… is not an effective path forward.”

The two plans going into the meeting differed in various ways but the main sticking points for the A’s were offsite infrastructure, community benefits and the length of a non-relocation agreement tied to the Howard Terminal project site.

The city amended several points on its proposal, including not holding the A’s responsible for $352 million in noted offsite infrastructure costs, which was noted as a major issue to the team. Even with that the A’s still weren’t satisfied.

Without approval of the A’s proposed term sheet for a $12 billion mixed-use project that included a $1 billion stadium, Kaval said previously it would be challenging to see a path forward toward a new ballpark in Oakland, making relocation more of a possibility.

The A’s will continue their exploration of the Southern Nevada market this week, as Kaval and a team architect will be in the Las Vegas Valley on Wednesday and Thursday to look at potential sites for a $1 billion ballpark.

The trip will mark the A’s fourth visit to Southern Nevada and Kaval said to expect members of the organization to make return trips every few weeks, as they continue to try to whittle a site list of 20 down to a handful of locations.

The unfavorable vote also could lead Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to give the A’s permission to explore other cities for possible relocation. That list is said to be at six additional cities outside of Las Vegas.

www.reviewjournal.com/sports/baseball/oakland-as-not-on-board-with-ballpark-plan-approved-by-city-council-2403361/

[Vegas]

I personally would rather have an NBA team but it is looking more like a possibility that the Oakland As (who this year have been playing more like the Oakland Fs) might be moving to Las Vegas if they do indeed move out of Oakland. MLB apparently really wants a team in Las Vegas as MLB has said they will not charge the As the typical relocation fee (usually 100s of millions, the Raiders paid $378 million in a relocation fee to move from Oakland to Las Vegas) if they choose Las Vegas as a new home.

Thursday is a key day as the Bay Conservation and Development Commission votes in Oakland whether to remove their port designation from the site where the As want to build a waterfront ballpark and 18 of 27 votes are needed to remove that designation and the As have said if they don't get tose 18 votes then they consider their ballpark plan in Oakland over.

[Vegas]

It now really looks like the Oakland As might be moving to Las Vegas as they have an agreement to purchase the land that used to be the Wild Wild West as the site for what would be their stadium in Las Vegas. It looks like I might soon have 2 MLB teams (Mariners and As) to go with my 2 NFL teams (Seahawks and Raiders) but what I really want is an NBA team (either a new Sonics team or a Las Vegas franchise.)

Oakland A's agree to purchase land near Las Vegas Strip

The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land near the Las Vegas Strip, where they intend to construct a major league ballpark, team president Dave Kaval said Wednesday night.

The agreement is for a 49-acre site owned by Red Rock Resorts, the parent company of Station Casinos.

Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal a $1.5 billion, 35,000-seat stadium with a partially retractable roof would be built on the site, adding that other developments, including restaurants and an amphitheater, are being discussed.

The A's will work with Nevada and Clark County on a public-private partnership to fund the stadium. Kaval said the A's hope to break ground by next year and would hope to be moved into their new home by 2027.

"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," Kaval told the Review-Journal. "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 A's had been looking for a new home for years to replace the outdated and rundown Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since arriving from Kansas City for the 1968 season. They had sought to build a stadium in Fremont and San Jose before shifting their attention to the Oakland waterfront, then Las Vegas. The A's lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred expressed his support for the purchase agreement and for the A's shifting their efforts toward a move to Las Vegas.

"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," Manfred told the Review-Journal.

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao criticized the announcement and said the city is "ceasing negotiations and moving forward" to other options.

"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."

According to the Review-Journal, the purchase agreement is for the land only, and the A's have an option to purchase an additional eight acres at a later date. The site is about a mile north of Allegiant Stadium, where the Las Vegas Raiders play, and about a mile west of T-Mobile Arena, where the Vegas Golden Knights play.

"It's really exciting to have a site," Kaval said. "We've spent almost two years doing our due diligence, working with community leaders, elected officials and everyone in town to really determine a location that could be a win for the A's as well as the community and public officials."

Las Vegas has been home to a Triple-A team since 1983, and currently, the club is the Athletics' affiliate.

[topdollar]

As I learned with two football teams in St. Louis: if a team wants to move to a new city, nothing will stop them. A's will be in Las Vegas.

[natureboi]

Wait ... the Philadelphia Athletics play in Oakland?!

I thought they were moving to Kansas City.

What does Connie Mack have to say about this? 😲⚾