The Athletics hope their new home isn’t a gamble.
Major League Baseball owners on Thursday unanimously approved Oakland’s relocation to Las Vegas for the 2028 season.
The Athletics will become Major League Baseball’s first Las Vegas franchise and the third major sports franchise in that region, joining the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders and the NHL’s Las Vegas Golden Knights.
The A’s, coming off a league-worst 50-112, will play the 2024 season in the Oakland Coliseum, the last year of their lease. The expectation, per A’s owner John Fisher, is that the team will move into a $1.5 billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip in time for the start of the 2028 season.
So what happens to the franchise from 2025 – 2027?
According to USA TODAY, the A’s intend to play on various sites, including in Summerlin, Nevada, home of their Triple-A team, Oracle Park in San Francisco, where the San Francisco Giants play, and perhaps still some games at the Oakland Coliseum, which is not scheduled to be demolished for the foreseeable future.
The A’s, who have spent the last 55 years in Oakland following their move from Kansas City, will become the third professional sports franchise to leave Oakland in just the last five years, joining the Raiders and NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
This pending relocation has caused significant consternation amongst the A’s fan base, which, while low on numbers, is high with passion. A’s fans continuously lobbied Fisher and the Oakland City Council, but, ultimately, to no avail.
On Tuesday night, two days before the vote, three A’s fans wearing T-shirts that said “SELL” sat near Fisher at the restaurant Live!, located near where the owner’s meetings were being held. As Fisher stood up to leave, one fan said, loud enough for Fisher to hear: “Keep the A’s in Oakland. Do the right thing.” According to that ESPN report, when walking away, Fisher muttered under his breath, “I am doing the right thing.”
A’s fans disagree. As expected, they accused Fisher of pure greediness. However, per USA TODAY, if Fisher attempts to sell the team following an immediate boost in suite sales, advertising, and ticket revenue from Las Vegas casinos and resorts, he will be heavily taxed on the sale, which will be split among his fellow MLB owners, per a provision in the relocation agreement.
A’s great David Stewart, their 1989 World Series MVP, is not appeased.
“I always felt like they could get something done, and after all of these years, nothing happened,” Stewart told USA TODAY. “This is going to be so damaging to the city of Oakland. The city of Oakland is in pretty bad shape economically with the crime, homelessness. They needed an economic driver like the A’s. I saw the Raiders leave and the Warriors leave, but I thought the A’s would be there forever. This is heartbreaking for me, just heart-breaking.’’
A’s ownership feels they hit the jackpot. Stewart and the fans feel they lost everything.
