The Oakland Athletics have made their desire to move to Las Vegas well-known. Major League Baseball’s owners have to vote on the move for it to be approved, and that vote may take place at an owners’ meeting set for mid-June in New York.
Before that vote can occur, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal by Lindsay Adler, the state of Nevada has to approve a proposal, currently before the legislature, to allow for public funding in the amount of $380 million for the stadium that will serve as the A’s new home. The proposal will also require the A’s to fund not less than $1.1 billion toward to ballpark.
The venue is expected to be a 30,000-seat stadium on the Las Vegas strip. The seating capacity would be the lowest in Major League Baseball. Of note, the new stadium is set to be ready for the 2028 season, while the As current lease with the Coliseum in Oakland expires after the 2024 season. If the A’s and the city of Oakland cannot work out an extension for the A’s to continue to play in their current home (where some games this season have drawn fewer than 3,000 fans), the team would have to find a suitable, alternate home field for the 2025-2027 seasons.
The marriage between the A’s and Oakland does not seem to be ending amicably. Fans are irate over owner John Fisher’s frugal spending policies. Further, the city claims it has been negotiating in good faith to keep the A’s in Oakland, but does not feel the club has extended the same courtesy. From the article:
The A’s spent decades exploring potential options for a new stadium in Oakland or the surrounding areas, but abruptly announced in April that the team had turned its focus to a future in Las Vegas. The City of Oakland said at the time that it had been actively negotiating with the A’s on ballpark options when they learned through a media report that the A’s had agreed to buy a site in Las Vegas.
If the deal for the new stadium in Las Vegas goes forward, the A’s will have to sign an agreement to remain in gambling town for 30 years. The new park would take the place of the Tropicana on Las Vegas Boulevard, with the hotel being demolished.
It would be the end of an era if the A’s leave Oakland. The early 1970s teams won three consecutive World Series titles (the second of which was against the Mets), and the As of the late 1980s and early 1990s had a run of success under former Mets general manager, Sandy Alderson. Many great players donned the green and gold over the years, including Reggie Jackson, Vida Blue, Catfish Hunter, Rickey Henderson, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, and Yoenis Cespedes.
For those who have never visited the Oakland Coliseum, it’s not hard to see why the As need to find a new place to play. The stadium is literally falling apart, having opened its doors for football in September of 1966 for the Raiders. The Raiders and As shared the Coliseum from 1968-1981 (the As relocated to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968), then again from 1995-2019 after the Raiders (who are now in Las Vegas) returned from a stay in Los Angeles. The Coliseum is the last stadium to be used for multi-purposes.
A part of Mets history will fade away with the Coliseum, as it was the site for the team’s first World Series loss in 1973. The Mets headed west with a three-games to-two lead in the Series but lost the final two games in Oakland. It’s time for progress, and the Coliseum needs to go, despite some great baseball having been played there for 55 years.
