The Oakland Athletics announced that they will be following the now Las Vegas Raiders to Sin City. This move means Oakland, California, has now lost all three of their mainstream sports teams, with both the A’s and Raiders moving to Las Vegas, Nevada.
The move to Las Vegas needed a 75% approval rate, and all 29 other MLB owners unanimously voted in favor of the move. Commissioner Rob Manfred had already voiced support of having the A’s relocate, so it was foreshadowing this approval.
Now that the MLB owners have voted and approved the relocation, A’s owner John Fisher must gather private financing for his part of the expected $1.5 billion cost for building a new stadium to call home.
“I think the move was inevitable,” said Bruce Smith, a senior mass communication major. “Teams have been leaving Oakland the past few years for better opportunities, and Las Vegas is a huge market with a lot of potential fans. Trying to make more money and grow the team makes sense.”
Aid has already been supplied by Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo, with him signing a $380 million public funding bill to go towards building the A’s new stadium. The bill was signed in June to further persuade Fisher and the A’s organization to complete the move to Vegas, and in its finalized form, it is expected to exceed the initial $380 million mark.
“I think that the A’s moving to Las Vegas is a really good idea, and it will really help boost their franchise,” said Jake Summerford, a junior mass communication major. “Oakland doesn’t have many fans, and moving to Las Vegas will help because teams in the past that have moved to Vegas have gained great popularity.”
This move makes the A’s the fourth team to move to Las Vegas, joining the Raiders of the NFL, the NHL’s Golden Knights and the Aces of the WNBA. The Raiders also moved from Oakland, and the other team to move out of Oakland was the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, which moved to San Francisco in 2019. All three teams already in Las Vegas moved there in 2017 or later.
The team is still under contract with the Oakland Coliseum through 2025, and there is a possibility they sign another contract through 2028. The stadium in Las Vegas is expected to take until at least 2028 to be completed, so the move being announced now does create a gap of uncertainty for the team and fans alike.
“We do not see this as the end of the road,” said Sheng Thao, the mayor of Oakland. We all know there is a long way to go before shovels in the ground and that there are a number of unresolved issues surrounding this move. I have also made it clear to the commissioner that the A’s branding and name should stay in Oakland, and we will continue to work to pursue expansion opportunities. Baseball has a home in Oakland even if the A’s ownership relocates.”
The A’s are reported by an unidentified MLB owner to have plans to possibly play in Summerlin, Nevada, which is where the A’s Triple-A team plays, or to share Oracle Park with the San Francisco Giants if they do not settle on another agreement with the Oakland Coliseum.
The A’s are one of the original American League franchises, and soon, they will be moving to their fourth home in franchise history. The team was founded in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics before moving to Kansas City in 1955. A relatively short stint there led to the team coming to Oakland in 1968, and soon, they will be off to Las Vegas.
