The relocation of baseball’s Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas took another step forward to reality when the team announced they’ve purchased land in Sin City to build a new ballpark.
Rumors of the team leaving the Bay Area have been floating around for more than 20 years, but within the last decade, the possibilities have strengthened. And now it looks like the A’s will have a new city to call home within the next four years
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the A’s “entered into a purchasing agreement last week on a 49-acre site near Tropicana Avenue and Interstate 15 where the team could build a 35,000-seat stadium.” The San Francisco Chronicle is a fellow Hearst Media outlet.
The stadium location would be adjacent to Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, the A’s former Oakland roommate at the Oakland Coliseum from 1968 to 1981, and again from 1995 to 2019. Also in the vicinity of the proposed ballpark site is Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Opening Day 2027 is the goal to have the inaugural season of the A’s in Nevada.
Over the last few years, it appeared efforts to get a new stadium in Oakland for the A’s was gaining traction, but those efforts have fallen apart.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao in a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle said in part, ” … 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.”
But Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo appears to be standing at the door with his hand extended in proper greeting for the arrival of Major League Baseball to one of the world’s most entertaining cities.
“Welcoming the A’s to Las Vegas would be great news for Southern Nevada as well as our entire state,” the San Francisco Chronicel reports Lombardo said in a statement. “The prospect of bringing new jobs, more economic development, and an exceptional MLB team to Las Vegas is exciting on many levels.”
The potential move still needs the approval of MLB owners, however, it already has the support of baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred. “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 said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Las Vegas would be the fourth city the Athletics organization would call home. One of the original 16 teams of major leagues, the Athletics began in Philadelphia in 1901, moved to Kansas City from 1955 to 1967 and settled in Oakland in 1968. Along with the Raiders, the NBA’s Golden State Warriors (who also started in Philadelphia) left Oracle Arena, on the same lot as the Oakland Coliseum, for San Francisco’s new Chase Center in 2019.
The location would mean the team would be in proximity of their affiliates, currently, the A’s have their Triple-A affiliate in the Las Vegas Aviators and their Double-A club, the Midland RockHounds, are stationed in Midland, Texas.
However, 2027 could also be the year another team moves to a new city.
The Tampa Bay Rays have been looking to get a new stadium and their negotiations with leaders in St. Petersburg are ongoing. But their lease at baseball’s last fully-domed stadium, Tropicana Field, runs out in 2027. And in recent years there have been proposals and talks that have the Rays splitting time between Montreal, Canada and Southeast Florida or just moving to Montreal altogether.
The Montreal Expos left Canada after the 2004 season to become the Washington Nationals.
Talk of MLB expanding from 30 teams to 32 teams includes possible franchises in Nashville, Tennessee and Portland, Oregon.