The Oakland Athletics have purchased a plot of land in Las Vegas, Nevada for a reported $1.5 billion for a new baseball stadium. This news would mean that the professional baseball team would be following their former Oakland sports partner, the Raiders, to Las Vegas. The A’s have been in the city since 1968, but seemingly have MLB support to begin the process of building a stadium and moving to Las Vegas. They would be the third major North American sports franchise to be in the city following the Golden Knights and Raiders.
A’s President Dave Kaval told me tentative plans call for the ground breaking on the Las Vegas ballpark site to occur next year and be ready to play in for the 2027 MLB season. Pending all goes well in the Legislature. https://t.co/DGCOuYwLjQ #vegas #oakland #athletics #mlb
— Mick Akers (@mickakers) April 20, 2023
The Oakland Athletics released the following statement about the land purchase: “For more than 20 years, the A’s have focused on securing a new home for the Club, and have invested unprecedented time and resources for the past six years to build a ballpark in Oakland. Even with support from fans, leaders at the city, county and state level, and throughout the broader community, the process to build a new ballpark in Oakland has made little forward progress for some time. We have made a strong and sincere effort to stay here. We recognize that this is very hard to hear. We are disappointed that we have been unable to achieve our shared vision of a waterfront ballpark. As we shift our focus to Vegas, we will continue to share details about next steps.”
Statement from @MayorShengThao on Oakland A’s Las Vegas ballpark news: “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.” (pt 1)
— Sarah Ravani (@SarRavani) April 20, 2023
The city of Las Vegas has worked hard in the past decade to add professional sports teams since sports gambling has become more mainstream. Once they add a baseball team to the city, only the NBA will remain among the big four North American sports leagues. There are already rumors that an NBA expansion team could be making its way to the city in the near future.
