Oakland sports fans may soon lose their only professional sports franchise. Recently, the city lost the Raiders as they moved to Las Vegas. Now, it appears that the Oakland Athletics will soon follow suit.
During a recent interview, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred explained that the Athletics’ lease at the RingCentral Coliseum runs out in 2024. Thus far, the two sides have struggled to reach a new deal and the team has had to put together contingency plans if a long-term deal is not reached. Manfred said that it would be “a mistake” to characterize the team’s contingency plans as a bluff.
“This is the decision point for Oakland as to whether they [want to] have Major League Baseball moving forward,” Manfred told members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
“Las Vegas is a viable alternative for a major league club, and there are other viable alternatives that I haven’t turned the A’s loose to even explore at this point.”
If the Athletics were to move out of Oakland, Las Vegas would nearly complete its run toward becoming a major sports city. Over the last ten years, Sin City has pulled in a WNBA franchise, an NHL team and an NFL squad. To complete its journey, Adam Silver and the NBA would have to relocate one of its teams to the city.
