One of Rob Manfred's first trips after his election as baseball commissioner nine years ago was to Oakland to consult with Athletics owner John Fisher on attempts to keep the team in the Bay Area. Unable together to make that work, the A's will instead move to Las Vegas and become only the second Major League Baseball team in more than a half-century to shift cities. All 30 MLB team owners gave their approval Thursday to Fisher's relocation plan, which was endorsed by Manfred, per the AP. "There was an effort over more than a decade to find a stadium solution in Oakland. It was John Fisher's preference. It was my preference," Manfred said at a news conference. But after several site rejections, it didn't appear in the cards.
"This is a terrible day for fans in Oakland," said Manfred. "That's why we've always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid a relocation," he continued. "I think it's beyond debate that the status quo in Oakland was untenable." "We gave every effort and did everything we could to try and find a solution there," said Fisher. After years of complaints about the Oakland Coliseum that predated Manfred's appointment, and an inability to negotiate government assistance for a new ballpark in the Bay Area, the A's plan to move to a stadium to be built on the Las Vegas Strip with $380 million in public financing approved by the Nevada government. The team plans for the ballpark to open in 2028. MLB approved Clark County as its operating territory following the move and Nevada as its television territory.
"I'm very excited about the opportunity in Vegas. The fans there are terrific," said Fisher. "The success of the [NFL's Oakland] Raiders and the [NHL's Vegas] Golden Knights has shown—as well as our own Triple-A team, the Aviators—has shown just how successful professional sports can be in that market." The team announced April 19 it had purchased land in Las Vegas, then a month later replaced that location with a deal with Bally's and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip. Nevada's Legislature and Lombardo approved public financing for a $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof that will be close to Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders moved to in 2020, and T-Mobile Arena, where the current Stanley Cup champion Golden Knights started play in 2017 as an expansion team.
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Las Vegas will become the A's fourth city, the most for a MLB team. "This relocation will bring thousands of new jobs to our state, while also generating historic economic development and providing a return on public investment for the direct benefit of Nevada taxpayers," Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo said in a statement. The Athletics' lease at the Coliseum runs through 2024, and they will remain next season at the outdated and run-down stadium where they have played since moving to California in 1968. It remains unclear where the team will play after that until a new ballpark opens. Manfred said a variety of alternatives are being explored, including the A's possibly staying at the Coliseum in the interim period. He said the preference will be to "find an 81-game home" for the team. (More MLB stories.)
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