Las Vegas has already taken out the Oakland Raiders. Now, Sin City wants to take over Oakland Athletics from Major League Baseball, and that deal seems increasingly likely as Oakland has moved so slowly toward a commitment to building a new stadium for the team. p>
all professional sports teams looking for a new field or stadium use cities desperate to find a team to tap into their local market.
this is how the san diego shippers ended up in los angeles. they tried to get what they wanted from their old home, but the city declined. the team then had to take the step to become the second team in a city that has never been willing to support even a franchise in the national soccer league.
Reading: Are the a’s moving to las vegas
In most cases, teams use the idea of moving as pure leverage with their current home. most teams don’t want to leave an established fan base behind unless they move to a much better market.
In the case of the A’s, however, Las Vegas is a better market and close enough to Oakland for the team to maintain its current fan base.
athletics has been negotiating with a number of sites on and adjacent to the las vegas strip while continuing to at least communicate with oakland.
Now, a key figure in deciding whether the A’s can move to Las Vegas has made it clear that Oakland needs to speed up its process.
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the baseball commissioner weighs in on the A’s move
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major league baseball seems to support the idea of athletics moving to las vegas. In late June, the league waived any fees associated with a move, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
“the fee varies on a case-by-case basis, but the fee is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions of dollars,” the newspaper reported.
“the raiders relocation fee charged by the nfl was $378 million when they moved to las vegas in 2020. golden knights owner bill foley paid a $500 million expansion fee to the nhl to get the team to las vegas. expansion fees tend to be higher than relocation fees.”
now mlb commissioner rob manfred has ratcheted up the pressure on the city of oakland, saying the city needs to move quickly to reach a binding agreement with the team on building a new stadium. if that doesn’t happen, relocation would become the best option, the associated press reported.
“I was in the coliseum myself recently,” he told the baseball writers association of america on July 19 before the all-star game. “The condition of the coliseum is a really serious problem for us. I said it, this is not news. right now, it’s not a major league quality facility.”
manfred made it clear that time was running out for oakland to act and delivered a message to oakland mayor libby schaff.
“mayor schaaf continues to work hard to get a deal, a deal to develop the howard terminal site,” manfred said. “I am hopeful that that can still happen. and I said this recently and I will say it again, it has to happen now. you have to do it.”
las vegas makes sense for the oakland athletics
the raiders and golden knights play to sold-out crowds and pay some of the highest prices of any arena or stadium, according to a study by money.co.uk, titled “the most expensive sports stadiums in north america “. Costs include price of game tickets, hot dogs, soft drinks, parking, taxi/rideshare, and airbnb/hotel.
“Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders, ranked third on the list, costing a total of $723. Meanwhile, T-Mobile Arena, where the Golden Knights play, ranked fourth, costing $723. estimated total of $676,” wrote thestreet’s brian o’connell.
“the only stadiums that were more expensive were nissan stadium in nashville, where the tennessee titans play, and bridgestone arena, also in nashville, where the nhl predators play. the estimated cost of the stadium nissan was $754, while bridgestone’s was $751.”
The ability to sell tickets to the tourists who flock to Las Vegas and will buy luxury seats and boxes makes the city very attractive to Major League Baseball.
Manfred has made it very clear, without saying it outright, that he wants the A’s in Las Vegas, which makes it very likely to happen.