It’s official the Oakland A’s are moving to Las Vegas after Major League Baseball owners gave the franchise’s move the green light last week.
The team announced plans to move to Sin City in the spring after reaching an agreement to build a new stadium directly on the Vegas Strip. However, the plan to leave Auckland still needs to be approved by three-quarters of MPs MLB difference. The A’s management received unanimous support at the league’s recent quarterly meetings in Arlington, Texas.
“Today is a very difficult day for Oakland A’s fans,” Athletics owner John Fisher said. “It’s a great day for Las Vegas.”
Details on this step
As part of the relocation, plans call for the demolition of the Tropicana Casino with the construction of a 35,000-seat retractable-roof stadium on nine acres of the 34-acre site at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip.
Real estate investment firm Gaming and Leisure Properties already owns the property, with Bally’s paying $10.5 million annually as part of a 50-year lease agreement. The deal with Bally’s means the A’s won’t have to pay the costs of purchasing properties to build them.
The agreement allows Bally’s to build a casino and hotel on the same property that hosts the new stadium. The $1.5 billion stadium is expected to use $380 million in public funds. However, this is not yet final, and faces legal challenges from the Nevada Teachers Union.
however, MLB Officials were happy to see the plan come together and noted that the league has tried for years to get a stadium deal in Oakland.
“I know this is a terrible day for the fans in Auckland.” MLB said Commissioner Rob Manfred. “I understand that. That’s why we’ve always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid relocation. And I truly believe we did that in this case. I think it’s indisputable that the status quo in Auckland was untenable. Those of you who They were in the building understanding what I was talking about. I was absolutely convinced that there was no viable way forward for Auckland.
The growing sports landscape in Vegas
Preliminary estimates put construction on track to begin in 2024 with a planned completion date of 2027 or 2028. The addition of the A-lister comes as Vegas has become a professional sports hotspot in recent years as laws against sports betting have relaxed across the country.
The NHL’s Golden Knights play in an arena on the Strip, and the NFL’s Raiders moved to a stadium just west of the Strip in 2019. The WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces host their games in an arena at the Mandalay Bay Casino Resort.
The addition of the A’s also brings another major stadium to the city. When the baseball stadium is completed, all of the sports fields in Vegas will be within a few miles of each other.
