The Las Vegas Athletics?

There's quite a few people still saying the Tropicana site is just one of many the A's are still looking at. Its interesting though.

Time is running out on the lease at the Coliseum. The A's have to go somewhere and it might be one way or the other at Las Vegas ballpark with some modifications for additional seating until a stadium somewhere is finished. There's no way either one at Howard Terminal or LV can be done in 2 years.

 

Why Las Vegas is making a strong case to lure the A’s away from Oakland

https://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/athletics/article/Why-Las-Vegas-is-making-a-strong-case-to-lure-the-16667801.php

Las Vegas Aviators President Don Logan is no celebrity. But at least once a day, while he shops for groceries, waits in line at Starbucks or dines at a restaurant, a stranger stops him and thanks him for getting a $150 million ballpark built in the suburb of Summerlin.

“It’s funny,” Logan said this week. “Even with a mask on, it still happens a lot.”

That’s because Las Vegas Ballpark — a 10,000-seat facility with mountain views, a center-field pool, high-end dining and the largest video board in the minor leagues — is the type of stadium a baseball-crazed market of 2.2 million people had coveted. Since it opened in 2019 to offer fans a reprieve from the concrete wasteland of Cashman Field, it has won awards, broken attendance records and built a reputation as the most “Major League” ballpark in the minors.

Perhaps it’s fitting, then, that Oakland A’s executives toured Las Vegas Ballpark multiple times in recent months as they explore a possible relocation to Southern Nevada. Though the A’s wouldn’t play at such a small stadium on a permanent basis, they derive inspiration from their Triple-A affiliate’s facility.

It serves as a reminder that better days could loom, perhaps even in a city known as the adult Disneyland. The A’s are navigating what team president Dave Kaval calls “parallel paths” as they eye a new venue in Oakland or Las Vegas. With the club’s Howard Terminal project expected to go before the Oakland city council for a final vote early next year, A’s brass continues to prepare for a potential move to Las Vegas.

Last month, the team made an offer to buy land in an area where it could build a new stadium. CNBC reported Wednesday that the site is “likely” the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.

This only fueled speculation that the A’s are serious about following the NFL’s Raiders from Oakland to Sin City. What was once viewed as an attempt to pressure Oakland decision-makers into green-lighting the team’s preferred location for a waterfront ballpark might be more than a negotiation tactic.

There is a growing belief in Las Vegas that the A’s will join the Raiders, the NHL’s Golden Knights and the WNBA’s Aces as the city’s next major sports franchise. Such optimism is reinforced by sound bites from Kaval praising Southern Nevada, the A’s brass making more than a half-dozen visits to the area in the past six-plus months and data suggesting that an MLB team would thrive in Las Vegas.

Over their first four seasons, the Golden Knights sold out every home game. The Raiders, in little more than a year, have vaulted from near the bottom of the NFL in revenue to the league’s top third.

And given that locals long have touted Las Vegas as a “baseball city,” many believe that the region would support the A’s in much the same way. This is a place with year-round sunshine and a steady pipeline of MLB prospects. Headlined by Kris Bryant and Bryce Harper, roughly 90 Las Vegas-area natives populate the minors and majors.

“We’ve seen how people here have supported a hockey team in Las Vegas, and nobody thought hockey would ever be successful in the desert,” said Erik Eisenberg, the Aviators’ vice president of ticket sales. “Baseball is our No. 1 sport in terms of interest, so why wouldn’t an MLB team do well here?”

Since moving into Las Vegas Ballpark two years ago, the Aviators have become a model Triple-A franchise. Their average attendance of 9,299 during their first season was easily the highest in the minors. That same year, Logan was named Baseball America’s Minor League Executive of the Year.

But the minors are a far cry from the majors, and many still question whether Las Vegas — just the 42nd-biggest media market in the country — can sustain four major pro franchises long-term.

The first several years that a team is in a new city are a bit of a honeymoon period. Some point to the lagging attendance of the Golden Knights, who are a quarter of the way through their fifth season, as proof that the infatuation is beginning to wear off.

To help ensure big crowds, the A’s have zeroed in on the Strip as a potential landing spot. In addition to the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, the team has reportedly considered a site near the Wynn Las Vegas resort, as well as another owned by Caesars.

This would allow the A’s to benefit from the city’s tourism. Though the Aviators estimate that roughly 88% of their attendance comes from people who live within a 12-mile radius of their suburban ballpark, an MLB team, with its longer season and bigger stadium, might need out-of-towners in the stands to survive.

That hasn’t been a problem so far for the Raiders. During recent home games against Philadelphia and Kansas City, the number of fans in the opponent’s jerseys rivaled those in silver and black.

“Everyone says, ‘We’re not big enough to support all of these pro teams,’ and we’re not,” said Ron Kantowski, a longtime sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “But what you have in Las Vegas that you don’t have in most places in the country is the tourism factor. With the midweek baseball games, you might not get a lot of that. But you’re going to get a lot on weekends.

“Maybe you’re looking at around 20,000 locals and 10,000 people who follow their teams to Las Vegas. You throw in the corporate interest, which would be more substantial in Vegas than other places, then maybe you come up with a number that works for the A’s.”

However, tourism and a love of baseball are not the only reasons the A’s see Las Vegas as a viable possibility. Part of what lured the Raiders there was the lack of state tax and the availability of public funding.

Perhaps no sports franchise is more money conscious than the A’s, whose frugal ways inspired an entire philosophy known as “Moneyball.” Leaving California for Nevada would provide them extra cash in saved tax funds.

But the A’s primary goal is to escape Oakland Coliseum, which MLB has deemed unsuitable for its teams. Logan compared the situation the A’s are navigating at their current home to the one the Aviators dealt with at Cashman Field.

The home of Las Vegas pro baseball from 1983 to 2018, Cashman devolved into a run-down facility in a dilapidated area near downtown Las Vegas. It had metal bleachers that would bake in the summer heat; sight lines that made it impossible for fans in certain seats to see the game; a batting cage that could only be accessed by walking through the parking lot; and a sewage system that once backed up and spewed raw waste into the dugouts.

Such realities made the Aviators (then the 51s) an affiliate of last resort for most MLB teams. To finally get out of Cashman and build its dream ballpark, the franchise needed new ownership — Howard Hughes Corp. bought it in 2013 — and a 20-year, $80 million naming rights deal.

The A’s now hope to find their own luck. And if that happens to come in the country’s gambling capital, that would seemingly be fine by them.

As for the Aviators? They might have to move if the A’s land in Las Vegas. History suggests that, even in bigger markets, there often aren’t enough ticket sales or sponsorship money to support two pro baseball teams.

This possibility doesn’t worry Logan. A Las Vegas-area native who has worked in pro baseball in his hometown for nearly four decades, he just wants what’s best for the city. And, in his mind, that means bringing in the A’s.

“Major League Baseball would work here because this is a destination-type market,” Logan said. “There’s just so many aspects of this market that make it ripe for an MLB team.”

 

Things are not all sweetness and light in Oakland land...

Nevius: A’s should just skip Oakland charade, head for Vegas

https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/sports/nevius-as-should-just-skip-oakland-charade-head-for-vegas/

You probably saw the story last week. The Oakland A’s have put in a bid for a stadium site on the Las Vegas Strip. They ought to just do it — move to Las Vegas. Let’s get this sad, pointless Oakland saga over and done with. Enough dithering over an enormous downtown ballpark project that is not close to getting off the ground. Seriously, does anyone really believe that this imaginary waterfront palace is going to happen?

Members of the Oakland City Council have shown so little enthusiasm that some of them have said they are “holding my nose” to vote for the project. Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred publicly demanded that they stop stalling and get on with it. He even announced that the A’s have been given permission to move to another city. Surely that threat would get them going. Nope. Back in July, the council passed a “nonbinding resolution.” That’s it.

In the same amount of time the team and the council have been fiddling around, the Giants have built a 12-story superstructure and erected five floors of an adjoining building on Lot A. That’s how you build something. The delays have added up to the last thing anybody wants — more time in the Oakland Mausoleum, the decaying concrete football stadium where the A’s play. It is, by any measure, awful. Finding something positive to say about is nearly impossible. The best attempt were T-shirts featuring the stadium and the words “Baseball’s Last Dive Bar.”

Again, that’s the positive spin.

While we’re at it, if the team leaves, can we forget the mournful stories of thousands of heartbroken fans? If there were thousands of heartbroken fans, there would be a reason to stay. Instead, the Athletics spend every year at the bottom of the MLB attendance lists. (Last year they were 29th out of 30.) Which isn’t to fault the fans. A’s owner John Fisher has systematically drummed (right field bleachers reference) the enthusiasm out of the fan base.

The tightfisted Fisher won’t spend on players or facilities. He can’t be bothered to appear or speak in public. We’re on a need-to-know basis and Fisher doesn’t think we need to know.

So, to review, the A’s play in a horrible, un-fan-friendly ballpark, there is little investment in the team — players or facilities — and we are struggling with a pandemic.

What’s the logical thing to do? Exactly. Raise ticket prices. In September, the team announced that season ticket packages were going up. Way up. Some fans reported their bill nearly doubled. You will not be surprised that they were not happy. The real miracle is there are devoted fans who have actually stuck with the team.

A case can be made. Baseball’s still a great game, and even if they play in a lousy facility, these are still the finest players in the world, up close and personal. There are plenty of good seats available. There are worse ways to spend a sunny afternoon in Oakland. But the team even undermines that. Following the A’s and getting attached to players is only an invitation to heartbreak.

The team doesn’t even pretend it isn’t happening. That’s right, they say, we hold on to players when they are stuck in their low-paying rookie contracts, but when they turn out to be good, and are ready to get paid, we ship them out for draft choices and more cheap labor. Every A’s loyalist probably has his or her own personal disappointment. You see them wearing the player’s jersey in the stands, long after they’re gone.

Take Marcus Semien, two years ago. An East Bay original, he went to high school in Berkeley, played at Cal and was a team leader for the A’s at shortstop. The team said it couldn’t work out a deal, so he went to Toronto, where he set a Major League record for home runs by a second baseman. He just signed a $175 million deal with the Rangers.

You probably know the others. Remember pitcher Sonny Gray and fan fave Yoenis Cespedes? There’s Josh Donaldson, who was traded to Toronto in 2014 and was the American League MVP in 2015.

Now they are ready to do it again. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal has the gloomy prediction that the team is likely to trade “any player with value.” That could be the last straw. Matt Chapman and Matt Olson are elite Big League players, and seeing them walk out the door would be a gut punch. But for me, the final indignity is the departure of manager Bob Melvin. Melvin has been the adult in the room for 10 years, calmly making the right moves, mentoring young players and reaching the playoffs with a tiny, $80 million budget.

He had Day on the Green posters in his Coliseum office, reminders of concerts he attended there when he was in high school in Menlo Park and at college in Cal. He’s a guy rooted in the Bay Area.

And now he’s in San Diego, where he will manage the Padres next year. It’s a dramatic and disappointing move, but Melvin has told people that unfortunately, “Ownership made it easy.” And, by the way, those who have been saying Las Vegas is too small a market to support a Major League Baseball team should look to the Raiders. Oakland’s favorite football team has been drawing well in Sin City, partly because fans from other cities think Las Vegas is a great road trip. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine Chicago Cubs fans, for instance, flying in for a four-game stand of baseball, and then gambling, dining and going to shows.

At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be overlooked that this is a sad story for Oakland. The waterfront project could be a shot in the arm for a city that badly needs a vaccination of civic enthusiasm. Instead, they’re likely to be standing on the roadside, waving bye-bye to Oakland’s last big league team.

Meanwhile, the word from the Athletics? Viva Las Vegas.

 

We ain't there yet but the data is looking good... And if it isn't the A's, the data shows another team might want to relocate there or an expansion team created there.

A’s study shows Las Vegas would be MLB hit

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/athletics/as-study-shows-las-vegas-would-be-mlb-hit-2498293/

If the Oakland Athletics’ market feasibility study is any indicator, Las Vegas would be a big hit on the Major League Baseball scene.

The A’s tabbed CSL International marketing group, recently acquired by Legends Hospitality, to carry out its market study. The group surveyed 17,151 people, including Southern Nevada residents, tourists, A’s season ticket holders and fans of other teams in MLB’s American League West division and determined there was significant interest in the Las Vegas market.

“It shows people are paying attention to this story (and) are really interested in the A’s being in Southern Nevada, which is super positive for us to hear,” A’s President Dave Kaval told the Review-Journal. “The results about attending games and prices and wanting to support the team, both for locals and tourists, was higher than our expectations. It further demonstrates the strength of Las Vegas as a sporting market.”

The survey noted the A’s were looking to potentially build a ballpark located in the Resort Corridor, but included questions gauging how fan interest would be impacted if it were built off-Strip. Those results, according to Ben Wrigley, chief operating officer for CSL, showed that it didn’t have much impact, if any, on the interest level of those surveyed.

“I think that’s a great sign. It just shows that there’s a lot of options in terms of location and that there could be a winning location in a variety of spots,” Kaval said. “That’s what we’re focused on now… getting a finalist and getting an agreement in place as soon as we can.”

Kaval wouldn’t confirm reports that the A’s have put in a bid on the Tropicana Hotel site, but said the organization is looking to strike a deal with multiple sites in play.

Kaval said that is great news as it means the A’s are not limited to looking at just one area for a ballpark.

“We’re still in active negotiations with a handful of sites and we’re making really great progress,” Kaval said. “We hope to have a site identified, purchased and partnered with as soon as possible because obviously it shows our interest in the marketplace and it allows us to continue to move the process forward in an effective way.”

Wherever a possible stadium might end up in Las Vegas, survey respondents heavily favored having a retractable roof to deal with the torrid summer weather.

Local residents displayed overwhelmingly positive responses to the possibility of the A’s relocating to Las Vegas. Responses indicate there is high interest from locals to purchase season tickets, with both local companies and residents intrigued by having a variety of premium seat offerings.

Wrigley, who also played a role in the Raiders market feasibility study, noted that 87 percent of locals surveyed said they had some level of interest in purchasing some form of season tickets, whether it be full, half or quarter season packages. Of those who didn’t express interest in season tickets, 85 percent said they would consider buying single game tickets, Wrigley noted.

Non-resident respondents said they would strongly consider going to an A’s game during a trip to Las Vegas. Fans in markets of A’s AL West opponents revealed a high level of interest in MLB ending up in Las Vegas, with 78 percent of those surveyed showing some level of interest in the possibility.

Half of those respondents said they already travel to Las Vegas at least once annually. On top of that, those fans said they would add other trips to Southern Nevada to attend ball games.

“You had that those who were showing interest said that they would attend almost three games per season (in Las Vegas),” Wrigley said. “The question we were really asking was if you’re going to come, are you going to come for a series or are you going to come at multiple times? The preference among that group of individuals was to attend those games but to actually do those games throughout the season, versus just coming and staying for three games over a Friday, Saturday and Sunday.”

The corporate sector was equally excited about a possible A’s move to Southern Nevada, showing overwhelmingly positive response to the possibility.

“They (corporations) essentially looked at it and said this would be good for Las Vegas. It just continues to either raise or enhance the high profile that the city already has,” Wrigley said. “It’s a nice addition in the sense that the sport now is something that compliments the Knights and the Raiders, because it’s predominantly played in the summer time.”

The A’s are continuing to work with the city of Oakland and Alameda County officials on a possible $12 billion mixed use project that would be centered around a $1 billion waterfront stadium.

The final environmental impact report for a site at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal is set to be released Friday.

“That’s an important step in the process on our other parallel path,” Kaval said. “We still need to get a final, binding vote (from city officials), which we don’t really know the timing of that yet. That’s something that is still out there and is a question mark. But that process is unfolding as well.”

Last week, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said Las Vegas is the favorite to land the league’s 30th club, potentially giving Southern Nevada yet another pro sports team. Kaval said that wouldn’t have any bearing on the A’s exploration of the Las Vegas Valley.

“We’re really focused on our process,” Kaval said. “If other sports come to Southern Nevada I think that’s a positive. It creates more sports fans and more excitement.”

 

Not looking good for Oakland to move to Vegas. My guess is MLB will look for expansion in 3 years. Anyone who is an owner in a so-so franchise has to be looking at what LV has done to raise the level of the Raiders. But MLB won't allow anyone to just jump. SO -- expansion is probably what's coming.

A’s move closer to possible new Oakland ballpark with key vote

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/athletics/as-move-closer-to-possible-new-oakland-ballpark-with-key-vote-2516332/

The Oakland Athletics’ push for a new waterfront ballpark in the Bay Area cleared a crucial hurdle Wednesday night, giving momentum to efforts to keep the team from moving to Las Vegas or another city. The Oakland Planning Commission unanimously voted to recommend the city council certify the environmental impact review for a planned $12 billion development that would include a $1 billion, waterfront Major League Baseball ballpark. The vote came after a four-hour public meeting full of public comment both in support and opposition of the project. That final certification of the important environmental review could come next month at an Oakland City Council meeting.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf touted the planning commission’s vote as a “huge win” for the region. Schaaf said in a statement that the vote “puts Oakland one step closer to building a landmark waterfront ballpark district with the highest environmental standards.” The project at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal would include a 35,000-seat ballpark tied to a mixed-use development that would feature 3,000 residential units; 1.5 million square feet of office space; 270,000 square feet of retail space; a 50,000 square-foot indoor performance center; 400-room hotel and 18 acres of public space.

A’s President Dave Kaval said Wednesday before the vote that the environmental process for the project was two years in the making.

“It has taken a great deal of time, but it is a very big project,” Kaval said. “We’re talking about billions of dollars in private capital. We’re really reimagining the Oakland waterfront, ensuring that the A’s are going to stay in Oakland for many generations to come. And creating a new neighborhood, enhancing the quality of life for the people who live in that part of the city right now.” The A’s brass are still exploring their options in Las Vegas, as the team has been in the process of negotiating land deals with owners of various sites of interest in Southern Nevada.

After the process to build a new stadium in Oakland dragged on for years, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred gave the A’s the green light to explore relocation sites. Thus far Las Vegas has been the only market the team has looked at for a possible move. All areas of the Las Vegas Valley have been scoured by the A’s, including the Resort Corridor, Henderson and Summerlin. Howard Hughes Corp. said last year that it would be open to donating land to the organization, if the A’s opted to relocate and build a stadium in Summerlin.

A’s officials, including Kaval, have made several trips to Las Vegas over the last eight months, with reports that the team was eyeing the land the Tropicana hotel sits on as a possible site for a $1 billion stadium. There are still other aspects of the Oakland project that need approval before shovels could hit the ground. Among other things, the city and the A’s must work out differences over the project’s infrastructure, affordable housing and community benefits.

Although there is no timetable on when a final vote could occur, Kaval said that once it does, the process to get construction started could happen relatively quickly. “In terms of when you could actually get a shovel into the ground, probably within a year of getting the final approvals,” Kaval said during the meeting.