The Las Vegas Athletics?

Las Vegas Ballpark has been up and running for several years in Summerlin. That area around the park is actually booming since it opened. I've been to the stadium. Its the A's AAA team. Players who have gone between them say the Aviator stadium is much better than what the A's have in Oakland. Its the nicest Minor league stadium in America.

Actually the fact that the major league team and the AAA team being in the same area is a huge advantage. They can move players in and out of the lineups easily without relocation. The NHL has been following the same path for a while. Vegas has the Golden Knights and Henderson (just 8 miles away) has the Silver Knights.

 

So I had a theory that if the A's had to move from Oakland, they could relocate to the Vegas Ballpark while a stadium is finished. If they added some outfield stands they could get close to 20K in the park. They only want a new stadium to hold 30K. Yes, they would be playing almost all games at night but it would be better than playing in Oakland where the toilets actually back up.

 

Not getting P and R here but there is push back on the A's stadium in Oakland going forward

Lawsuit aims to stop A’s Howard Terminal project from moving forward

https://www.kron4.com/news/lawsuit-aims-to-stop-as-howard-terminal-project-from-moving-forward/


California taxpayers will subsidize new A’s ballpark

https://calmatters.org/commentary/2022/08/california-taxpayers-will-subsidize-new-as-ballpark/

 

I think their idea of putting a stadium on their Terminal was "a bridge too far". Too complicated, too expensive. But I still think they are staying in Oakland.

 

It ain't over yet....

Lawsuit aims to void vote allowing Oakland A's Howard Terminal project to move forward | News | PleasantonWeekly.com |

Truckers, longshore workers and others opposed to a billion-dollar Oakland A's ballpark planned at the Charles P. Howard Terminal in Oakland have filed a lawsuit against a little-known Bay Area commission over its decision to allow the A's to build at the terminal pending other regulatory approvals.

The suit was filed July 29 in Alameda County Superior Court by the East Oakland Stadium Alliance, a coalition that wants the A's to redevelop their current home at the RingCentral Coliseum. The coalition includes the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, the Harbor Trucking Association and the California Trucking Association.

The A's want to build a stadium that seats about 35,000 people at Howard Terminal, which is on the waterfront at the Port of Oakland. Plans also call for the development of housing, open space, commercial space and a performing arts venue near the stadium.

"The A's are interested in doing something fast," said attorney and vice president Michael Jacob of the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, a nonprofit representing owners and operators of marine terminals and U.S. and foreign vessels. "We're interested in doing something right."

The suit is seeking to void the decision by the Bay Conservation and Development Commission, which said the Bay Area does not need the land at Howard Terminal for shipping operations.
It was a decision the Oakland A's needed to move forward with building a new stadium to replace the Coliseum, which A's president Dave Kaval said is years past its useful life.

Kaval said the A's weren't expecting the suit against the commission's decision. He said it's not a good development for Oakland, which has recently lost two other professional sports teams and could lose the A's, too.

The Golden State Warriors moved to San Francisco and the Oakland Raiders are now the Las Vegas Raiders. Like the Raiders, the A's are considering a move to Las Vegas.

Kaval said the suit against the BCDC puts the project in Oakland at risk.

The A's now have a handful of sites in Las Vegas the team is considering.

"There are plenty of options that work," Kaval said, noting that it is easier to build there.

Oakland has another hurdle to jump, too. City officials have not shown the A's a plan to pay for the off-site infrastructure near the proposed ballpark at Howard Terminal.

Also, three other suits are challenging the city of Oakland's environmental review of the Howard Terminal project. Judge Brad Seligman will consider those suits, which have been consolidated, on Aug. 19.

The decision by the BCDC followed a recommendation by the Seaport Planning Advisory Committee, which advises the commission. The advisory committee recommended maintaining Howard Terminal for port use.

Jacob thinks the commission should have taken that recommendation. Instead, the commission made its decision based on new information that the advisory committee did not consider. Jacob said the advisory committee should have considered the new information before the commission voted.

Opponents to the Howard Terminal proposal also allege in the complaint that the commission's chair R. Zachary Wasserman should have recused himself from the vote.

The complaint says the Oakland A's were once a client of Wasserman and his firm in connection with another ballpark development at the Coliseum.

But Wasserman said last week that an opinion from the California Fair Political Practices Commission said he could participate in the vote and added that nothing in common law would yield a different conclusion.

 

Hmmmmm..... 2nd meeting with Phil Ruffin in a week.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/sports/athletics/as-in-vegas-furthering-ballpark-talks-with-casino-magnate-2624351/

A’s in Vegas furthering ballpark talks with casino magnate
Oakland Athletics officials were in Las Vegas Tuesday meeting again with hotel magnate Phil Ruffin about a potential north Strip ballpark deal, sources told the Review-Journal.

The meeting is the second to occur this month, with Ruffin previously making a trip on August 2 to Oakland regarding the 37-acre Las Vegas Festival Ground site he owns, located on the southwest corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue.

After showing interest in the site last year, early in the A’s Las Vegas Valley ballpark land search, talks quieted about the site. The early August meeting between the A’s and Ruffin signaled that the site had reemerged as a “dark-horse contender,” a source indicated.

Despite the recent activity between the A’s and Ruffin, the Tropicana site remains in contention, sources confirmed. Ruffin has ownership of multiple properties in Las Vegas, including Circus Circus and Treasure Island.

The A’s have been exploring the Southern Nevada market since May 2021. In that time they have chopped a list of more than 20 ballpark sites down to two.

Last week Ruffin’s spokeswoman said he was unavailable for comment regarding the A’s situation.

The A’s are also still negotiating a deal in Oakland regarding a $12 billion mixed-use stadium project at Howard Terminal. That includes a $1 billion waterfront stadium.

Last week Ruffin’s spokeswoman said he was unavailable for comment regarding the A’s situation.

The A’s are also still negotiating a deal in Oakland regarding a $12 billion mixed-use stadium project at Howard Terminal. That includes a $1 billion waterfront stadium.

 

Oakland's city council takes the entire month off in August.

Not like there are any important things to work on there....

 

Interesting.....

Experts say Strip could lengthen, speculate on future growth
https://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/experts-say-strip-could-lengthen-speculate-on-future-growth-2625837/

Could the Las Vegas Strip grow longer with major sports venues bookending it on the north and south ends?

It’s possible, according to two gaming industry experts who addressed members of NAIOP Southern Nevada, the Commercial Real Estate Development Association.

Alan Feldman, distinguished fellow at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute and former executive with MGM Resorts International, and Josh Swissman, founding partner of Las Vegas-based Strategy Organization, discussed the future of the Strip in an hour-long presentation for the 635-member NAIOP group at The Orleans.

Feldman said it’s possible in the distant future that the Strip could extend south all the way to the M Resort at Las Vegas Boulevard and St. Rose Parkway.

But over the next decade, Blue Diamond Road and Warm Springs Drive could be the southern ending point of the Strip with the new resort and NBA-ready 20,000-seat arena under development by Tim Leiweke’s Oak View Group.

“If you look at the track record that Tim Leiweke and his colleagues have, I have a feeling that we’re going to see a slightly different variant, sort of Resorts World 2, at that part of the Strip,” Feldman said in an interview following the presentation. “They’re just going to have to have an NBA team there, which I think is to everyone’s benefit.”

Meanwhile, Swissman said the prospect of an MLB stadium near Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue could extend the Strip north. “If you look at the track record that Tim Leiweke and his colleagues have, I have a feeling that we’re going to see a slightly different variant, sort of Resorts World 2, at that part of the Strip,” Feldman said in an interview following the presentation. “They’re just going to have to have an NBA team there, which I think is to everyone’s benefit.”

Executives with the Oakland A’s have been in talks with Phil Ruffin, owner of Circus Circus and the 37-acre Las Vegas Festival Grounds land on the southwest corner of that intersection. The A’s have been given permission by MLB to explore the possibility of relocating as they negotiate for a $1 billion stadium within a $12 billion mixed-use development at Howard Terminal on the Oakland waterfront.

New hotel towers

Swissman also expects the north end of the Strip to be a development hotspot with the Fontainebleau resort opening next year.

“You will definitely see new hotel towers pop up from existing operators, whether that’s Resorts World building out their second phase — which is just as big as the first — or you see it doesn’t take too much speculation to think that the Seminole Tribe and the Hard Rock on The Mirage property build additional hotel rooms for a bunch of different reasons,” Swissman said.

“You will see more development on existing operator land and you’ll also see, in my opinion, a better public transportation system on and around the Strip,” he said. “The Monorail was the beginning of that thought process, but with the (Vegas) Loop (an underground transit system being developed by Elon Musk’s the Boring Co.) being what it is and the aggressive growth plans that they have, I think the way you get up and down the Strip now will look widely different from how you do it 10 years from now.”

Feldman believes a baseball stadium is a possibility on the North Strip.

“I think the baseball situation is very much in play in spite of what’s going on in Oakland,” Feldman said. “I’ve yet to hear anyone in Oakland step forward with a financing plan, whereas here, there are a couple of either individuals or companies that could simply make a decision that they want a baseball stadium on their development. Baseball stadiums, while expensive, aren’t as expensive as a brand-new hotel. I think there is a greater likelihood than not that the A’s will come here.”