Oakland A’s plan to move to Las Vegas: NPR

Game at Oakland Coliseum on July 23, 2022. The Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a new stadium in Las Vegas.

Jeff Chew/AP

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Jeff Chew/AP

Game at Oakland Coliseum on July 23, 2022. The Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a new stadium in Las Vegas.

Jeff Chew/AP

The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land in Las Vegas to build a new football stadium, marking a move away from Oakland after more than five decades in the city.

Team officials announced this week that they have finalized an agreement to purchase a 49-acre site west of Las Vegas, and we hope to play there starting in 2027. “We recognize this is a difficult day for our fans and community in Oakland,” the team said in a statement.

Team boss Dave Kaval said the A team hopes to start next year in a new stadium with a capacity of 30,000 to 35,000 spectators. Associated Press.

If the move goes ahead as planned, the A’s will become the second Major League Baseball franchise to move cities in over 50 years.

In the statement, the team said they have made a “strong and sincere” effort to remain in Oakland, where they have played since 1968.

The team played at their current home stadium, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, for their entire time in the city. The Coliseum is one of the oldest stadiums in the major leagues, and the A’s owners have been looking for a new park for a long time.

“Even with support from fans, and leaders across the city, county, state, and throughout the wider community, the process of building a new soccer stadium in Oakland has made little progress for some time,” said the team. “We realize this is very hard to hear. We are disappointed that we were unable to realize our shared vision of a waterfront football stadium.”

Negotiations focused recently In a waterfront location near downtown Auckland. Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao announced Wednesday night that the city has halted those negotiations with the team, adding that it is “deeply disappointed” with the team’s decision.

“The City has gone to great lengths in our attempts to come to mutually beneficial terms to maintain Auckland’s First Division,” it said in a statement. “However, it is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have used this process to try and get a better deal from Las Vegas. I’m not interested in continuing to play that game – the fans and our residents deserve better.”

The A’s were a powerhouse when they first moved to Oakland, taking home three straight World Series titles from 1972 to 1974, then a fourth-place finish in 1989 behind the Bash Brothers, Mark McGuire and Jose Canseco.

The team’s current owner, John Fisher, acquired a majority stake in the team in 2005 and became its full owner in 2016. In the Fisher era, the A’s cut payroll and the stars moved away. The team has appeared in the postseason seven times but has only made it past the divisional stage once.

After a dismal 2022, in which the first team lost 102 games, the 2023 season has started particularly dismal: The team’s total payroll is just $58 million, the lowest in the league, and, at 3-16, the team’s worst record. in baseball.

The team’s move would mark the third professional sports team to leave Oakland in recent years, leaving the city with no one. In 2019, the Golden State Warriors, who have played at Oakland Arena since 1971, moved across the bay to a new arena in San Francisco. The following year, the Raiders, a longtime Oakland NFL team, left for Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the United States, and its population has tripled since 1990. The A’s will be the third professional sports team, joining the Raiders and Golden Knights of the NHL, which were added as an expansion team in 2017. .