Athletics Running Out of Time To Find Home in Oakland or Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have spent years trying to get a new stadium while watching Bay Area neighbors the Giants, Warriors, 49ers and Raiders successfully move into state-of-the-art venues, and now time is running short on their efforts.
The A’s lease at RingCentral Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, and though they might be forced to extend the terms, the club and Majo League Baseball have deemed the stadium unsuitable for a professional franchise.
They are currently looking for a new stadium in Oakland, or Las Vegas. However, they have had difficulties in both of these areas. The A’s missed a major deadline in October to get a deal done in Oakland, and there has been little indication they will receive the kind of funding they want from Las Vegas.
“I think the A’s have to look at it in a couple of ways,” Brendan Bussmann is the director of government affairs at Global Market Advisors, a Las Vegas-based company. “Obviously, they have struggled in Oakland to get a deal across the line. It isn’t for a lack of effort. … You have an owner that’s willing to pony up money, you have a club that wants to sit there and figure out a way to make it work, and you keep running into obstacles along the way.
“It’s time to fish or cut bait. Oakland, do you want them or not? And if not, where are the A’s going to get the best deal? Is it Vegas? Is it somewhere else? They’ll have to figure that out.”
What the A’s are thinking is a little bit of a mystery. Team President Dave Kaval was talkative earlier in the process, saying the A’s are pursuing two different tracks with Oakland and Las Vegas. However, he stopped talking about it several months back. A’s spokeswoman Catherine Aker said mostly recently that the club would withhold comment for now.
The A’s have been negotiating with Oakland to build a $1 billion stadium as part of a $12 billion redevelopment deal.
Sheng Thao, the new mayor of Sheng Thao was clear that a deal was important provided it is economically feasible for the city. Her predecessor, Libby Schaaf, led prior efforts to reach an agreement, but after the city and the A’s missed that October deadline, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed reservations a deal will ever get done.
“The pace in Oakland has not been rapid, number one,” Manfred spoke at the time. “We’re in a stadium situation that’s really not tenable. I mean, we need to do something to alter the situation. So I’m concerned about the lack of pace.”
His concerns are supported by recent California history. SoFi Stadium in Southern California and Chase Center in San Francisco were built with private money, and Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara was 90% privately financed.
“And then I think there was some contagion where around the country people realized these deals could be done well privately and could generate a return on investment to those investors,” David Carter, a University of Southern California professor of sports business, said the following: “Why are we throwing public money at it at all?”
That’s also a question being asked in Las Vegas, even though the Raiders in 2016 received $750 million from the Nevada Legislature for a stadium. This was the largest sum of public money ever spent on a sports venue. but it was surpassed last March by the $850 million pledged to construct a new stadium for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
In Nevada, another deal similar to the one for Allegiant Stadium where the Raiders are playing seems unlikely. T-Mobile Arena was opened in 2017 and was privately funded. An arena planned for south of the Las Vegas Strip also wouldn’t rely on public funds.
However, Las Vegas has displayed financing creativity. In 2017, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority awarded $80 million to name its Triple-A baseball park. Because the authority was funded by room taxes it is considered public money.
Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft, who is on the board of the convention authority, has spoken with A’s representatives about their interest in Las Vegas and said he is aware of the club’s talks with other Nevada officials. He said the A’s are taking a much different approach than the Raiders, who identified Las Vegas early as their choice landing spot after many years of failing to get a new stadium in Oakland.
“When the Raiders decided to come to Las Vegas, they had a clear plan,” Naft added. “You had a clear body that was tasked with assessing the worth and the value, and they committed to the destination. I have not seen that from the Oakland A’s at any level, and it’s not really our job to go out and beg them to come here because we have earned the reputation of the greatest arena on Earth. We have put in both the dollars and the labor to make that the case.
“I think I’ve made myself clear, but from conversations with others, I don’t think I’m alone on that.”
New Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo hasn’t stated his position on public financing, but no Nevada politician has publicly pushed to provide funding.
Manfred said in December, however, that the A’s relocation fee would be waived If they move to Las Vegas, there are reportedly savings of up to $1 Billion.
“We’re past any reasonable timeline for the situation in Oakland to be resolved,” Manfred stated then.
Naft stated that Allegiant Stadium was able to fill a gap beyond the NFL team. It enabled Las Vegas to attract major sporting events like the Super Bowl or Final Four, as well as major concerts like Garth Brooks or Elton John. “in many cases we would not otherwise have.”
He said he doesn’t believe a baseball stadium would accomplish that, and sports economist Victor Matheson agreed.
“I think there’s a real question about how much people are willing to watch baseball in Las Vegas,” Matheson, a Professor at College of the Holy Cross in Worcester (Massachusetts), said the following: “It’s not like locals don’t have a huge number of entertainment options right now, and it’s not clear exactly how much people might travel to watch baseball in Vegas, either.”
If the A’s truly want to be in Las Vegas, Naft said they need to make that clear.
“I just believe you can’t play destinations against each other,” Naft added. “If you want to come here and you want to be met with open arms, you’ve got to commit.”
Should the A’s fail to reach an agreement in Oakland or Las Vegas, they could consider other destinations such as Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville; and Portland, Oregon. It is not clear if they would have the time or resources to explore these options.
Oakland already demonstrated its willingness to watch the Raiders go to Nevada and the Warriors cross the Bay Bridge into San Francisco.
Matheson said that Las Vegas isn’t in dire straits. Matheson warned that Las Vegas may be one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country without a major professional team, but could become one with three franchises.
“So you’ve gone from kind of being under-sported to being over-sported in a short period of time if the A’s were to go there,” Matheson spoke.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press All rights reserved.
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
