The Athletics may follow the Raiders in moving from Oakland to Las Vegas as progress on their proposed new stadium site at Howard Terminal remains stalled.
On Tuesday, the team and Major League Baseball tried to apply pressure to Oakland city officials to approve their waterfront ballpark proposal by saying they will begin exploring relocation opportunities at the direction of the league, via ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
“The future success of the A’s depends on a new ballpark,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “Oakland is a great baseball town, and we will continue to pursue our waterfront ballpark project. We will also follow MLB’s direction to explore other markets.”
The A’s proposal to build a stadium at Howard Terminal called for the team to privately finance the $1 billion stadium, but did call for a significant investment of north of $850 million from the city for infrastructure around the stadium site, which the mayor’s office has pushed back on. As the stalemate continues between the city and the team with their lease at the Oakland Coliseum set to run up in 2024, Major League Baseball made clear that staying in the Coliseum site, both in its current form or in building a new stadium in the same location, is not something they are willing to let happen.
“The Oakland Coliseum site is not a viable option for the future vision of baseball. We have instructed the Athletics to begin to explore other markets while they continue to pursue a waterfront ballpark in Oakland. The Athletics need a new ballpark to remain competitive, so it is now in our best interest to also consider other markets.”
As Passan notes, the frontrunner for the A’s services is expected to be Las Vegas, where the Raiders recently moved and the city also added the Aces and Golden Knights in recent years to enter into the pro sports marketplace. Vegas’ success with those teams has made the city the most talked about relocation or expansion site for the sports leagues that don’t have a team there already, and so it is unsurprising MLB seems to be steering the A’s in that direction. Passan also points to two Canadian cities, Montreal and Vancouver, as possible destinations along with Nashville, Charlotte, and Portland, but Vegas seems like the most likely destination should Oakland not budge on approving the proposal.
Major League Baseball is clearly looking to strong-arm the city into approving the plan, shutting down alternatives like building a new stadium in the Coliseum site and making it public that the relocating efforts will begin. MLB is certainly aware that if the A’s were to leave it would be the third and final professional sports team to leave Oakland in less than a decade, as the Warriors moved from Oracle Arena to the Chase Center in San Francisco and the Raiders likewise left the Coliseum for the desert oasis of Las Vegas. As such, they may feel the city can be pushed into not losing all of their franchises, but on the other hand, the city has shown it won’t budge on this issue and isn’t afraid of teams walking.