A potentially major shift to the MLB landscape was announced last night. Team A President Dave Kaval confirms the club is resolutely turned its attention came to Las Vegas in search of the stadium after months of parallel discussions with both Vegas and Oakland.
People A signed an agreement to buy 49 acres in Las Vegas for what they hope will be the site of their next stadium. That prompted Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao to announce the end of negotiations between the city and the franchise regarding a potential new Howard Terminal ballpark in Oakland.
Given yesterday’s events, it seems very likely that A will move to Vegas within the next few years. However, nothing has been finalized yet; the franchise’s land purchase is Are not like a binding stadium agreement, including more hurdles at the government level. A’s leadership and Nevada politicians have both expressed general optimism about the stadium deal going through, though more work remains to be done to work out the details.
Howard Stutz, Tabitha Mueller and Sean Golonka of the Nevada Independent shed more light on the proposal that Group A is likely to put before the state legislature within the next few months. Person A will invest about 1 billion dollars to build the new football field. The organization is looking to create what Kaval calls an “incentive package” with half a billion dollars in public funding. According to the Nevada Independent, the general idea would be to use tax dollars generated by the stadium project itself – primarily a consumer sales tax at the new stadium and surrounding area (Kaval suggested the ultimate goal of ultimately creating a mixed-use development reminiscent of Atlanta’s Battery) — to pay off $500 million in bonds issued by the county.
As the Independent reports, Nevada legislators have generally been briefed on the proposal. They have yet to receive specific details nor make any firm commitments about the project. Multiple reports have suggested Nevada governor Joe Lombardo generally support the project, although a spokesman told the Independent that “(there there is no fixed timeline (for the official stadium agreement). The financial elements of the concept are still being discussed.” Stutz, Mueller and Golonka note that the legislature remains in session until June 5. If no agreement is reached before that time, the legislature could convene a special session to continue. negotiations in the summer.
A’s lease at the RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland runs through the end of next season. Kaval has pegged 2027 as the target date for a new Las Vegas facility. He told reporters last night that the organization hopes to have a binding contract for the stadium by the end of this year and to break ground on construction of the stadium in 2024. (According to the terms of the agreement. Under collective bargaining, A needs to have a stadium agreement signed by next January 15, or they will lose their status as revenue share recipients.)
Apparently, there will be a gap of two years between the end of A’s lease at the Colosseum and the target date for the new Vegas facility. Kaval addressed that this afternoon, telling the media that the organization is open to extending its lease at the Colosseum for two years or finding a temporary home in Las Vegas (Forwarded by Shayna Rubin of Bay Area News Group). A’s Triple-A Club, Aviators, play in Vegas and may have an MLB team while construction of the ballpark is underway.
Kaval made it clear that the club has no plans to replace the Triple-A team in the long term (link via Mick Akers of Las Vegas Review-Journal). “The pilots will stay as part of this,“Kaval said. “In the same way that there are Gold Knights and Silver Knights, we will have both A and a pilot in the community. We’ll have our big league team and our Triple-A team book together.He pointed out that the Astros (Houston to Sugar Land) and the Twins (Minneapolis to St. Paul) both have their top branches near the major league club.
While there is clear optimism on the part of A’s leadership about their next steps in Las Vegas, the frustration and anger of some in Oakland is predictable. The Mayor of Oakland criticized A’s negotiating tactics when announcing the end of discussions on the Howard Terminal project last night. Thao doubled down this morning, accusing the franchise of pulling the rug out from negotiations at a time when city officials perceive they are making progress.
“Based on A’s desire to achieve certainty by 2023, we have drawn up a detailed and concrete plan to bring the project to a City Council vote this summer.she told reporters (linked via Rachel Swan and Sarah Ravani of the San Francisco Chronicle). “But it was clear that we could not come to acceptable terms and that people A were not a good partner in this endeavor.She added that the city recently hired a mediator to guide the daily negotiations throughout this week, saying the parties “is the closest we’ve ever made a deal” until Kaval informed the city of the Vegas land deal last night.
Swan and Ravani note that Thao has left open the possibility of reopening negotiations. That probably requires a major setback in the A-team’s effort in Las Vegas at this point. For now, the focus of the organization is clearly on reaching a stadium deal that is put in place in the Nevada legislature that will then allow Team A to petition the MLB for relocation. Commissioner Rob Manfred has expressed his support for A’s efforts in Las Vegas, announcing last year that the union would waive A’s fees if they went there. Official relocation requires approval from 75% of the league’s ownership group.
