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The Oakland A’s have taken a big step towards relocating to Las Vegas.
According to The Nevada Independent, the MLB franchise has reached an agreement with Bally’s Corp. for the team to build a 35,000-seat stadium on the site of the Tropicana casino near the south end of the iconic Las Vegas Strip.
Sources told The Nevada Independent that Bally’s would tear down the casino to make way for the $1.5 billion stadium under the plan.
The stadium would occupy about nine acres of the 34-acre site. If the project comes to fruition, it would require public funding.
The report stated that the amount of public funding requested would be about $400 million under the plan for the Tropicana site.
Las Vegas has become a major sports hub following the nationalization of sports betting, allowing leagues to warm to gambling and consider Las Vegas a potential host city. The city received an NFL team in 2020, with the then-Oakland Raiders becoming the Las Vegas Raiders. Oakland could soon be losing another major sports franchise to Las Vegas.
With an MLB team, Las Vegas would have a franchise in three of the four major U.S. sports. The city also has the Las Vegas Golden Nights of the NHL.
The $400 million in public funding would be down about $100 million from an earlier $500 million. As of mid-May, Nevada had no legislation on the table to secure public funding for the new stadium. It’s unclear when legislation may be introduced in Carson City.
According to The Nevada Independent, the A’s had previously considered a deal with Red Rock Resorts for a stadium site. That deal was apparently in advanced talks but fell apart.
The report stated that Bally’s would look to benefit from the baseball stadium with a new casino hotel “across from the stadium.” The hotel would have a reported 1,500 rooms.
The A’s plan is to have the stadium open in 2027 or 2028.
“For more than 20 years, the A’s have focused on securing a new home for the Club and have invested unprecedented time and resources for the past six years to build a ballpark in Oakland,” the team said in a statement in April.
“Even with support from fans, leaders at the city, county, and state level, and throughout the broader community, the process to build a new ballpark in Oakland has made little forward progress. We have made a strong and sincere effort to stay here. We are disappointed that we have been unable to achieve our shared vision of a waterfront ballpark. As we shift our focus to Vegas, we will continue to share details about next steps.”
The announcement from the A’s was met with a strong comment from Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who appeared surprised by the recent developments.
“The City has gone above and beyond in our attempts to arrive at mutually beneficial terms to keep the A’s in Oakland,” the mayor said in a statement. “Yet, it is clear that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game – the fans and our residents deserve better.”
The A’s have played in Oakland since 1968, with World Series titles in three straight years in the early 1970s and one in 1989.
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