The Oakland Athletics agreed to buy a 49-acre site just off the Las Vegas Strip and hope to relocate to Nevada, team president Dave Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Wednesday.
The club plans to build a new ballpark on the site at Dean Martin Drive and Tropicana Avenue, just west of the New York-New York and Excalibur casinos.
The Athletics have spent years exploring paths to a new stadium in Oakland, but they are still playing before sparse crowds at the 57-year-old Oakland Coliseum.
The purchase agreement in Las Vegas was made with Red Rock Resorts, which runs Station Casinos.
“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” Kaval told the newspaper. “Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement to the Review-Journal, “We support the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year.”
Kaval told the newspaper that the team plans to build a $1.5 billion, 35,000-seat venue with a partially retractable roof.
“It’s really exciting to have a site,” Kaval said. “We’ve spent almost two years doing our due diligence, working with community leaders, elected officials and everyone in town to really determine a location that could be a win for the A’s as well as the community and public officials.”
The new ballpark would be just one mile away from Las Vegas’ other major league venues: Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders (who also fled Oakland for Nevada); and T-Mobile Arena, home of the Vegas Golden Knights.
The A’s rank last in average attendance among major league teams this year, drawing around 11,000 fans per game. Oakland also has the worst record in the majors at 3-16, and the team’s Opening Day payroll of $56,895,000 was the lowest in the majors, according to USA Today.
Oakland’s Triple-A affiliate has played in Las Vegas since 2019.
–Field Level Media
