Las Vegas is one step closer to completing the major sports quadrant.
The Oakland Athletics have reached an agreement to purchase a 49-acre site near the Las Vegas strip with plans to move the MLB franchise to Las Vegas by 2027, team president Dave Kaval announced on Wednesday.
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“It’s obviously a very big milestone for us,” Kaval said. “We spent almost two years working in Las Vegas to try to determine a location that works for a long-term home. To identify a site and have a purchase agreement is a big step.”
The A’s plan is to build the stadium with a seating capacity of 30,000 to 35,000 with a retractable roof costing around $1 billion. It’s positioned across the highway from T-Mobile Arena, where the NHL’s Golden Knights play, and down the street from Allegiant Stadium, where the NFL’s Raiders play. The WNBA’s Aces play in Michelob Ultra Arena across from Allegiant Stadium.
The NBA is the only major sports franchise remaining for Vegas to secure, though there’s been speculation that could be coming should the league announce an expansion. Sin City is also welcoming a Formula One street race in November.
The Athletics had been rumored to move to Las Vegas for years with the franchise struggling on the field and with putting fans on seats. The Athletics currently hold the worst record in Major League Baseball, are last in attendance at just over 11,000 fans per game, and have the second lowest franchise valuation on Sportico’s ranking.
Oakland is set to lose its third major sports franchise in the last decade after the NBA’s Golden State Warriors moved across the bay to a new arena in San Francisco in 2019 while the Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2020.
