San Francisco (AFP) - Major League Baseball appears set to join the huge sports expansion into Las Vegas now that the Oakland A's have signed a deal to buy 49 acres of land there.
The Southern Nevada gambling hotbed, once shunned by sports leagues wary of even the appearance of ties to betting and concerned with integrity of results, has overcome such fears by serving as a successful sport host.
The NHL expansion Vegas Golden Knights debuted in 2017 at a new 20,000-seat arena.The Women's NBA Las Vegas Aces debuted in 2018 and won last year's WNBA crown.
The NFL approved the Oakland Raiders relocating to Las Vegas in 2017 but it wasn't until 2020 when the team moved to Nevada and a $1.9 billion stadium built just west of the famed Vegas Strip, not far from where the A's would set up shop.
Throw in such events as a Vegas Formula One race set to debut later this year and the city's host role for the 2024 Super Bowl and it's no wonder the neon glitz and spectacle is ready to add another top-level club.
A's president Dave Kaval had been looking at several sites for a new ballpark to replace the aging Coliseum, which opened in Oakland in 1966.Among them was a waterfront site in Oakland.
But Kaval said his decision was to devote full attention to the Vegas site after movement stalled on the new Oakland venue as the A's tried to meet a January deadline to secure a new stadium plan.
"We put an incredible six-year effort into trying to get this waterfront vision for a stadium approved," Kaval said in a posting on the MLB website.
"At the end of the day, the progress has not been fast enough.We're still maybe seven or eight years away from being even able to open a (Oakland) stadium with the lawsuits and referendums and timing challenges.
"We have a pact in Las Vegas that we think can work and has the support from the league, so we are really putting all our focus in Las Vegas and the efforts there."
The A's plan a 35,000-seat stadium with a partially retractable roof near the NFL and NHL venues, but will need a partnership with taxpayers to cover the expected $1.5 billion cost.
"It's a great location," Kaval said."It's good for locals.It's good for tourists in the resort corridor.We're really pleased with that."
'Stage for success'
MLB owners must approve the relocation but the move has the backing of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.
"The A's have done their part to stay," Manfred said."In 2021, given the continued lack of progress, MLB instructed the A's to explore a parallel path plan with Las Vegas.
"Since that time, the process in Oakland has not progressed and Las Vegas has presented a comprehensive path forward for the A's that will preserve this historic franchise forward and set the stage for future success.
"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 sees groundbreaking on the project in 2024 with a new ballpark open in time for the 2027 season.
The A's have a lease in Oakland through 2024, with Kaval saying the team has made a deal with the Las Vegas Aviators -- Oakland's top developmental club -- to share their minor-league ballpark in 2025 and 2026 before the new stadium opens.
The A's could also seek to end their lease early in Oakland or extend it for two more years.
The Philadelphia Athletics were formed in 1901 and won five World Series crowns from 1910 through 1930 before moving to Kansas City in 1955 and then relocating in 1968 to Oakland, where the A's won four World Series titles, the most recent in 1989.
While Las Vegas enjoys a haul of riches in luring sports teams, the A's would be the third major sports franchise to leave the city in recent years, following the Raiders jump to Vegas and the Golden State Warriors' relocation to a new $1.4 billion arena in San Francisco in October 2019.
