A's planned timeline to move from Oakland to Las Vegas revealed
A re-location vote for the Oakland A’s could come as soon as June, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said this week. That’s just the first hurdle the team has to clear as it prepares to make the move to Las Vegas.
Lawmakers in Nevada are reviewing a bill to fund the A’s new ballpark, according to Front Office Sports. If the legislation can be approved this calendar year, it’ll be the first step toward getting the team to Vegas by 2028.
According to the team’s planned timeline, approving the legislation and getting approval from MLB would happen this year. Construction would begin from 2024-25 and wrap up in 2028. That’s when the team would start playing games at the ballpark, which would be at the current site of the Tropicana on The Strip, per the proposal.
Last week, the A’s and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo announced a tentative agreement to move the team to Las Vegas from Oakland, where they’ve resided since 1968. If the move occurs, the A’s would be the second professional sports team to move to Sin City after the Raiders did so in 2020. The NHL added a team in Vegas in 2017 when the Golden Knights were founded, meaning the A’s would be the third pro team in the city.
“This agreement follows months of negotiations between the state, the county, and the A’s, and I believe it gives us a tremendous opportunity to continue building on the professional sports infrastructure of southern Nevada,” Lombardo said via a news release. “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it.”
Team president Dave Kaval also released a statement about the news, acknowledging how important that step was to getting the team on the move to The Strip. The team is planning to build a $1.5 billion stadium on the side of the Tropicana Hotel in partnership with Bally’s Corporation, and it could hold as many as 35,000 people, according to the Nevada Independent. Taxpayers would be on the hook for about $395 million, per the report.
“We’re very appreciative of the support from the State of Nevada and Clark County’s leadership,” Kaval said. “We want to thank Governor Lombardo, the Legislative leadership, the Treasurer, and Clark County Commissioners and staff on the collaborative process. We look forward to advancing this legislation in a responsible way.”
On3’s Griffin McVeigh contributed to this report.