OAKLAND, Calif. — The votes are in. The Oakland Athletics will now be the Las Vegas Athletics as the Major League Baseball team owners unanimously voted Thursday.
After years of complaints about the Oakland Coliseum and an inability to gain government assistance for a new ballpark in the Bay area, the A’s plan to move to a stadium to be built on the Las Vegas Strip with $380 million in public financing approved by the Nevada government.
The A’s lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season and it remains unclear where the team will play before a new ballpark opens, in 2027 at the earliest.
The team announced on April 19 that it had purchased land in Las Vegas, then a month later replaced that location with a deal with Bally’s and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip.
Nevada’s Legislature and governor approved public financing for a $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark with a retractable roof that will be close to Allegiant Stadium, where the NFL’s Oakland Raiders moved in 2020, and T-Mobile Arena, where the current Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights started play in 2017 as an expansion team.
Oakland finished an MLB-worst 50-112 this season and was again last in the majors in average attendance at 10,276 per game. That was well below the league-wide average of 29,283, but up from the previous two years when the A's were below 10,000 fans per game.
The A's have played in the Oakland Coliseum since moving to California in 1968, and their lease to play in the outdated and run-down facility goes through next season. There were several proposals for new ballparks around Oakland since at least 2006 before owner John Fisher and the team turned their focus to Las Vegas.
Oakland is the franchise's third home. It started in Philadelphia from 1901-54, then moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons before arriving in California.
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