Could Salt Lake City face more competition for an MLB team?
Baseball owners are expected to approve the Oakland A’s move to Las Vegas during their annual meetings this week.
If that happens, Oakland could be unexpected competition for Salt Lake City and other cities seeking a major league expansion team.
The A’s relocation vote is expected to be held during the three-day meeting of owners in Arlington, Texas, which started Tuesday. Relocation requires approval from three-quarters or 23 of the 30 Major League Baseball owners. A new stadium in Las Vegas is proposed to open for the 2028 season.
The A’s lease at the Oakland Coliseum runs through 2024, so there would be one more season in the city if the move is approved. Where the team would play from 2025 to 2027 is unclear.
Where the team might call home after the 2024 season is not in the relocation committee report and hasn’t been discussed at the owner’s meetings, according to SB Nation. Continuing to play in Oakland under a new lease agreement or moving to another major league or minor league stadium is a possibility.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has said that before agreeing to an extension of the team’s lease, she wants to discuss with baseball the possibility of securing an expansion team in Oakland, according to The Mercury News. The mayor also wants the city to retain the A’s brand and colors if the team relocates to Las Vegas.
Though it seems unlikely that baseball would award Oakland an expansion franchise, it could throw another city into the mix of places seeking an expansion team.
Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said in July the 30-team league would start looking at adding two new teams after the A’s and the Tampa Bay Rays settled their stadium issues. The Rays announced an agreement in September with the city of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County to build a new $1.3 billion ballpark.
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Led by the Larry H. Miller Company, a coalition of prominent Utahns calling itself Big League Utah is all-in on landing an expansion franchise for Salt Lake City. Some observers, including ESPN baseball analyst Buster Olney and Cy Young Award winner David Cone, have said that after Nashville, Salt Lake City seems the most likely city for an expansion team.
The group is proposing to build a stadium in the Power District just west of downtown Salt Lake City across from the state fair park.
But there’s plenty of competition around the country. Another city in the West, Portland, is making a big push. Charlotte, Montreal and Austin are also possible expansion sites and others, like Oakland, could emerge.
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Thao, though, also continues making a case to keep the A’s in Oakland, and says the league would benefit more financially if Las Vegas were an expansion site instead.
She sent a letter to 15 owners last week urging them to reject A’s owner John Fisher’s plan to move the team to Las Vegas after 55 years in Oakland, ESPN reported. Among her arguments is that baseball would lose as much as $2 billion in expansion fees if the team moves to Las Vegas.
“The A’s are reportedly counting on hundreds of millions of dollars of relocation fees to be waived as part of this move,” Thao wrote. “Not only would this require MLB owners to make a major financial sacrifice, it might also create a precedent that could cause other teams to seek similar considerations. ... And moving the A’s to Las Vegas would remove the market from eligibility as a potential expansion site, closing the door on the hefty expansion fee (expected to amount to $2B+) a new Vegas-based team could contribute.
“In sum, we believe that keeping the A’s in Oakland while evaluating an expansion opportunity in Las Vegas is by far the most lucrative path for MLB over both the short and long term.”
ESPN reported last week that there have been no official renderings of the Las Vegas stadium and Oakland officials say there has been no discussion about extending the lease on the Oakland Coliseum, which expires after next season.
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