Las Vegas mayor believes A’s should stay in Oakland, but is excited about Major League Baseball in Vegas
For a while now, the prevailing thought regarding the Oakland Athletics is that they will leave the Bay Area for Las Vegas, following in the footsteps of the Raiders.
After all, MLB owners unanimously approved the move in November.
That move is expected to come in 2028, per ESPN, with the only remaining question being whether the A’s will remain in Oakland in the interim or find a new temporary home in either Sacramento or Salt Lake City.
If you ask Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, though, the A’s move to Las Vegas isn’t as set in stone as previously thought.
Goodman is convinced that A’s ownership wants the franchise to remain in Oakland, even though, as reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the team and the city haven’t spoken in 10 months.
“Mr. (John) Fisher and Dave Kaval (the A’s team president) have been here innumerable times,” Goodman said in an interview with Front Office Sports. “I know in the back of both of their minds is the thought, ‘If we can just get Oakland to go ahead and build what we need here ... ’”
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Goodman believes the A’s reticence to select a site in Las Vegas prior to settling on the location of the Tropicana Las Vegas is clear evidence that ownership would prefer not to move the team.
“We had entertained them down here,” Goodman said. “We have a very large complex, probably 60 acres, and we could’ve cobbled together more land to possibly have 100 acres. It is in the historic old part of town, which is where all major interstate highways come together.”
She continued, “We have seven access points to it and it is in an opportunity zone. There are all these benefits, so when they said no, I thought, ‘This doesn’t make sense. This is a great site and they can get a great price on it because it is owned by the city.’ And yet no, they wanted to get close to the Strip with all the congestion and I thought, ‘This does not make sense.’
“So why is it happening? Well, because they really want to stay in Oakland.”
For her part, Goodman would prefer the A’s remain in Oakland. Not for any lack of interest in Major League Baseball in Las Vegas, but because she believes Oakland needs a professional sports franchise.
“Certainly you have the fan base there,” she said. “We already have the Raiders and each city needs to have that spirit of sports.”
She continued, “I just think there is an appetite. I run into people from Oakland all the time and they want to keep the team. It is just the government up there. It costs money and you have to find tax breaks that will work. ... Ways for the city to really get behind having them. I know people will feel that is the best.”
Goodman also noted in her interview with Front Office Sports that although it may seem that everything is worked out, as far as the A’s moving to Las Vegas, she remains skeptical of the plan.
“Those who’ve been involved with the conversations and planning, with Dave Kaval and his team, have had many, many, many meetings and picked on different (potential ballpark) sites,” she said. “They’d say, ‘This one is definite,’ then nope, they don’t like it anymore. Then, ‘This one’s the one,’ then nope, not that one. That is the reason I keep thinking there is something wrong here.”
She continued, “I personally think they’ve got to figure out a way to stay in Oakland and make their dream come true. It is possible even though they are talking about that small site (here in Las Vegas). It is not done until it is done. Until it is done, it is not done.”
After her comments caused a bit of an uproar, Goodman attempted to clarify what she meant in a statement given to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. She said that she is excited for MLB to come to Las Vegas, though she added that believes it best for A’s fans if the team figure things out in Oakland.
“I want to be clear that I am excited about the prospect of Major League Baseball in Las Vegas, and it very well may be that the Las Vegas A’s will become a reality that we will welcome to our city,” the statement reads.
“I mentioned the passionate fans of Oakland who often visit our city to cheer on the Raiders. My points included that it is my belief that in their perfect world the ownership of the A’s would like to have a new ballpark on the water in Oakland and that the ownership and government there should listen to their great fans and try to make that dream come true.”
A much more serious threat to the A’s potential move to Las Vegas comes in the form of a lawsuit filed Monday by Strong Public Schools Nevada, a PAC affiliated with the Nevada State Education Association.
Per the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the lawsuit — filed in the Carson City District Court — challenges the constitutionality of Senate Bill 1, which was signed by Nevada governor Joe Lombardo in June.
That bill would provide up to $380 million in public funds for what is estimated to be a $1.5 billion MLB stadium on the Strip.
Strong Public Schools Nevada claims that the aforementioned bill violates five sections of the Nevada Constitution, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported, and that those violations “should lead to the bill’s invalidation.”
Specifically, the lawsuit contends that the bill violates the state constitution, “because it was not passed by a two-thirds majority of both houses in the Legislature despite being a requirement for legislation concerning public revenue.”
This isn’t the first legal challenge to the A’s relocating to Las Vegas.
Last July, a teachers union PAC — “Schools Over Stadiums” — was formed to give “Nevadans the opportunity to vote to stop this misguided project.”
