The Oakland Athletics are contemplating a move out of California, and Las Vegas is considered a potential landing spot for the Major League Baseball franchise should it depart the Bay Area.
Oakland's Triple-A affiliate, the Aviators, is already located in Las Vegas, and Aviators president and COO Don Logan believes the A's have "a better opportunity here in the long term," he told ESPN Saturday.
"Las Vegas had always been a unique sports market, a really good sports market," Logan said. "It makes sense. My perspective: Make the best deal you can in Vegas and start to turn this community on. And every other [fanbase] on.
"Las Vegas offers a dynamic that no other team has. We have 45 million visitors annually in this market, and that's what we want: heads in beds. That's what Las Vegas is about."
The Athletics' lease on the Oakland Coliseum—where they have played since moving from Kansas City in 1968—is set to expire after the 2024 season. In 2021, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred gave the franchise permission to pursue relocation after deeming the Coliseum unfit for the club's future.
Over the last few years, the A's have explored the possibility of building a $1 billion waterfront stadium as part of a $12 billion Howard Terminal project proposal. However, they've hit roadblocks throughout the process, including missing an October deadline for a new stadium deal.
Later that month, Manfred publicly expressed doubt in the Athletics' plans for a ballpark at Howard Terminal. In mid-February, he said the focus had shifted to a potential Las Vegas relocation.
"Look, I think the best way for me to answer that is to say I think that the focus since I spoke to you in December really has been on Las Vegas," Manfred told the San Francisco Chronicle's John Shea.
"The city [of Oakland] has been really caught up in trying to work their way through these funding issues that I'm sure you've read about. But I've talked to [A's managing partner] John Fisher on a regular basis both about what's going on in Oakland and about what's going on in Las Vegas."
A's general manager David Forst said Saturday he's just concerned about having a facility once the Coliseum lease is up.
"I'm hoping the A's get a stadium. I don't take sides," Forst said. "The only thing that affects the way we operate in baseball operations is actually having a facility.
"We really can't spend a lot of time thinking about the where right now."
The A's are considering two sites for a stadium in Las Vegas, according to Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: the Tropicana on the south Strip and the north Strip's Las Vegas Festival Grounds.
If the A's relocate to Las Vegas, they'd be the second Oakland team to move to the Sin City, joining the Las Vegas Raiders, who debuted at Allegiant Stadium in 2020.
The NHL also added an expansion franchise in Las Vegas in 2017, the Vegas Golden Knights, who play at T-Mobile Arena.
The WNBA's Las Vegas Aces have played there since 2018 after moving from San Antonio, Texas, and the NBA has been open to adding an expansion franchise in the Sin City in the future.
