OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a new retractable-roof stadium in Las Vegas after failing to build a new venue in the San Francisco Bay area.
Team president Dave Kaval said Wednesday night that the deal closed last week for the purchase of the nearly 49-acre (20-hectare) parcel on which the A’s plan to build their stadium, near the Strip. Las Vegas and with a capacity for between 30,000 and 35,000 spectators.
The Athletics will work with Nevada and Clark County in a public-private partnership to finance the stadium. Kaval pointed out that they hope that the work will begin next year and that the transfer will be in 2027.
“Obviously for us it’s a big milestone,” Kaval said. “We’ve spent almost two years working in Las Vegas trying to find a location that works as our long-term home. Identifying a location and having a purchase agreement is a big passed”.
The A’s had been searching for a new site for years to replace the outdated and dilapidated Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since relocating from Kansas City in the 1968 season. They had tried to build a stadium in Fremont and San Jose before turning their attention to on the Oakland shoreline.
Las Vegas will be the fourth home of a franchise that was born in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics, the city where it was until 1954.
“We are focusing all of our attention on Las Vegas,” Kaval said. “Before we went on parallel paths. But we’re really focused on Las Vegas as our path to finding a future home for the A’s.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in December that the franchise would not have to pay a relocation fee if it moved to Las Vegas.
“We have exhausted any reasonable time for the situation in Oakland to be resolved,” Manfred said at the time.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao told the San Francisco Chronicle that she was disappointed that the team did not negotiate with the city as a “true partner.”
The A’s will be the second MLB team to change cities in more than half a century. Since the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972, the only team to move their headquarters was the Montreal Expos, which in 2005 became the Washington Nationals.
The Coliseum’s lease expires after the 2024 season.
