The Oakland Athletics have spent years trying to get a new stadium while watching Bay Area neighbors like the Giants, Warriors, 49ers and Raiders successfully move into state-of-the-art venues, and now time is running out for them.
The A’s lease on RingCentral Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, and while they may be forced to extend the terms, the club and Major League Baseball have deemed the stadium unsuitable for a professional franchise.
They are looking for a new stadium in Oakland or Las Vegas, but have struggled in both areas. The A’s missed an important deadline in October to reach an agreement in Oakland, and there has been little indication that they will receive the kind of financing they want from Las Vegas.
“I think the A’s have to look at it two ways,” said Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs for Las Vegas-based Global Market Advisors. “Obviously, in Oakland they have had trouble reaching an agreement. It is not for lack of effort. …You have an owner who is willing to put money in, you have a club that wants to sit there and figure out a way to make it work, and you keep getting bumps along the way.
It’s time to fish or cut the hook. Oakland, do you want them or not? And if not, where are the A’s going to get the best deal? In Las Vegas? In other site? They will have to find out.”
What the A’s are thinking is a bit of a mystery. Team president Dave Kaval was forthcoming early in the process, saying the A’s are going two different paths with Oakland and Las Vegas. But he was silent on the issue several months ago. A’s spokeswoman Catherine Aker recently said the club would not comment at this time.
The A’s have been negotiating with Oakland to build a $1 billion stadium as part of a $12 billion redevelopment deal.
The newly elected mayor, Sheng Thao, said reaching an agreement is important as long as it makes economic sense for the city. His predecessor, Libby Schaaf, led earlier efforts to reach an agreement, but after the city and the A’s missed an October deadline, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred expressed reservations about the possibility of reaching a deal. agreement.
“The pace in Oakland hasn’t been fast, to begin with,” Manfred said at the time. “We are in a stadium situation that is really unsustainable. We have to do something to change the situation. So I’m worried about the lack of rhythm.”
California’s recent history justifies their concerns. Southern California’s SoFi Stadium and San Francisco’s Chase Center were built with private money, and Santa Clara’s Levi’s Stadium was 90 percent privately funded.
“And then I think there was some contagion where people across the country realized that these deals could be done well privately and could generate a return on investment for those investors,” said David Carter, a professor of sports business at the University of Southern California. “Why are we investing public money?
That’s a question being asked in Las Vegas, too, despite the fact that the Raiders received $750 million in 2016 from the Nevada Legislature for a stadium. That was then the largest amount of public money for a sports venue, but it was surpassed last March by the $850 million promised to build a new stadium for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.
Another deal like the one at Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders play, seems unlikely in Nevada. T-Mobile Arena, opened in 2017, was privately financed. A planned stadium south of the Las Vegas Strip would also not be dependent on public funding.
Las Vegas, however, has shown creativity in financing. Its Triple-A ballpark received $80 million in 2017 for naming rights from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Room taxes finance the authority, so it was public money on the sly.
Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft, who is on the convention authority’s board, has spoken with representatives of the A’s about their interest in Las Vegas and said he is aware of the club’s discussions with other Nevada officials. He said the A’s are taking a much different approach than the Raiders, who identified Las Vegas early on as their landing spot after many years of not getting a new stadium in Oakland.
“When the Raiders decided to come to Las Vegas, they had a clear plan,” Naft said. “They had a clear body charged with assessing value, and they were committed to the destination. I haven’t seen that at the Oakland A’s at any level, and it’s not really our job to go out and beg them to come here because we’ve earned a reputation as the best stadium in the world. We have invested the money and work necessary to make it so.
“I think I’ve been clear, but from what I’ve talked to others, I don’t think I’m the only one.”
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo “will not raise taxes” to attract the A’s or any other team, his spokeswoman, Elizabeth Ray, said in a statement. But she said the club could qualify for other “economic development programs” underway, which could mean tax breaks similar to the ones Tesla received in 2014.
Manfred said in December that the A’s relocation fee would be waived if they moved to Las Vegas, a reported savings for the club of up to $1 billion.
“We are beyond any reasonable time frame for the situation in Oakland to be resolved,” Manfred said then.
Naft claimed that Allegiant Stadium filled a void that went beyond getting an NFL team. It allowed Las Vegas to attract big sporting events like the Super Bowl and Final Four, and big concerts like Garth Brooks and Elton John that “in many cases we wouldn’t have had otherwise.”
He said he doesn’t think a ballpark can do that, and sports economist Victor Matheson agreed.
“I think there’s a real question about how willing people are to watch baseball in Las Vegas,” says Matheson, a professor at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. “It’s not that locals don’t have a great number of entertainment options right now, and it’s also not clear exactly how far people might travel to see baseball in Las Vegas.”
If the A’s really want to be in Vegas, Naft said they need to make it clear.
“I just don’t think you can face fates,” Naft said. “If you want to come here and you want to be welcomed with open arms, you have to commit.”
If the A’s can’t reach an agreement in Oakland or Las Vegas, they could consider other destinations such as Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville; and Portland, Oregon. Whether they would have time to explore those options is another matter.
Oakland has already shown that it will see the Raiders move to Nevada and the Warriors cross the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.
Matheson noted that Las Vegas is not in dire straits. He also warned that Las Vegas could go from being one of the largest metropolitan areas without a major professional sports team to one of the smallest with three franchises.
“If the A’s moved in there, they would go from undergifted to overgifted in no time,” Matheson said.
