Oakland A's future takes a twist as new stadium proposed to MLB commissioner

12 July 2023 , 14:16

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Oakland Athletics released pictures of their proposed new stadium in Las Vegas in May (Image: AP)

The Mayor of Oakland met with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to discuss a new stadium for the Oakland Athletics.

The franchise looks set to relocate as the Nevada State Legislature approved a $380million bill to help finance a new stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Vegas strip in June. The A’s have been based in Oakland since 1968 and are keen to open their proposed new venue in time for the 2028 season.

But Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is desperate to keep the franchise in the city, especially after the Golden State Warriors moved out to San Francisco. Manfred claimed that Oakland had not made an offer to keep the Athletics in the city and had “never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site.”

Thao has since said those claims are false and she is fighting to keep the baseball team in Oakland and is keen to reopen negotiations. “For me, it was very important that (Manfred), and not just him, but the (league’s relocation) committee and the owners had a copy of all that we are presenting, for transparency purposes,” Thao told The Athletic.

“Through the press, we have heard that Manfred has stated there was no proposal. We wanted to dispel that notion. If people were misinformed, we wanted to make sure everybody had all the real-time information of how close we were to a ballpark.

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“For me, it’s about the Oakland A’s team itself. If it’s with this owner, if it’s with a new owner, I’m agnostic about that. I want whichever avenue it takes to keep the Oakland A’s in Oakland.” Manfred received the presentation and will send the materials to the three-person relocation committee.

“We had a good meeting, a very open exchange of views,” Manfred said Tuesday before the All-Star Game. "I understand she came to the process late and is doing her best to figure out if there is something that can be done in a process that was in a lot of ways kind of over when she showed up on the scene.”

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao is determined to keep the baseball franchise in Oakland (Jane Tyska/Digital First Media/East Bay Times via Getty Images)

The A’s currently hold a record of 25-67, the worst in the league and average just over 10,000 fans at their games, the lowest in the industry. The biggest crowd came on June 13 when 27,759 spectators turned up to tell Athletics owner John Fisher to sell the team.

The protests continued at the 2023 MLB All-Star Game in Seattle, when the Athletics chanted “sell the team” during the fifth inning at T-Moibile Park. Multiple former and current baseball players are against the potential move, including Philadelphia Phillies Bryce Harper, who is a native of Las Vegas.

“I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland,” Harper told USA Today in June. “It’s just not right. They have so much history in Oakland. You’re taking a team out of a city. I’m pretty sad because of all of the history and all of the greatness they’ve seen there.”

Liam Llewellyn