Featured image credit: Oakland A’s
The Oakland Athletics are seeking to play up to eight home games per season away from their proposed $1.5bn (£1.17bn/€1.38bn) ballpark in Las Vegas.
The request has been revealed by the Nevada Independent, citing’s the team’s proposed 30-year non-relocation agreement which is due to be voted on by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board on July 18.
In November, the A’s received the green light from Major League Baseball (MLB) to relocate from Oakland to Las Vegas. The team is playing the 2024 season at its current home, the Oakland Coliseum, before heading to Sutter Health Park in Sacramento for the 2025-2027 campaigns prior to the move to Vegas in 2028.
In the three most recent non-relocation agreements covering new ballparks in Miami (2009), Atlanta (2014), and Arlington, Texas, (2017) the teams involved – the Marlins, Braves and Rangers – agreed to no more than three ‘home’ games in neutral sites per season.
Stadium Authority chairman Steve Hill told the Independent that talks with the A’s concerning the non-relocation agreement are ongoing, adding that, ultimately, the number of home games away from Las Vegas will affect the bonding element of the $380m in public funding being sought for the stadium, which stands at $120m.
The Authority is overseeing the operations and oversight of the project and Hill suggested the team could reduce its requested number of games to ensure the bonding capacity needed to finance stadium construction is not threatened.
“If you eliminate 10% of the games that will be played at the stadium, chances are you’re going to eliminate about 10% of that bonding capacity,” he said.
The A’s haven’t taken part in a special MLB regular season series or event since 2019 and president Dave Kaval said that potentially hosting eight games outside of Las Vegas could build the team’s brand, promote the club and attract players and sponsors.
However, Kaval said talks are still taking place with the Stadium Authority over the terms of the non-relocation agreement and a number of neutral site ‘home’ games. He added that the idea of including the eight games was to have “flexibility” but to also put an “absolute limit” on how many games could be moved. “We know in most years it’s expected to be way less,” he said.
Kaval and Hill suggested other events, including concerts, would take place at the new 33,000-capacity ballpark when the A’s aren’t in town. Jeremy Aguero, a principal analyst at the Applied Analysis advisory firm which is working on behalf of the A’s, said financial projections for the stadium presented to lawmakers last year were based on uses beyond baseball.
“Let’s imagine that the A’s don’t play a game or three games over a specific period,” he added. “That also allows the stadium to be reprogrammed for some other use during that same period. The value of a stadium is not just game day. It is everything that happens outside of game day as well.”
In March, the A’s took a major step forward in their Las Vegas relocation plans by appointing Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and HNTB, and unveiling the official design concept for the new ballpark on the iconic Las Vegas Strip.
Share this