“Be careful, we have a land contract in Las Vegas,” Thao’s President Dave Kaval told her, reporting the call at a news conference Thursday. Thao said she was caught off guard by the news that Oakland was likely to lose its third professional sports team in five years.
In the call, Kaval said the team has a deal to buy 49 acres in Las Vegas, where it plans to build a stadium with up to 35,000 seats. That deal likely shatters the team’s longstanding plans to build a privately funded, $1 billion, 35,000-seat waterfront ballpark at the Howard Terminal and nearby multi-billion dollar residential and commercial development, though Kaval emphasized Wednesday that the Las Vegas deal is far from over.
City officials said they were surprised by the call because both sides had made progress towards reaching an agreement and expected to have a significant update on the negotiations by the end of the week. Thao, who said she was serious about reaching an agreement with the A’s, had hired a mediator, Steve Kawa, a San Francisco political powerhouse, to help guide the negotiations. Kawa had helped the two sides negotiate an agreement to meet daily for a “negotiating summit” this week. Kawa declined to comment.
Oakland Athletics President Dave Kaval said the city of Oakland is not moving fast enough to secure a baseball deal. He pointed to financial concerns and organized shipping industry opposition to the proposed development at the Howard Terminal.
Jeff Chiu/Associated Press
As of Thursday afternoon, Oakland and Alameda County leaders said they would not be used as leverage for a team seeking subsidies from another city, even if they were at the table with Oakland.
“Based on the A’s desire for certainty in 2023, we have drawn up a detailed and specific plan to bring the project to a city council vote this summer,” Thao said on Thursday, referring to this week’s negotiation summit . “But it has become apparent that we cannot achieve acceptable terms and that the A’s are not good partners in this endeavour.”
“We were as close as we’ve ever been to a deal,” she added.
The news comes as Thao, who took office just four months ago, must address several serious issues the city is facing, including the biggest budget shortfall in history and efforts to revitalize the downtown area as major companies turn to remote work decide. Now she too is facing the likely departure of the A’s and what that could mean for the city’s economy. The likely failure of the deal also raises questions about Oakland’s ability to secure a major multibillion-dollar development deal as the city negotiates with a development group over a mega-project at the Coliseum, part of which the A’s own.
Thao struck a firm tone on Thursday, similar to that of her predecessor Libby Schaaf, who had overseen the deal with the A’s throughout her tenure but failed to reach a final agreement before leaving office. The points of contention between the city and the team were infrastructure costs, how much affordable housing should be included, and the team’s relocation agreement. Schaaf did not respond to a request for comment Thursday.
While Thao and other city officials were aware that Kaval was focused on Las Vegas as a potential baseball field, they said they still believed they could make headway by working with a negotiation team attached to A’s owner, John Fisher, reports, said Leigh Hanson, Thao’s chief of staff.
Thao said on Wednesday that the city would halt negotiations, but signaled on Thursday that it might be ready to resume talks.
Kaval told The Chronicle Wednesday night that the city is not moving fast enough to reach an agreement, citing financial concerns and organized opposition from the maritime industry to the waterfront ballpark. If the A’s clear more hurdles, Kaval said the team could break ground at a Las Vegas ballpark next year with a projected opening date of 2027 compared to Oakland’s 2030, which he says is too late. Kaval said he envisions building an entertainment area with bars and restaurants to go hand in hand with a new baseball stadium in Las Vegas.
But the city insisted it had cleared many hurdles – pointing to a significant legal victory just last month when the courts sided with the city and the A’s in its environmental review.
In addition to the stadium, the team wanted 3,000 residential units, up to 1.5 million square feet of commercial space, up to 270,000 square feet of retail space, an indoor performance center, 400 hotel rooms and up to 18 acres of open space on the Oakland shoreline.
Business leaders encouraged the city to remain open to retaining the A.
Barb Leslie, president of the Oakland Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement that the A’s “were a major local employer and are woven into the city’s cultural fabric. We hope circumstances allow the team to remain rooted in Oakland, but we are a strong and resilient community.”
Jim Wunderman, president and CEO of the Bay Area Council, which counts the A’s among its members, urged the city and the team to remain open to further discussions.
“Emotions are very high,” Wunderman said in a statement. “Even with some of the city leaders’ strong statements that the talks are dead, it’s still not entirely clear if there could be a way forward in the negotiations between the team and the city, or if there could be another alternative to get around.” keeping the A’s Oakland when it comes to that. … We encourage the city, the A’s and Major League Baseball to explore every possible option to keep the team in Oakland.”
Retired Stanford University economics professor Roger Noll said that the A’s departure was inevitable and that observers had already predicted it with the Mount Davis renovation, which obstructed baseball sightlines and did nothing to improve the Coliseum’s dilapidated plumbing system or fix other structural problems. As other cities built ballparks with huge concessions, Oakland’s venue began to look more antiquated.
As soon as other West Coast cities learned that the A’s would have to pay to build a new stadium, they started a bidding war, with Portland, Ore., Sacramento, and Las Vegas all willing to hand out significant subsidies to entice the A’s A point, said Noll.
He argued that Howard Terminal was never a good location for a sports stadium and that Oakland would be better off financially if the teams just let go, demolish the Coliseum and convert it into apartments and offices.
Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley said that while the A’s could be on the way out, Oakland still has a football team in the Roots and could attract a WNBA extension team.
“I’ve seen three professional sports teams leave Oakland and the county and it’s just unfortunate that we lost all three teams,” Miley said Thursday. “But I also want to see it as an opportunity — one door closes and another opens.”
Political analysts said the city has made great strides in obtaining port and state permits for development at the Howard Terminal. Thao said in a statement Wednesday that the city will pursue other redevelopment options at the Howard Terminal. But whether developers want to build there remains a question.
“They have this waterfront property that’s ready to be developed right now,” said Jim Ross, an Oakland-based policy analyst. “How the city and the port use (this), here lies a real opportunity. It’s probably the most valuable piece of land you can develop in the Bay Area.”
The city has raised $375 million in state and federal funding for off-site infrastructure and is waiting to hear nearly $100 million more in state and federal grant applications. Overall offsite infrastructure costs were estimated at $568 million.
The A’s still have many hurdles to clear before they can move to Las Vegas, where Kaval said they would next seek a public-private partnership to help fund a stadium. The A’s also still need approval from MLB owners to move via a 75% approval vote.
“It’s not all over yet,” said Kaval. “We have secured a land deal in Nevada and are in positive discussions with public decision makers about an incentive package. But nothing is complete.”
Reach Rachel Swan: rswan@sfchronicle.com
Reach Sarah Ravani: sravani@sfchronicle.com; Twitter: @SarRavani
