OAKLAND — Following the Raiders’ loss to Las Vegas, it looks like the Oakland Athletics are also heading to Sin City.
Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo on Thursday, June 15, signed a $380 million public funding package to fund the construction of a major league baseball stadium for the Oakland Athletics on the Las Vegas Strip support while the MLB commissioner unveiled a months-long approval process for the A’s proposed move there.
Las Vegas is quickly gaining a reputation as the “Sports Capital of the World,” with world-class heavyweight boxing, MMA and the Oakland Raiders moving in in 2020. Not to mention Las Vegas Golden Knights, the pride of Las Vegas, celebrating their glittering Stanley Cup on the Strip.
Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors, who thankfully stayed in the Bay Area at least, have moved to the Chase Center in San Francisco. The Oracle Arena was demolished. In a staggering five-year span, the city of Oakland loses three professional sports franchises.
For more than 20 years, the A’s have been trying to extricate themselves from the same dingy, sanitation-stricken, possum-infested Oakland Coliseum that the Raiders escaped from. Then they wanted to build a new stadium in Oakland, and that too failed due to organizational failure and government intransigence.
The success of the Golden Knights and Raiders in Las Vegas and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred’s waiver of a $1 billion relocation fee for the A’s sealed the deal.
“This legislation reflects months of negotiations between the team, the state, the county and the league,” Lombardo said. “Las Vegas’ position as a global sports destination continues to grow, and Major League Baseball is another tremendous asset for the city,” Lombardo said.
The $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium is expected to seat 30,000 fans. With Senate Bill 1 providing funding for an A’s ballpark in Las Vegas, now signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo, Bally’s Corp. now turning its attention to when the Tropicana Hotel will be demolished.
The rehabilitation of the Tropicana property is long overdue since the resort opened in 1959, said Soo Kim, Bally’s chairman. Bally’s Corp. aims to get this underway as soon as possible.
Bally’s Corp. and Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. – which owns the land on which the Tropicana sits – initially offered the A’s the 9 acres of prime land on the 35-acre site free of charge before the A’s made legislative deals.
The addition of an A’s ballpark on Las Vegas Boulevard would further develop the already vibrant sports district, said Soo Kim, Bally chairman. Allegiant Stadium and Michelob Ultra Arena at Mandalay Bay are south of Tropicana Grounds, with T-Mobile Arena directly north.
“(Las Vegas Boulevard) is going to be the street of the sport,” Kim said. “There’s a lot of logic behind it. They see the Vegas Loop plans and that will tie them all together… It all just works.”
