Is the A’s move to Las Vegas for real? So far, they haven’t shown Vegas the money | Opinion
In a Las Vegas-style five-card draw, there are two rounds of betting, an initial one before all cards are revealed and a final round where everyone is forced to show their hands. That moment of reckoning is coming for The Athletics, the Major League Baseball team that will begin playing in West Sacramento on March 31 before an eventual, potential, possible, relocation to Las Vegas in three or four years. Or maybe never.
For now, it’s a downright mystery whether supporters or opponents of the Athletics’ move to Las Vegas will ultimately prevail.
This team needs to find enough private money, greater than the estimated value of the team in Oakland, to build a Las Vegas stadium. And it needs to show that the first $100 million to gain access to some limited public financing in Nevada.
But so far, the Fisher family that owns the A’s hasn’t shown its proverbial cards. Las Vegas authorities have yet to publicly validate that the family has that level of skin in the game. And if stadium construction is to commence in Las Vegas soon, so that the team’s planned temporary stay in West Sacramento is only three years, a lot has to fall into place that so far hasn’t by all outward appearances.
“If he had the money, he would show the money,” said Alexander Marks, a spokesperson that represents Nevada’s public school teachers, the Nevada State Education Association, of Athletics owner John Fisher. The Nevada teachers are the other player in this game of political poker, betting that it can kill the public funding and keep more Nevada government money in the hands of government for needs like education.
Privately, A’s leadership exudes nothing but confidence about eventually moving the team to Las Vegas. Off the record, they point to a series of significant events that signify consistent programs toward an inevitable move there: A unanimous vote by Major League Baseball owners to move the A’s out of Oakland in 2023; the April 2024 announcement that the A’s would spend at least three seasons in West Sacramento before eventually moving to Vegas; the October 2024 announcement by John Fisher that he would be investing roughly $1 billion toward a Vegas stadium while securing a $300 million loan from US Bank. Also in October 2024, the Tropicana Hotel and Casino were demolished to make way for Bally’s casino and A’s stadium. A’s officials are confident they will break ground for their new stadium sometime in the second quarter of 2025.
In the meantime, they are thankful to their temporary hosts in Sacramento,
“You truly have our gratitude,” former interim President Sandy Dean told downtown interests who recently gathered at the Convention Center for an annual breakfast update. “We are excited of what is ahead.”
Sacramento area interests, meanwhile, are playing the role of gracious short-term hosts for the Athletics with often-stated long-term interests for a permanent Major League Team of their own. Sacramento is akin to the cocktail waitress at this poker table, eager to serve, and happy for now to settle for the tips.
“The unique thing here is the fan base,” Kings owner Vivek Ranadive told the same Downtown Partnership breakfast on Tuesday. “The fan base deserves the best.”
Major League Baseball makes its historic arrival to the Sacramento Region in barely more than a week, when the Chicago Cubs come to town to challenge the Athletics on March 31. The real action this spring regarding the future of the team, however, will be unfolding a state away in Las Vegas.
The Nevada Legislature in 2023 approved a $380 package of financial assistance to help build a stadium recently estimated to cost $1.75 billion. The teachers association sought to challenge the measure on the November 2024 ballot, but a Carson County judge nullified this initial effort, which did not preclude another referendum attempt in 2026. At least one Nevada poll at the time found that a majority of Nevadans were not interested in subsidizing an Athletics baseball stadium.
In the best of circumstances, the Athletics have to find in the range of $1.4 billion in private financing for a team valued in Oakland at only $1.2 billion.
A key milestone in the team’s development agreement is for it to provide evidence to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority that it has $100 million of its own money on hand or expended. There has been no such announcement. The Athletics “have not given us that notice/proof,” said Molly Castano, an authority spokesperson.
Once the Athletics have demonstrated that $100 million worth of committed private funding, then the team can begin to gain access to the public help. But $120 million of that help is pretty tricky. This is money to be loaned by Clark County, home of Las Vegas. And this is money to be paid back by future stadium revenues. But if voters in 2026 strike down the state act that directed Clark County to loan this money in the first place, that revenue stream is a big fat question mark. Marks of the teacher’s group, says it will start collecting signatures this August to qualify the referendum.
“People don’t want to publicly support it,” Marks said.
The team has previously said it needs to break ground this spring to stay on schedule to play ball in Las Vegas in 2028..
If this Las Vegas move is truly real, it’s all coming together entirely in private. After years of being pilloried by the baseball press as their messy divorce with Oakland dragged out, the A’s now do their business in private, off the record. Their many critics in the Bay Area and within the baseball community will view their Las Vegas move with suspicion until it actually happens.
All will be revealed when the Athletics show their hand. Until then, all bets are off.
This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 10:37 AM.
