Get Even More Visitors To Your Blog, Upgrade To A Business Listing >>

Nevada governor signs bill paving way for Oakland A’s ballpark in Las Vegas

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has signed a bill granting $380 million to the Oakland A’s to help build the team’s planned ballpark in Las Vegas.

Lombardo, a Republican, signed the bill a day after both houses of the Nevada Legislature approved its language with a slew of community benefits and financial commitments promised by the A’s in order to secure the votes.

“This is an incredible opportunity to bring the A’s to Nevada, and this legislation reflects months of negotiations between the team, the state, the county, and the league,” Lombardo said in a statement.

“Las Vegas’ position as a global sports destination is only growing, and Major League Baseball is another tremendous asset for the city,” he added.

The bill’s passage clears the way for Oakland’s last major professional sports franchise to leave town and marks a significant milestone in the team’s decades-long search for a new stadium.

“We are excited about Southern Nevada’s dynamic and vibrant sports scene, and we look forward to becoming a valued community member through jobs, economic development, and the quality of life and civic pride of a Major League Baseball team,” the A’s said in a statement, which did not mention Oakland.

The $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat ballpark would be the smallest in Major League Baseball and is expected to be constructed over the next half-decade.

The A’s lease at the Oakland Coliseum — where it owns half the property rights — runs through 2024, and team officials have looked into a small minor-league ballpark elsewhere in Nevada while the Vegas ballpark is being built.

Related Articles

  • Oakland Athletics |
    Athletics fall 4-3, but split with Tampa Bay demonstrates how far they’ve come
  • Oakland Athletics |
    MLB commissioner Manfred downplays ‘reverse boycott’, feels ‘sorry’ for A’s fans but looks ahead to likely Las Vegas move
  • Oakland Athletics |
    Las Vegas native Bryce Harper says A’s shouldn’t abandon Oakland
  • Oakland Athletics |
    Oakland A’s have win streak snapped in front of familiar-sized crowd
  • Oakland Athletics |
    Returning to Coliseum, drummers react to Nevada news; where’s Fisher?

With a commitment by Nevada to a large sum of public money, the A’s have made it past perhaps its most difficult obstacle to relocation.

Three-quarters of the other Major League Baseball franchise owners must approve the move, and the newly passed legislation must also withstand any legal challenges by Nevada residents.

In the meantime, Oakland residents will need to contend with a bitter, and increasingly likely, possibility of losing all three of the city’s major professional sports franchises in a span of four years.

And the A’s — whose green-and-gold branding, “Moneyball” mythmaking and dynastic World Series success in the 1970s transcended the team’s small-market status — will be taken from a city often seen as a gritty underdog that punches above its weight.

Oakland officials had been working with the A’s on a highly ambitious ballpark and housing development at the city’s port, but Mayor Sheng Thao ended negotiations after the team in April first announced a deal to acquire land in Las Vegas.

And on Thursday, after Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred suggested the city had not stepped up to support a new ballpark, Thao’s spokesperson promptly fired back.

“There was a very concrete proposal under discussion and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize approvals,” the spokesperson, Julie Edwards, said in a statement.

The A’s have threatened relocation for decades, dating back to plans for a Denver move in the late 1970s and including several plans for relocation to the South Bay.

Last fall, Manfred offered to waive the A’s relocation fees if the team left to Las Vegas — a trend among American sports leagues eager to occupy a market once avoided for its proximity to gambling.

This week, prominent East Bay lawmaker Rep. Barbara Lee accused Manfred of violating anti-trust laws by attempting to the facilitate the A’s move. She introduced federal legislation that would force the team to compensate Oakland on its way out the door.

But for fans who just days ago staged a “reverse boycott” — which brought over 27,759 fans to the Coliseum in protest of billionaire owner John Fisher — there wasn’t much to be hopeful about upon hearing news of the Nevada bill’s passage.

“It feels like everything the A’s do,” said Jorge Leon, who spent years trying to keep the team in town. “They’re pretty good at messing with the fans and the community, so it’s fitting.”

This story will be updated.



This post first appeared on This Story Behind Better Solution Weight Loss Will Haunt You Forever!, please read the originial post: here

Share the post

Nevada governor signs bill paving way for Oakland A’s ballpark in Las Vegas

×

Subscribe to This Story Behind Better Solution Weight Loss Will Haunt You Forever!

Get updates delivered right to your inbox!

Thank you for your subscription

×