Athletics President re: keeping the team in Oakland

[SEWIGuy]

I don't like professional sports in Las Vegas simply on principle.  Remember how gambling was such a scourge that to associate your sports league with it was to indelibly stain the sport?  The Black Sox; Pete Rose; all that shit?

Well never mind that, welcome to opening day of the Las Vegas Athletics brought to you by Draft Kings and the fucking Mirage!
Ha, ha!  We're so desperate to increase viewership that we'll embrace degenerate gamblers now!

Professional athletes make so much now that there is little risk of Vegas players being on the take. Plus sports betting is now legal in many other states where there are teams.

And legal gambling is everywhere.

[triplemultiplex]

From Sportico (posted May 7th):

NO A'S IN ATTENDANCE: OAKLAND TRAILS A WHOPPING 553 U.S. TEAMS

What do the Calgary Roughnecks of the National Lacrosse League and the Houston Roughnecks of the United Football League have in common besides the name?

They both outdraw the Oakland Athletics.

Love the dearth of creativity in team names.  "Is there oil nearby?  Okay, we're the 'Roughnecks!'  Yeah, that's good enough."
I'm sure the author went out of their way to pick two teams with the same name, but still.

[Scott5114]

I don't like professional sports in Las Vegas simply on principle.  Remember how gambling was such a scourge that to associate your sports league with it was to indelibly stain the sport?  The Black Sox; Pete Rose; all that shit?

Well never mind that, welcome to opening day of the Las Vegas Athletics brought to you by Draft Kings and the fucking Mirage!
Ha, ha!  We're so desperate to increase viewership that we'll embrace degenerate gamblers now!

Professional athletes make so much now that there is little risk of Vegas players being on the take. Plus sports betting is now legal in many other states where there are teams.

And legal gambling is everywhere.

And also "the fucking Mirage" isn't sponsoring anything, as it's closing in June.

Besides, anyone playing for the Vegas team would become a local, one characteristic of which is a debilitating allergy to the Strip outside of work hours. (Seriously, I've been here for 4 months at this point, and stepped foot on the Strip all of once, and that was only because the Trop was closing and I wanted to see it off. Otherwise, the Strip is "that kind of annoyingly long light on Flamingo" to me.)

[Plutonic Panda]

I don't like professional sports in Las Vegas simply on principle.  Remember how gambling was such a scourge that to associate your sports league with it was to indelibly stain the sport?  The Black Sox; Pete Rose; all that shit?

Well never mind that, welcome to opening day of the Las Vegas Athletics brought to you by Draft Kings and the fucking Mirage!
Ha, ha!  We're so desperate to increase viewership that we'll embrace degenerate gamblers now!

Professional athletes make so much now that there is little risk of Vegas players being on the take. Plus sports betting is now legal in many other states where there are teams.

And legal gambling is everywhere.

And also "the fucking Mirage" isn't sponsoring anything, as it's closing in June.

Besides, anyone playing for the Vegas team would become a local, one characteristic of which is a debilitating allergy to the Strip outside of work hours. (Seriously, I've been here for 4 months at this point, and stepped foot on the Strip all of once, and that was only because the Trop was closing and I wanted to see it off. Otherwise, the Strip is "that kind of annoyingly long light on Flamingo" to me.)

Did you go walk around it? It felt like the backrooms to me it is so huge and it's empty. I paid extra for a strip view and they had this extremely annoying shit on the windows that made it hard to see out of which is my favorite part of staying on the strip.

[Scott5114]

Did you go walk around it? It felt like the backrooms to me it is so huge and it's empty. I paid extra for a strip view and they had this extremely annoying shit on the windows that made it hard to see out of which is my favorite part of staying on the strip.

Oh, good, so it wasn't just me that got the backrooms vibe from it. I wandered around a bunch of empty hallways trying to find the bathroom, and there was a guy in a bunny suit in there. I just ascribed that to Vegas being Vegas, until I realized like 20 minutes later it was Easter Sunday. Even though I'm used to being around out-of-service slot machines, having as much of the floor down as they did was kind of spooky. It was probably the most bizarre casino experience I've ever had, which is saying something since I worked at Newcastle for six years.

I had a similar room experience as you did when I stayed at the Excalibur across the street last year—paid extra for a Strip view and we got put on the floor that had the decorative crenellations on it, which totally blocked the view for my wife (I'm tall enough I could at least see part of the Tropicana over the wall). If I were in the position of coming in from out of town again, I think my game plan might be to stay at one of the cheap off-Strip resorts like the Rio and then just Uber over to the Strip or Fremont.

[ZLoth]

Besides, anyone playing for the Vegas team would become a local, one characteristic of which is a debilitating allergy to the Strip outside of work hours. (Seriously, I've been here for 4 months at this point, and stepped foot on the Strip all of once, and that was only because the Trop was closing and I wanted to see it off. Otherwise, the Strip is "that kind of annoyingly long light on Flamingo" to me.)

In 2015, I attended the Toastmasters Conference which was held at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas (located at 3570 S Las Vegas Blvd, Paradise, NV 89109). I arrived before the convention and saw David Copperfield, Blue Man Group, and Cirque du Solei as part of longer vacation. During that time, I spoke with some of the LV Toastmasters, and they told me that, unless they have business on the strip/LV, they actively avoid the area because of the congestion.

If the Athletics want to start playing in 2027 in LV, they have to start construction by next spring. If the current reports are correct, they are nowhere near that point in construction plans or funding.

[SP Cook]

Anybody who is concerned about gambling and Las Vegas has not been paying attention for the last 10 years.  Since the Supreme Court's ruling that every state is equal, and thus Congress could not prohibit gambling in other states, it has exploded.  Not only can you gamble on your phone, there are casinos within walking distance, or at least a short drive, from more than 2/3rd of Big Four sports arenas.