Athletics President re: keeping the team in Oakland

[triplemultiplex]

https://www.theonion.com/every-professional-sports-team-moves-to-las-vegas-1850520728

[epzik8]

They might have to stay in Oakland now that they've forgotten how to tank.

[Alps]

They might have to stay in Oakland now that they've forgotten how to tank.

if you extrapolate the last 6 games they will win the world series

[thspfc]

Jonah Hill better shave and gain some weight back for Moneyball 2 . . .

[1995hoo]

Nevada Senate passed the funding bill.

[gonealookin]

The A's have their largest home crowd of the season tonight (27,759) for a Tuesday night game against Tampa Bay that would normally draw 4,000.  It's a preplanned "reverse boycott" by the Oakland fans to show that they still support the team, just not the ownership.  Lots of "SELL THE TEAM" an "F**K JOHN FISHER" chants every inning.

[gonealookin]

The Nevada Assembly passed the bill with the Senate's amendments and some amendments of its own this afternoon, and the Senate concurred with the Assembly's amendments shortly thereafter.  The bill now goes to Governor Lombardo's desk for signature.  One of the Senate Democrats' additions was to insert some modifications to Family and Medical Leave law that the Governor vetoed during the regular session.  However, the Governor is expected to sign the final bill as amended, which passed with majorities of both Democrats and Republicans in both the Senate and the Assembly.  A's owner Fisher got the money he asked for; the modifications to his terms were primarily regarding the subject of the A's commitments to the Las Vegas community under the "Community Benefits Agreement" portion of the bill.

MLB must now approve the relocation (with the "relocation fee" waived as Commissioner Manfred has promised, though that requires a vote of the owners), and Fisher must secure financing of his $1.1 billion private portion and must reach the required development agreements.  After all that, shovels go in the ground (sometime in 2024?) and the A's would tentatively play their first game in that ballpark on Opening Day 2028.  Their lease expires at the Oakland Coliseum after the 2024 season; it's not clear that the lease won't be terminated after this season because they would be playing before empty seats there as a lame duck, and in any case they need a home for 2025-2027, most likely the 10,000-seat Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, which would be shared with the AAA Las Vegas Aviators.

[triplemultiplex]

I imagine that AAA club will probably move since you really don't see AAA teams in MLB cities.  I hear there's a soon-to-be empty stadium in Oakland....

[gonealookin]

I should add to the list of things that have to happen before shovels for the ballpark go in the ground:  The existing Tropicana has to be demolished, or at least that part that's on the ballpark construction site, and the site cleared.  Bally's, which owns the development rights to the property, hasn't firmly established a shutdown date for the existing resort, though assuming all the other steps (MLB approval, development agreements, financing) are settled by the end of this calendar year I'd think the shutdown timeline might be accelerated.  It's also not clear when the new resort that Bally's will build on the remainder of the Tropicana parcel would open; construction of that could be concurrent with the ballpark (seems logical) or later (seems a bit awkward).

As to triplemultiplex's comment about the Aviators, it has been pretty clearly established that the intent is to keep them where they are.  It's a nice new ballpark that just opened a few years ago, immediately adjacent to the Summerlin shopping and restaurant district.  To the extent the A's and Aviators both play there for a few seasons, that can be arranged scheduling-wise; there's ample precedent in baseball for two teams to play in the same home ballpark (e.g. Yankees and Mets at Shea Stadium while Yankee Stadium was being rebuilt, and the Dodgers and Angels at Dodger Stadium before Anaheim Stadium opened).

[Big John]

Then the Braves AAA team plays in suburban Gwinett County.

[abefroman329]

Then the Braves AAA team plays in suburban Gwinett County.

That was part of a deliberate move to consolidate their farm system within the state of Georgia, though.

[SP Cook]

There are six AAA teams that play in the same media market as the MLB parent.

As mentioned, the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) play in suburban Atlanta. 
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) play in Allentown, PA, which is in the Philadelphia DMA.
The Worchester Red Sox play in Worchester, MA, which is in the Boston DMA.
The Saint Paul Saints (Twins) play in St. Paul, the other Twin City.
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) play in Sugar Land, TX, which is suburban Houston.
The Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) play in Tacoma, which is the other major city in the Seattle/Tacoma market.

Many of the rest play in an adjacent market to the big league team.  Buffalo (Toronto), Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (New York), Columbus (Cleveland), Louisville (Cincinnati), Omaha (Kansas City), Toledo (Detroit), Albuquerque (Denver, and yes the two media markets border), Round Rock (Texas (Dallas-Fort Worth) ), and Sacramento (San Francisco)

Baseball made a cost driven effort to have its farm teams in a geographically logical cluster when it resorted MiLB back in 21.

[DTComposer]

There are six AAA teams that play in the same media market as the MLB parent.

As mentioned, the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) play in suburban Atlanta. 
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) play in Allentown, PA, which is in the Philadelphia DMA.
The Worchester Red Sox play in Worchester, MA, which is in the Boston DMA.
The Saint Paul Saints (Twins) play in St. Paul, the other Twin City.
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) play in Sugar Land, TX, which is suburban Houston.
The Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) play in Tacoma, which is the other major city in the Seattle/Tacoma market.

It should be noted that those are all top 15 media markets:
Philadelphia (4), Atlanta (6), Houston (7), Boston (9), Seattle (12), and Minneapolis (15)
and top 16 metro areas:
Houston (5), Philadelphia (7), Atlanta (8), Boston (11), Seattle (15), and Minneapolis (16)

Las Vegas is the #29 metro area and #40 media market, so it could be argued that the region isn't large enough to support both MLB and AAA teams. I suppose the A's ownership claiming such a huge potential draw from tourists is supposed to offset that argument.

[Ted$8roadFan]

There are six AAA teams that play in the same media market as the MLB parent.

As mentioned, the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) play in suburban Atlanta. 
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) play in Allentown, PA, which is in the Philadelphia DMA.
The Worchester Red Sox play in Worchester, MA, which is in the Boston DMA.
The Saint Paul Saints (Twins) play in St. Paul, the other Twin City.
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) play in Sugar Land, TX, which is suburban Houston.
The Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) play in Tacoma, which is the other major city in the Seattle/Tacoma market.

It should be noted that those are all top 15 media markets:
Philadelphia (4), Atlanta (6), Houston (7), Boston (9), Seattle (12), and Minneapolis (15)
and top 16 metro areas:
Houston (5), Philadelphia (7), Atlanta (8), Boston (11), Seattle (15), and Minneapolis (16)

Las Vegas is the #29 metro area and #40 media market, so it could be argued that the region isn't large enough to support both MLB and AAA teams. I suppose the A's ownership claiming such a huge potential draw from tourists is supposed to offset that argument.

And their landing in Vegas is being greased by the Nevada Legislature.

[gonealookin]

Las Vegas is the #29 metro area and #40 media market, so it could be argued that the region isn't large enough to support both MLB and AAA teams. I suppose the A's ownership claiming such a huge potential draw from tourists is supposed to offset that argument.

As a long time A's fan, former Oakland resident and current Nevada resident, I watched quite a bit of the Nevada Legislature's hearings on the ballpark legislation.  A big part of the pitch was that their projections have out-of-town visitors making up an average 30% of the crowd at A's home games (and filling hotel rooms during the slow summer season in Vegas, eating at restaurants, losing money in the casinos and so forth).  With the ballpark planned to be 30,000 seats, the smallest in the major leagues, that means 9,000 out-of-towners in the stands per game, which requires only 21,000 per game from the local market to sell the place out every night.

AAA teams do pretty well to average around 7,000-8,000 attendance per game, all of which is local.  I see AAA baseball as more family-friendly, especially in Vegas with the AAA ballpark being in the western suburbs rather than on the Strip.  A family can go see an Aviators game for much, much less than the high ticket prices the A's will charge in that relatively small ballpark, and never mind the $60 you'll have to pay to park your car in the MGM Grand's or New York New York's garage.  A lot of kids don't really care that they are seeing anonymous minor league players and not Shohei Ohtani and Aaron Judge.

I think the attendance targets from the local Vegas market are achievable for both the A's and the Aviators.  I do wonder, long-term, about that 9,000 per game from out-of-town.  Once a Mariners fan has made the trip from Seattle two or three times, are they going to keep doing that same trip regularly?  It seems like once the novelty wears off that market might start to decline.

[Henry]

With the Las Vegas A's on their way (and Oakland losing its longest-tenured team as a result), will the AAA team be renamed to the Summerlin Aviators? There has been precedent of a smaller unknown city being named instead of the large city nearby: take the Round Rock Express, who play in a suburb of Austin. Before they were founded, nobody outside of Austin (and maybe San Antonio, plus several other places along the I-35 corridor) would've known where Round Rock was, and now the fans have a reason to go there. After all, Nolan Ryan's family owns the team!

[brad2971]

There are six AAA teams that play in the same media market as the MLB parent.

As mentioned, the Gwinnett Stripers (Braves) play in suburban Atlanta. 
The Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies) play in Allentown, PA, which is in the Philadelphia DMA.
The Worchester Red Sox play in Worchester, MA, which is in the Boston DMA.
The Saint Paul Saints (Twins) play in St. Paul, the other Twin City.
The Sugar Land Space Cowboys (Astros) play in Sugar Land, TX, which is suburban Houston.
The Tacoma Rainiers (Mariners) play in Tacoma, which is the other major city in the Seattle/Tacoma market.

It should be noted that those are all top 15 media markets:
Philadelphia (4), Atlanta (6), Houston (7), Boston (9), Seattle (12), and Minneapolis (15)
and top 16 metro areas:
Houston (5), Philadelphia (7), Atlanta (8), Boston (11), Seattle (15), and Minneapolis (16)

Las Vegas is the #29 metro area and #40 media market, so it could be argued that the region isn't large enough to support both MLB and AAA teams. I suppose the A's ownership claiming such a huge potential draw from tourists is supposed to offset that argument.

And they don't necessarily have to have both the MLB and AAA teams in the same TV DMA. The A's (possibly renamed to Aviators?) can switch AAA teams with the Arizona Diamondbacks; the A's could have the Reno Aces as an AAA team, and the D-Backs could move the current Las Vegas Aviators to either Tucson or Talking Stick Fields near Scottsdale.

[SP Cook]

And they don't necessarily have to have both the MLB and AAA teams in the same TV DMA. The A's (possibly renamed to Aviators?) can switch AAA teams with the Arizona Diamondbacks; the A's could have the Reno Aces as an AAA team, and the D-Backs could move the current Las Vegas Aviators to either Tucson or Talking Stick Fields near Scottsdale.

I suspect that Las Vegas will affiliate with Reno AAA, and that the ex-Las Vegas AAA team will be the subject of a pretty solid bidding war between medium sized cities, perhaps cascading down the chain  is a AA moves up and so on.  There are plenty of baseball-less markets that could support a AAA team.

[Ted$8roadFan]

Meanwhile, from Oakland A's fans:

https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2023/6/21/23767113/oakland-as-leaving-for-vegas-john-fisher-reverse-boycott

[ZLoth]

From NBC Sports Bay Area:

Oakland mayor has stipulations in mind if A's extend Coliseum lease

As the Athletics ponder their impending relocation, extending the team's Oakland Coliseum lease until its new Las Vegas ballpark is constructed won't come without cost.

Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has informed MLB commissioner Rob Manfred a Coliseum lease extension has a price, her chief of staff, Leigh Hanson, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Hanson also revealed those demands could include a clause in the agreement requiring the A's name to stay in Oakland, or the city could make sure it's awarded an MLB expansion team.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

I have a few things to say to the Oakland mayor and government leaders... all of them NSFW.

[1995hoo]

Of course, the "Athletics" name didn't originate in Oakland, either.

[triplemultiplex]

Might as well try and bilk the A's out of more money since they were trying to bilk Oakland out of hundreds of millions of dollars for a new stadium.

[ZLoth]

Might as well try and bilk the A's out of more money since they were trying to bilk Oakland out of hundreds of millions of dollars for a new stadium.

Although I am opposed to taxpayer funding of stadiums and arenas, there are steps that a city can take to address the business needs of a team. From what I can see, Oakland did none of that, maybe because the current team owner is a cheapskate. When MLB is even willing to waive the relocation fee to allow the team to move, that is not a sign of a good working relationship. Now, Oakland wants to pull a Cleveland Browns maneuver. Remember, the Baltimore Colts bolted to Indianapolis when the state threatened to take the team using eminent domain.

[Ted$8roadFan]

In fairness, I think the Mayor of Oakland has more pressing immediate things to worry about than the A's:

https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/oakland-mayor-sheng-thao-crime-concerns/3301465/

[Alps]

From NBC Sports Bay Area:

Oakland mayor has stipulations in mind if A's extend Coliseum lease

As the Athletics ponder their impending relocation, extending the team's Oakland Coliseum lease until its new Las Vegas ballpark is constructed won't come without cost.

Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has informed MLB commissioner Rob Manfred a Coliseum lease extension has a price, her chief of staff, Leigh Hanson, told the San Francisco Chronicle. Hanson also revealed those demands could include a clause in the agreement requiring the A's name to stay in Oakland, or the city could make sure it's awarded an MLB expansion team.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

I have a few things to say to the Oakland mayor and government leaders... all of them NSFW.

Awarded an expansion team? How will that be different than keeping the A's?