LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — While Clark County issued a statement Thursday saying it’s ready to welcome the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao expressed disappointment, saying the city had gone “above and beyond” to keep the team and negotiations are “ceasing.”
. . . In the last three months, we’ve made significant strides to close the deal. Yet, it is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game — the fans and our residents deserve better.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao
Wednesday night, the Oakland Athletics president announced the team was near closing a deal to build a $1 billion, 35,000-seat baseball stadium in Las Vegas west of the Strip. It would sit on a 49-acre site at Tropicana Avenue and Dean Martin Drive, north of the Allegiant Stadium, and across the freeway from the T-Mobile Arena where the Golden Knights play.
For a city that was once barren when it came to professional sports teams, in recent years that’s changed with the introduction of the Golden Knights, the NHL team which played its inaugural season in 2017. Three years later, the former Oakland Raiders officially became the Las Vegas Raiders in a ceremony at the newly constructed Allegiant Stadium that will host the Super Bowl in 2024.
Clark County said it’s growing its sports brand with the addition of a Major League Baseball team.
. . . As we have said before, no one entertains like we do and our ability to host sporting events, both in the short- and long-term, is no exception. Our leadership at the county management and commissioner level has been working hard through important conversations with the team, legislative leadership, stakeholders in our region, and others to help ensure that the public investment in this opportunity is sound and right for the taxpayers we are charged with serving.
Jennifer Cooper, chief communications & strategy officer, Clark County
Cooper’s statement added the county is hopeful the “outcome of current and future discussions is a deal that protects taxpayer interest and dollars while fostering important community and workforce development initiatives into the future.”
Meanwhile, Mayor Thao said, “I am not interested in continuing to play that game — the fans and our residents deserve better.”
Oakland A’s team president Dave Kaval said he is hoping to break ground on the new ballpark in 2024 with the opening in 2027.
