Oakland A’s Move to Vegas Could be Approved in June

The Associated Press wrote on Thursday that a decision regarding the Athletics’ move to Nevada could be arrived at when MLB team owners meet in New York on June 13-15.

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A’s to Leave Oakland for Las Vegas

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred shed light on what could transpire at the owners meeting next month.

“It’s possible that a relocation vote could happen as early as June. It’s a very difficult to have a timeline for Oakland until there’s actually a deal to be considered. There is a relocation process internally they need to go through, and we haven’t even started that process.”

It should be noted that the state of Nevada’s legislative leaders and the baseball team have a tentative agreement for a $1.5 billion stadium. Of course, a big question is where that money will come from. First and foremost, the state’s legislature must approve a funding bill.

An eye-catching move by the A’s organization in Las Vegas concerns a plot of land purchased at the southern end of the Strip. Right now the Tropicana Las Vegas casino resort is set in that area, but judging by these business moves, that could very well change in the near future. At the moment, the club’s lease with the Oakland Coliseum runs until 2024.

A Sad End in Oakland

If these really are the last couple of years in Oakland – or the very final one for that matter – the franchise’s time in the Bay Area ends on a depressing note. Attendance at the Coliseum is poor, average only 8,695 spectators per game, a full 3,600 fewer than the next-to-last team, the Miami Marlins.

The team is also putting in alarmingly bad product on the field. Last place in the AL West with a 10-42 record, a risible -184 run differential, 1-9 in their last 10 games. No other team has a run differential even close to -100. As discussed by John Gibbons and David Bastl on a recent Pitch Clock episode, the 2023 edition of the A’s runs the risk of being historically bad.

The last time the club made any noise was in 2021 when it finished 86-76 and flirted with a postseason birth.