Are the Oakland Athletics getting ready to make a big move in the near future? That appears to be the case, as the team doesn’t appear to have a long-term future in Oakland. With that said, the Oakland A’s interested in Las Vegas casinos for new field makes a whole lot of sense, as Sin City is pushing for a Major League Baseball team. Will something get done here in the near future?
In a bit of some stunning news, Oakland is eyeing the Las Vegas Tropicana as a new location for the team to play its home games at. For now, Oakland is still set to stay put in the Bay Area, but a potential move to Las Vegas really is picking up steam. Things only reached a new level with this report of the Las Vegas Tropicana on the strip being viewed as a potential spot.
According to local updates, the A’s have reached out to the Tropicana owners to see what the possibility of the strip location would be for home games down the road. The interest here is eye-opening. Earlier this year, the Athletics event sent out a survey for fans to fill out to gauge their interest in the team moving to Vegas. Essentially they wanted to see if people would be for the move.
As things stand, the team support in Oakland hasn’t been exciting whatsoever. It’s been that way for years, which is why ownership is eyeing a move down the road. With Oakland not being aggressive in free agency either, it really tells you that the focus is elsewhere. That focus of course could be on trying to find the club a home over in Las Vegas, which would be massive.
What should be noted, though, is that a move to Las Vegas isn’t imminent. There’s still plenty of hoops that need to be jumped in order for this to really gain speed. The Athletics continue to decline comment on the future of the club. Obviously, local fans in Oakland would be heartbroken if the team does end up changing cities. With that said, Las Vegas is a logical destination.
While the Tropicana is the latest place to be mentioned, multiple Las Vegas venues are being looked at right now as a possibility for the Oakland Athletics to head to. Per reports, the Wynn golf course has been linked to the A’s, while another property owned by Caesars Entertainment is being viewed as a possibility for the AL West club too. There’s no shortage of destinations.
What really could bring things together too is that Las Vegas as a whole loves the idea of an MLB team arriving to the city. Previously, there were no major sports teams around. However, the Las Vegas Raiders of the NFL and Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL have showcased just how much love and support there are for the pro teams. Adding a pro baseball team would continue the excitement.
On top of that, the NBA and Las Vegas have been in discussions about an expansion team arriving to Sin City down the road too. Should pro basketball and baseball make a move to LV, it’s going to be massive for local businesses and casinos. Think about all of the Las Vegas online betting sites who would be ready to have fans check out the MLB Vegas odds and NBA Vegas odds from start to finish in the season?
Things are already exciting right now, but they’d of course get even greater with the additions of even more teams. At the end of the day, commissioner Rob Manfred would be wise to try and push an Oakland move to Las Vegas too for the Athletics. Time and time again we saw the ballpark in Oakland totally empty. Fans have tuned out. That wouldn’t be the case in Las Vegas.
Another question folks have on their minds is could the A’s end up moving to a different city other than Las Vegas? That’s a fair question, as multiple other cities are dreaming off adding a new team. One city in particular that is quite intriguing would be Portland. The Portland Athletics? Don’t be shocked if that ends up going down at some point down the road.
Portland has long been eyeing a professional baseball team. Fans in Oregon have had to root for the Seattle Mariners over the years, and to say that’s not going well would be a complete and total understatement. The Mariners haven’t been to the playoffs since 2001. Folks are getting tired of driving multiple hours from Portland up to Seattle to watch a losing club.
That could all change, though, if Portland were to get the A’s. While Las Vegas feels like the favorite city to take things over for the AL West side, Portland is certainly considered a dark horse here too. Everything is a bit up in the air as to where the Athletics will be playing their home games for the long haul, but people in Oakland really need to start preparing for that to happen in a new city.
