“A” has little time to find a home in Oakland, Las Vegas

The Oakland Athletics have spent years building a new stadium while watching Bay Area neighbors the Giants, Warriors, 49ers and Raiders successfully move to state-of-the-art stadiums, and now their efforts are running out.

The “A” lease at RingCentral Coliseum is set to expire after the 2024 season, and while they may be forced to extend the terms, the stadium has been deemed unsuitable for a professional franchise by the club and Major League Baseball.

They are looking for a new stadium in Oakland or Las Vegas, but they are struggling in both directions. In October, the A’s missed a deadline to make a deal in Oakland, and there was little sign that they would get the funding they want from Las Vegas.

“I think first graders should look at this from two perspectives,” said Brendan Bussmann, director of government affairs at Global Market Advisors, a Las Vegas-based company. “Obviously in Oakland they were struggling to get a deal. This is not due to lack of effort. … You have an owner who is willing to invest, you have a club that wants to sit and figure out how to make it work, and you keep hitting obstacles along the way.

“It’s time to fish or cut the bait. Oakland, do you need them or not? And if not, where is A going to get the best offer? Is this Vegas? Is it somewhere else? They’ll have to find out.”

What the fives think about remains a mystery. Team president Dave Kaval was verbose earlier in the process, saying the A’s are pursuing two different directions with Oakland and Las Vegas. But he kept quiet about it a few months ago. ‘A’ spokeswoman Katherine Acker said most recently that the club would refrain from commenting for the time being.

The A’s are in talks with Oakland to build a $1 billion stadium as part of a $12 billion redevelopment deal.

Newly elected mayor Sheng Tao said reaching an agreement is important if it makes economic sense for the city. Her predecessor, Libby Schaaf, led previous efforts to reach a deal, but after the city and the A’s missed an October deadline, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed doubt that a deal would ever be struck.

“The pace in Oakland was not fast at first,” Manfred said at the time. “We are in a stadium situation that is really unacceptable. I mean, we need to do something to make a difference. So I’m worried about the lack of pace.”

The recent history of California justifies his fears. SoFi Stadium in Southern California and the Chase Center in San Francisco were built with private money, while Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara was 90% privately funded.

“And then there was some contagion, I think, when people across the country realized these deals could be nicely done privately and could give investors a return on investment,” said David Carter, professor of sports business at the University of Southern California. “Why are we even throwing public money at this?”

This question is also being asked in Las Vegas, despite the Raiders receiving $750 million from the Nevada Legislature for the stadium in 2016. That was the largest amount of public money for a sports facility at the time, but it was surpassed last March by $850 million pledged to build a new stadium for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills.

Another deal like the deal with Allegiant Stadium, where the Raiders play, in Nevada seems unlikely. T-Mobile Arena, which opened in 2017, was privately funded. The arena, planned south of the Las Vegas Strip, will also not be dependent on public funds.

Las Vegas, however, has been creative with funding. His Triple-A baseball stadium received $80 million in 2017 for naming rights from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The utility taxes finance the authorities, so it was state money in a sense.

Clark County Commissioner Michael Naft, who sits on the congressional board, spoke to the A’s about their interest in Las Vegas and said he was aware of the club’s talks with other Nevada officials. He said the A’s take a very different approach than the Raiders, who early identified Las Vegas as their preferred landing spot after years of failed attempts to build a new stadium in Oakland.

“When the Raiders decided to come to Las Vegas, they had a clear plan,” Naft said. “You had a clear body that was tasked with evaluating value and worth and made a commitment. I haven’t seen that from the Oakland A’s at any level and it’s not our job to go out and beg them to come here because we’ve earned the reputation of being the greatest arena on earth. We have invested both dollars and labor to achieve this.

“I think I’ve made myself clear, but from conversations with others, I don’t think I’m alone in this.”

New Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo did not state his position on state funding, but no Nevada politician publicly pushed for funding.

However, in December, Manfred stated that the “A” relocation fee would be waived if they moved to Las Vegas, reportedly saving the club up to $1 billion.

“We have already run out of reasonable time to resolve the situation in Auckland,” Manfred said at the time.

Naft said Allegiant Stadium filled a hole that was not limited to bringing in an NFL team. This allowed Las Vegas to attract major sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the Final Four, as well as major concerts such as Garth Brooks and Elton John, which “in many cases we wouldn’t otherwise be able to host.”

He said he didn’t believe the baseball stadium would make it, and sports economist Victor Matheson agreed.

“I think there’s a real question about how many people are willing to watch baseball in Las Vegas,” said Matheson, a professor at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts. “It’s not that the locals don’t have much entertainment right now, and it’s not clear exactly how many people might be traveling to watch baseball in Vegas.”

If the “A”s really want to be in Las Vegas, Naft said they should make it clear.

“I just don’t think you can play destinations against each other,” Naft said. “If you want to come here and want to be welcomed with open arms, you have to make a commitment.”

If an agreement cannot be reached in Oakland or Las Vegas, they may consider other destinations such as Charlotte, North Carolina; Nashville; and Portland, Oregon. Whether they will have time to explore such options is another matter.

Oakland has already indicated that it will watch the Raiders move to Nevada and the Warriors move across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.

Las Vegas, Matheson noted, is hardly in a stalemate. He also warned that Las Vegas could go from one of the largest metropolitan areas without a major professional sports team to one of the smallest with three franchises.

“So in a short period of time, you went from under-sporting to over-sporting, if there were A’s,” Matheson said.

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