Las Vegas, Nevada, could soon get an MLB team. The Oakland Athletics announced on Wednesday that they had purchased a piece of land near Las Vegas Strip with the intention of building a new baseball park there.
According to Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the A’s bought 49 acres of land and have the option to get an additional 8 acres at a later date. The plan is to construct a $1.5 billion-worth stadium that will have 30,000 seats and a partially retractable roof. The team hopes it will break ground by next year and have the ballpark completed in 2027.
The A’s have been trying to move from Oakland Coliseum for several years now and were in discussions to build a new stadium at the Oakland waterfront. But after talks with city officials stalled, the organization decided to pursue an opportunity to relocate to Nevada.
“For a while we were on parallel paths (with Oakland), but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A’s and find a long-term home,” the team president Dave Kaval told the Review-Journal. “Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed, and we feel there’s a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”
The Athletics have a green light from the league to get the move done, with Commissioner Rob Manfred saying on Wednesday that the MLB supports “the A’s turning their focus on Las Vegas.”
The Athletics moved to Oakland in 1968 from Kansas City and enjoyed a successful early run that saw them win four championships. However, the franchise hasn’t had much success in recent decades, failing to reach the World Series since 1990.
