Nevada governor signs bill to fund A's stadium

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo on Thursday signed the bill pledging $380 million in taxpayer money toward a $1.5 billion stadium for the Oakland Athletics to move to Las Vegas, leaving only the approval of Major League Baseball to finalize the first relocation of a franchise in nearly two decades.

SB1, the bill passed by the Nevada legislature during a seven-day special session called for by Lombardo to hammer out a financing package, was approved this week by the state Senate and Assembly after the addition of amendments that called upon the A’s organization to guarantee $2 million annually to the community, among other small concessions.

Lombardo signing the bill was the latest victory for A’s owner John Fisher, who over protests from Oakland fans and politicians had focused efforts in recent months on moving the team from its home since 1968. The last MLB team to move was the Montreal Expos, who in 2005 became the Washington Nationals. The A’s need the support of the other teams, who are expected to rubber-stamp the move in the coming months without the team needing to pay the standard $1 billion relocation fee after commissioner Rob Manfred said he would waive it as long as the organization received public funding to support its stadium efforts.

“I’m excited to officially sign SB1 this afternoon,” Lombardo said in a statement. “This is an incredible opportunity to bring the A’s to Nevada, and this legislation reflects months of negotiations between the team, the state, the county, and the league. Las Vegas’ position as a global sports destination is only growing, and Major League Baseball is another tremendous asset for the city.”

The A’s, whose lease at the dilapidated Oakland Coliseum runs through 2024, are expected to move at latest in 2025 to Las Vegas, a city that before the NHL’s Golden Knights arrived in 2017 didn’t have a major professional sports team. The team hopes the proposed stadium, a 30,000-seat retractable-roof building at the site of the Tropicana hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, would be ready by 2028. Until then, the A’s would play about 30 minutes west, at their AAA affiliate’s 10,000-seat park, before moving into the smallest stadium in MLB.

The A’s move, initiated by Fisher following more than two decades of failed efforts to build a stadium in the Bay Area, prompted Oakland fans to initiate a so-called reverse boycott Tuesday, in which they drew a season-high 27,759 fans, many of whom spent the game chanting for Fisher to “sell the team.”

Fisher, an heir to the Gap clothing fortune who bought the team in 2005, declined comment at the quarterly owners’ meetings in New York this week. Manfred, who spoke derisively about the fans showing up for the reverse boycott, said: “I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do. I think the real question is what is it that Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. They never got to the point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. It’s not just John Fisher. … The community has to provide support, and at some point you come to the realization that it’s just not going to happen.”

Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has said previously that the city had $375 million in commitments toward a new stadium. The desire of Fisher and A’s president Dave Kaval to instead pursue a massive, $12 billion development project at Oakland’s Howard Terminal site, a spokesperson for the mayor said in a statement, complicated what could have been a straightforward transaction.

“There was a very concrete proposal under discussion and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize proposals,” the mayor’s statement said. “The reality is the A’s ownership had insisted on a multibillion-dollar, 55-acre project that included a ballpark, residential, commercial and retail space. In Las Vegas, for whatever reason, they seem satisfied with a 9-acre leased ballpark on leased land. If they had proposed a similar project in Oakland, we feel confident a new ballpark would already be under construction.”

Over the last two years, as the A’s received permission from MLB to pursue relocation, Las Vegas emerged as the favorite to land its third major men’s team, after the Knights and the NFL’s Raiders, who also moved from Oakland. Over the last five years, all of Oakland’s pro sports teams — the A’s, Raiders and the NBA’s Warriors — have moved out of the city.

“We will now begin the process with MLB to apply for relocation to Las Vegas,” the A’s said in a statement. “We are excited about Southern Nevada’s dynamic and vibrant professional sports scene, and we look forward to becoming a valued community member through jobs, economic development, and the quality of life and civic pride of a Major League Baseball team.”

The A’s have spent most of the season as the worst team in MLB. Fisher forced the trades of key Oakland players, and after going 60-102 last season, they’re on pace to finish a historically bad 43-119 this season.