Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Oakland City Council vote a victory toward keeping A’s in California

A's vote

Jeff Chiu / AP

The sun sets June 11 over RingCentral Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., during a game between the Oakland Athletics and the Kansas City Royals.

The Oakland City Council has voted against making the proposed multibillion-dollar Howard Terminal district project a ballot initiative in November, another win toward keeping the Athletics in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The baseball team is also considering Las Vegas as a new home.

The council voted 5-2 Tuesday against putting the $12 billion mixed-use project, which would include a $1 billion, 30,000-seat waterfront stadium, up for a public referendum.

A’s President Dave Kaval said a referendum would have jeopardized the project.

Major League Baseball has instructed the A’s to find a new home to replace the aging RingCentral Coliseum — where the team has played since moving to Oakland in 1968 — before the lease on the ballpark expires in 2024.

Taking to Twitter Tuesday night, Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, a supporter of the Howard Terminal project, lauded the council vote.

“A nonbinding advisory measure would have jeopardized keeping the A’s in Oakland, cost taxpayers as much as a million dollars, and done nothing but provide special interests with opportunities to spread misinformation,” she tweeted. “The Oakland City Council has provided a clear direction in our negotiations with the A’s: Oakland taxpayers will be protected from the costs of the ballpark and associated development. We have learned the mistakes of the past and won’t repeat them.”

“Instead, generations of Oaklanders will enjoy a new waterfront district with much-needed public parks, living-wage jobs, and affordable housing, paid for by the project itself,” she said.

Last week, Kaval said the A’s remain on a “parallel path” in negotiating for a new ballpark in Oakland and in Las Vegas.

Kaval said team officials have been meeting weekly with landowners and design teams in Southern Nevada and hope to release renderings of a possible Las Vegas ballpark this summer.

In May, Kaval said the team was down to two prospective sites in Vegas — both near the Strip. One site would be solely owned by the A’s unless it entered into a public-private partnership, while the other would be in partnership with a resort operator, he said.

In May 2021, Major League Baseball gave the A’s permission to relocate.

Should the A’s move to Las Vegas, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said, he would waive the league’s relocation fee so the team could dedicate its resources to building a new stadium.