Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Oakland’s chances of keeping A’s take a hit as Las Vegas still an option

oakland a's

Jeff Chiu / AP, file

Fans and stadium workers watch as Oakland Athletics’ Daulton Jefferies pitches against the Baltimore Orioles during a game in Oakland, Calif., Wednesday, April 20, 2022.

The city of Oakland was rejected in critical funding it planned to use to offset costs for a proposed multibillion dollar waterfront stadium district to rehome the Oakland A’s, the latest setback as the baseball team mulls a potential move to Las Vegas.

The city was reportedly denied a nearly $183 million grant from a U.S. Department of Transportation program designed to support “large, complex projects that are difficult to fund by other means and (are) likely to generate national or regional economic, mobility or safety benefits,” according to the department’s website.

The grants are part of the 2021 infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden and designed for projects of national importance. Many applications nationally were rejected, SF Gate reported.

Albeit just a fraction of the estimated $12 billion needed to complete the Howard Terminal project — including a proposed 35,000-seat stadium overlooking the San Francisco Bay — that funding was crucial for the city’s efforts to complete the development with minimal burden on taxpayers, said Nola Agha, a professor of quantitative analysis at the University of San Francisco.

“The city, currently, does not have the off-site infrastructure that’s necessary in order for the Howard Terminal project to happen,” said Agha, who has been following the A’s hunt for a new stadium since 2021. “The city has obtained some grants for a whole variety of different sources for about half of what they need, and they were really hoping for this grant to come through, because it would have filled about 30% of what they needed.”

Since last year, the A’s and Oakland have exchanged barbs over a community benefits package for the project that would accompany the proposed ballpark with thousands of affordable housing units, retail and office space, parks, sidewalks and roads. The A’s are developing the project, but are also depending on the city to offset the costs of that surrounding infrastructure, Agha said.

The funding hiccup is another roadblock in coming to terms on a new stadium in the Bay Area. But it doesn’t mean the stadium project is dead, Agha said.

“What this means is now the city (of Oakland) is much less likely to complete this project at Howard Terminal on the terms of how the A’s demanded,” Agha said. “Now that doesn’t mean the A’s can’t change some of the terms of this relationship. The A’s could, for example, agree to pay for some of that off-site infrastructure costs, which would allow them to continue or to get the approval for Howard Terminal. They could also build somewhere else in Oakland.”

A’s President Dave Kaval has long said that Las Vegas is the front-runner should the Howard Terminal project fall through. Rather than trying to remodel their current stadium — the outdated RingCentral Coliseum — or finding another site in Oakland, Kaval has stated publicly it’s “Howard Terminal or bust,” and the team will leave the Bay Area if a deal can’t be made.

Even as the A’s have been working to get a stadium in Oakland, Kaval has long maintained the organization is on a “parallel path” in negotiating a potential ballpark in Las Vegas. In May, Kaval told the Sun the team was down to two prospective sites in Vegas — both either in or near the resort corridor.

One of those sites would be solely owned by the A’s unless it entered into a public-private partnership, while the other site would be in partnership with a resort operator.

Kaval, who has eased on what was once a constant stream of media appearances, could not be reached for comment for this story. The Sun previously reported that the team has narrowed its focus to two potential stadium sites: the current site of the Tropicana, or further up the Strip at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds, near the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Sahara Avenue.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Bally’s Corporation, which recently took control of the Tropicana, confirmed that negotiations with the A’s remain ongoing, but declined to provide additional detail.

“We can confirm that we are in talks with the A’s,” the spokesperson wrote.

Talks to acquire the 40-acre Las Vegas Festival Grounds from owner and casino magnate Phil Ruffin have gone mum. Shana Gerety, senior vice president of operations for Circus Circus, which is owned by Ruffin, told the Sun in an email that “at this time we do not have anything to confirm,” regarding recent talks.

Where Oakland goes from here isn’t exactly certain, Agha said. Newly sworn-in Mayor Sheng Thao has said little about the Howard Terminal deal since assuming office this month. Thao, however, has echoed her predecessor, Libby Schaaf, in that her office will work to keep the A’s in Oakland as long as no taxpayer money is used for the stadium district.

Thao’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

The A’s have been in pursuit of a new ballpark since May 2021, when Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred gave the team the league’s blessing to investigate alternative cities to call home. Manfred, who in October said he believes relocation is all but inevitable, has criticized the Coliseum as unfit for service.

“We’re past any reasonable timeline for the situation in Oakland to be resolved,” Manfred told reporters in December.

The team’s current lease at the Coliseum ends in 2024, and the team has until Jan. 15, 2024, to reach a binding agreement for a new ballpark to remain in the league’s revenue-sharing program, according to the Associated Press.

What’s next in Vegas?

Former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak said before he was ousted in November’s midterm elections that the state had no appetite to impose new taxes to finance a potential ballpark.

The state already helped the Raiders pay for Allegiant Stadium, giving $750 million for the nearly $2 billion facility near the Strip to help Nevada land an NFL franchise. State lawmakers in a special session narrowly approved a small hotel room tax increase of 0.88% — about $1.50 per night — for rooms in the resort corridor to fund the state’s portion.

Gov. Joe Lombardo, a Republican, hasn’t said where he stands on landing the A’s, though he repeatedly pledged during the campaign to not raise taxes in his first term.

Agha said it’s likely the A’s will ask for public money should they continue on a potential path to Las Vegas. It’s simply the nature of building a professional sports venue these days, she said.

Kaval planned to release renderings last summer for a potential ballpark here, but those wishes never came to fruition. After all, it’s tough to detail plans when there’s no telling who will pay for it to be built.

“They’re still going to ask for help from Vegas, because that’s just how the stadium game is played in the United States,” she said.

The A’s might not be Las Vegas’ only path into becoming an MLB city. The league is expected to expand to 32 teams this decade, giving another ownership group a chance to make it work in Las Vegas.