The Athletics aren’t abandoning Oakland just yet, but they are equally focused on relocating the team to Las Vegas. A’s president Dave Kaval stated before the team’s game against the San Francisco Giants on Friday that the team is on “parallel roads” in terms of developing new stadiums in both the Bay Area and Las Vegas.
The Oakland Athletics and the Las Vegas Golden Knights are on ‘similar pathways’ when it comes to building new stadiums
The squad wants out of the Coliseum in some fashion. “I believe we’ve been very clear, and I believe the league has been very clear, that this site does not suit the 21st century vision for baseball in North America,” Kaval said, according to The Associated Press. “You need a downtown urban setting to be successful, especially in a two-team market where the Giants play in a similar stadium on the waterfront, and we’re going to do everything we can to build a stadium that can be on par with or better than Oracle Park in San Francisco. And down in Howard Terminal, we have that vision.” After the A’s current plans to build a new ballpark in Oakland faltered, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred granted the team permission to explore relocation in May.
Their most recent plan included $1 billion in private finance for the stadium, as well as a $855 million request from the city for infrastructural improvements in the neighborhood. Manfred has described Las Vegas as a “viable” possibility, insisting that this isn’t a ruse to sway local leaders in Oakland to support a new stadium. He also predicted that major progress on the team’s relocation would be made in the near future. On Friday, Kaval said he believes the city will vote again “later this year.” “We are still sad that they did not vote on our plan,” Kaval added, according to the Associated Press. “By the same token, we’re still hoping that we’ll be able to reach an agreement with them. But only time will tell how things turn out. We’re still working on getting all of the other processes up and running, and hopefully completed. We’re doing everything we can to get it done in a reasonable amount of time for the league.”
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