Oakland Athletics Officially Moving to Las Vegas After Unanimous Vote By Owners
The Oakland Athletics are officially moving to Las Vegas, USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported Thursday morning.
Athletics ownership had been considering a move to Las Vegas since 2021, and commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed in July that the franchise had started the relocation process. Not long after, Las Vegas and Nevada approved funding for a new stadium.
Nightengale reported that the vote among the league’s owners to approve the move was unanimous.
Oakland fans spent most of the 2023 season begging for owner John Fisher to sell the team, organizing reverse protests and viral moments at All-Star weekend. Their efforts fell short, however, and the Athletics will be moving to Las Vegas ahead of the 2028 season regardless.
The Athletics still have one year left on their lease at the outdated, often ridiculed Oakland Coliseum, meaning they still need to find a temporary home for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 seasons. Per Nightengale, the team is considering splitting time between the Coliseum, the San Francisco Giants' Oracle Park and their Triple-A stadium in Summerlin, Nevada.
Oakland ranked dead last in attendance across MLB this season, drawing just 10,275 fans per game. That was actually an increase from the past two seasons, when they failed to average even 10,000 attendees for their home games.
As recently as 2019, the Athletics averaged over 20,000 fans per game.
The on-field product hasn't been much better.
After winning 97 games in both 2018 and 2019, making the playoffs in 2020 and finishing above .500 in 2021, Oakland crumbled over the past few seasons. The Athletics won 60 games in 2022, then 50 in 2023.
The Athletics had the smallest payroll in baseball this season at $62 million. Even the 20th-ranked Detroit Tigers' payroll sat at $121 million in 2023.
Between the lack of attendance, lack of success and lack of investment, the Athletics petered out these past few years as their days in Oakland finally wound down. The 122-year-old club has been in Oakland for 55 years, winning four World Series along the way.
The Athletics are the third major professional sports team to leave Oakland in the last five years. The Golden State Warriors moved across the Bay to San Francisco, while the Oakland Raiders also moved to Las Vegas.
This will also mark just the second relocation in MLB in the last 50 years, and the first since the Montreal Expos became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
Follow Fastball on FanNation on social media
Continue to follow our Fastball on FanNation coverage on social media by LIKING us on Facebook and by following us on Twitter @FastballFN.
You can also subscribe to "The Payoff Pitch" podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Check out more Oakland Athletics coverage at Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Inside the A's.
