A's Relocation Vote "Expected" in November
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred confirmed with the Associated Press that he expects a vote on the A's relocation to happen when the owners get together from November 14-16 in Arlington, Texas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal is also reporting that the A's will learn the fate of their relocation application at that time.
The application with all of the missing details and relevant information. Sounds like Manfred gave away the game a little bit on the fate of the application by saying he expects a vote to happen in a month and a half. For that vote to happen, the application would have to be approved.
If that's not enough to convince you of the pre-approved status of the application, then this week's report that Brewer's ownership being on the relocation committee was no accident while attempting to extort their own municipality for facility upgrades should get rid of that lingering doubt.
The LVRJ is also reporting that the architect for the A's proposed ballpark in Las Vegas should be announced before the owner's vote in mid-November. When it was announced at the end of July that this decision wouldn't happen until November, it was pretty clear that the announcement would happen right before the vote. Maybe we'll even get some updated renderings ahead of time, too!
This is all playing out pretty similarly to how the A's handled the Nevada legislature, dropping their previous renderings (now rendered useless) and their bill in the laps of lawmakers on the final day. Then it was rushed through, got a hearing on a holiday, and its very own special session in order to pass.
Think it matters what the renderings look like, or who the architect is? If it did, the owners would need some time to look into the group that is hired and closely examine the renderings. The last ones sat on 30 acres of land while the A's proposed ballpark in Las Vegas is only being allotted nine of the 35 acres at the Tropicana site.
This is pure guesswork, but it's possible that the A's announce their architect on Friday, November 10th, then have a brand new rendering by Monday, November 13th just in time for a vote to happen.
If there is anything we've learned in this process, it's that the A's are sloppy in their handling of this entire situation and that Major League Baseball doesn't care if it looks like this is a fair process that is being given due diligence.