Manfred will make recommendation ahead of MLB vote on Oakland A’s proposed move to Las Vegas
By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred will make a recommendation to teams ahead of their vote next month on whether the Oakland Athletics should be allowed to move to Las Vegas.
Manfred said the sport’s relocation committee met three times this week. He plans a vote when owners meet from Nov. 14-16 in Arlington, Texas.
“Once they have a pretty good sense of where they’re headed, I have to consult with the (committee’s) executive council,” he said Friday before the World Series opener. “And then after that consultation, I prepare a recommendation to the clubs and then go back to the executive council for an actual vote on the recommendation that I made. That would be followed by a vote of the 30 clubs.”
The Nevada State Education Association formed a political action committee called Schools Over Stadiums that filed a referendum petition to repeal $380 million in public financing approved in June by Nevada’s government for a ballpark. A lawsuit to recall the petition was filed by Danny Thompson, a former executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada AFL-CIO and Thomas Morley, a former union officer and political consultant.
“If there was an adverse development with respect to that referendum, that would be a significant development,” Manfred said.
Oakland has a lease to play at the Coliseum through the 2024 season, and a new Las Vegas ballpark appears unlikely to open until 2027 at the earliest.
“I do find it interesting that amid the conversation and dialogue around finances, that rather than staying in the sixth-largest market, they’re moving to a market that may very well have them in the perpetual cycle of receiving revenue sharing,” union head Tony Clark said. “All of that needs to be remedied sooner rather than later because it is a draw on the entirety of the league at this point.”
Asked where the team would play in 2025 if a move is approved, Manfred said: “Can’t answer that question right now.”
Las Vegas would become the fourth home for a franchise that played in Philadelphia from 1901-54, moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons and arrived in Oakland for 1968.
Since the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers for 1972, the only team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, who became the Washington Nationals in 2005.
The A’s said in April they planned to move to a ballpark to be constructed in Las Vegas and agreed the following month with Bally’s and Gaming & Leisure Properties to build a stadium on the Tropicana hotel site along the Las Vegas Strip.
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