Move to Vegas approved

One of Rob Manfred’s first trips after his election as Major League Baseball commissioner nine years ago was to Oakland to consult with Athletics owner John Fisher on attempts to keep the team in the Bay Area. Unable together to make that work, the A’s will instead move to Las Vegas and become only the second Major League Baseball team in more than a half-century to shift cities. All 30 MLB team owners gave their approval Thursday to Fisher’s relocation plan, which was endorsed by Manfred. “There was an effort over more than a decade to find a stadium solution in Oakland. It was John Fisher’s preference. It was my preference,” Manfred said at a news conference. “This is a terrible day for fans in Oakland. I understand that and that’s why we’ve always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid a relocation, and truly believe we did that in this case. I think it’s beyond debate that the status quo in Oakland was untenable.” After years of complaints about the Oakland Coliseum that predated Manfred’s appointment, and an inability to negotiate government assistance for a new ballpark in the Bay Area, the A’s plan to move to a stadium to be built on the Las Vegas Strip with $380 million in public financing approved by the Nevada government. The team plans for the ballpark to open in 2028. Since the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers for 1972, the only other team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, who became the Washington Nationals in 2005. The Athletics’ lease at the Coliseum runs through 2024, and they will remain next season where they have played since moving to California in 1968. It remains unclear where the team will play after that until a new ballpark opens. Manfred said a variety of alternatives are being explored, including the A’s possibly staying at the Coliseum in the interim period.