By Marc Lawrence, PlaybookSports.com — The Oakland A’s are getting closer and closer to moving to Las Vegas after the Nevada state legislature passed a bill during a special session this week to provide $380 million in public funding for a $1.5 billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.
MLB owners still need to vote to approve the franchise’s move to the desert, but judging by commissioner Rob Manfred’s comments yesterday, the league can’t wait to uproot the A’s.
“I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do,” Manfred told reporters. “I think that the real question is, what is it that Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. They never got to the point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site.”
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, a Democrat, said, though, that the city does have a ballpark proposal, that Manfred is talking out of both sides of his mouth.
So now the A’s appear destined to leave town, headed to a 30,000-seat stadium in a city flush with other entertainment options, where the Las Vegas Raiders ranked No. 30 of 32 teams in the NFL in average attendance in 2022
