Owners of Major League Baseball teams could vote in June on the Oakland Athletics‘potential move to Las Vegas, Commissioner Rob Manfred said Thursday
The ballot could take place when the owners meet June 13-15 in New York. However, there are several steps to go through before a formal vote is held.
“It’s possible that a relocation vote could take place as early as June,” Manfred said in Milwaukee. “It’s very difficult to have a timeline for Oakland until a deal is actually considered. There’s an internal relocation process that they have to go through, and we haven’t even started that process. “
Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo announced a tentative deal with the club on Wednesday. The deal requires approval from state lawmakers, whose session ends June 5 and won’t resume until 2025.
The A’s and legislative leaders reached an agreement in principle earlier this month with Bally’s Corporation on a $1.5 billion stadium plan at the current site of the Tropicana Las Vegas casino.
The A’s reportedly have a deal in place to receive up to $380 million in public funds for the 35,000-seat retractable-roof stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.
Does Manfred believe the A’s won’t stay in Oakland, their home since 1968?
“I think you should ask the mayor of Oakland that,” Manfred said. “She said she broke off negotiations after an announcement was made in Las Vegas. I don’t have a crystal ball as to what’s going on. There’s no definitive agreement reached. in Las Vegas. We’ll have to see how it goes outside.”
THE Athletics‘ lease at Oakland Coliseum, their home since arriving in the Bay Area, expires after next season. The team and the city were unable to reach an agreement to keep the team in the region despite a stadium in ruins
“Unfortunately, it’s a facility that’s never been as good as this one (in Milwaukee) when it started,” Manfred said. “They made unfortunate decisions not to maintain the ballpark as it should. field.”
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said last week that she and the city are close to reaching a deal for a new stadium if the A’s reopen negotiations to stay in the Bay Area.
“I really hope they change their minds and really feel like they do,” Thao told NBC Bay Area. “If they called me I would pick up because it’s not about me, it’s not about (owner) John Fisher, it’s really about the bigger, more complex issues around from the fan base, what it means to boost the economy here in the city of Oakland.”
–Field-Level Media