Manfred: A’s could be headed to Vegas
PHOENIX — More than two months after Rob Manfred said he’d check in with new Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao on the Oakland Athletics’ ballpark situation, the commissioner said he has not yet with Thao — and Major League Baseball is spending more time examining a possible Las Vegas relocation.
Manfred’s remarks seemed to indicate MLB could be leaning toward a move to the desert rather than the A’s staying in Oakland at the proposed Howard Terminal site.
“Look, I think the best way for me to answer that is to say I think that the focus since I spoke to you in December really has been on Las Vegas,” Manfred said Wednesday when asked for an update on the Oakland ballpark pursuit.
“The city (of Oakland) has been really caught up in trying to work their way through these funding issues that I’m sure you’ve read about. But I’ve talked to (A’s owner) John Fisher on a regular basis both about what’s going on in Oakland and about what’s going on in Las Vegas.”
Manfred said at the winter meetings in December that he was planning “in the near future” to speak with Thao, then the mayor-elect. Manfred previously had engaged in direct talks with former Mayor Libby Schaaf.
Julie Edwards, a spokeswoman for Thao, said: “To our knowledge, he has not directly reached out.”
The commissioner’s comments underscored the challenge for Oakland to keep the A’s.
“There are still conversations going on between the A’s and the city,” Manfred said. “I think the mayor needed a little time, newly elected, to get settled. I think the focus in Oakland has been on the funding, particularly of the infrastructure side of the project. That needs to get solved in order for that process to go forward.”
Manfred said the amount of affordable housing for the $12 billion development-project proposal — which includes plans for a $1 billion ballpark — also remains unresolved, but he called infrastructure funding “the threshold issue.”
Last month, Oakland failed to secure $182 million for which it applied from the federal Transportation Department’s Megaprojects grant program. City officials said at the time they had $100 million in other pending grant applications.
Asked whether Fisher prefers Oakland over Las Vegas, Manfred said, “I think Mr. Fisher wants to make the best deal to secure the future of the A’s, whether it’s in Oakland or Las Vegas. They need a new stadium, I think that’s kind of beyond debate. If he had to rank them one and two, you’d have to ask him that. I think he’s focused on making a deal that will secure the future” of the club.
As for future dialogue with Thao, Manfred said, “Everything I’ve had out of the city of Oakland was as a result of conversations with John about their conversations. I’m sure I will (speak with Thao) at some point. I just haven’t done that.”