With buzz about future swirling, A's spend weekend in Las Vegas
The A's are calling Las Vegas home ... for this weekend.
The A's sent a split-squad of players to Las Vegas for two games against Cincinnati as part of “Big League Weekend.” The games are being played at Las Vegas Ballpark, the home of Oakland's Triple-A affiliate, the Aviators.
The two-day visit to Sin City comes with the continued conversation that Las Vegas could become a permanent home for the A's in the future if the lengthy, ongoing search for a stadium solution in the Bay Area doesn't materialize soon.
The A's lease at RingCentral Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, and though they might be forced to extend the terms, the club and Major League Baseball have deemed the stadium unsuitable for a professional franchise.
The A's have spent years trying to develop a stadium solution in the Bay Area, but missed a major deadline last October for getting a deal done in Oakland for a new stadium development. That has raised the specter of Las Vegas becoming the future home of the A's, but there are concerns with the amount of funding the baseball team could receive for a new stadium in Nevada.
Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred said last month that while the door isn't being closed on Oakland, most of the focus of late by A's owner John Fischer has been on possible solutions in Las Vegas.
A's manager Mark Kotsay told reporters on Friday that he didn't view the visit to Las Vegas as being awkward for the franchise while working dual paths for its future in both the
Bay Area and in Nevada. It's the first time the A's have played in Las Vegas since 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down baseball.
“It's no secret that we've been pursuing paths in Oakland and Vegas. So maybe there's more buzz around it because we're going right now and the process has seemed to be shifted a little bit,” Kotsay said. “But regardless of all that, we've been there before and it's our Triple-A home. I think it's a great thing to take in for fans, a weekend of baseball in Vegas.”