Vegas fans happy with impending move
SUMMERLIN, Nev. — A sellout crowd of 9,342 at Las Vegas Ballpark on Saturday included many A’s fans, green and gold scattered throughout the seats, and many vintage Oakland jerseys.
It took the Chronicle some work, though, to find any A’s fans who are unhappy with the team’s expected relocation to Las Vegas. The majority of those at the second of a two-game spring training series with the Milwaukee Brewers who took the time to talk to a reporter have relocated to the desert from California and they’re delighted their team is following them.
“My dad took me to Opening Day at the Coliseum in 1968,” said Dane Brooks, who is from San Mateo and was wearing a Jose Canseco jersey. “I’ve been a fan since I was 7 years old, and I had season tickets for the dynasty in the late ’80s. But you know how expensive it is in the Bay Area — I moved here 20 years ago and I fell on my knees when their Triple-A team moved here. Now the bigleague team? It’s just amazing.”
“I know A’s fans feel very betrayed. My brother still lives there. I know it’s very hard for them.”
Taline and Tristan Swogger live in Las Vegas but go to Oakland regularly to see games.
“They deserve better than what they have now,” Taline Swogger said, adding of the renderings of the new stadium, “It’s pretty extravagant, but they need a change and then hopefully the owner will start to spend some money. I hope they do it. I’m excited, and I think once they move here, they’ll have a bigger fan base. We go to the games in Oakland and there’s no one there — it’s kind of sad.”
“I was born and raised in Oakland,” Tristan Swogger said, “and both my teams (including the Raiders) will be here, which is great. It will save me a trip.”
Preston Beeman-Ramirez is from Sacramento, and Kaliyah Evans is from Walnut Creek, and both sported Rickey Henderson jerseys, complete with Rickey Henderson Field patches. They live in Utah now, though, so yep, they’re also in favor of the A’s in Vegas.
“Their stadium is not the best, so it will be cool to see them going to someplace better where they can get better players,” BeemanRamirez said. “That new stadium looks so nice.”
On the 10th try, the Chronicle finally found Michael and Joyce, who declined to provide last names. Both live in the Bay Area and they chose Vegas for a trip to see their team rather than going to see spring games in Mesa, Ariz.
“I think it’s awful,” Joyce said of the planned move. “I’m very sad about it.”
“I think the city should have done more to keep them, that’s the problem,” said Michael, who lives in Newark. “I know the team has tried to get a new stadium for a long time. I hope that something falls through — a 9-acre ballpark doesn’t make sense to me.
“I do think John Fisher could have gotten it done in Oakland, though. I think it got personal. I think he got tired of the politics there.”
Aviators fans are a natural fit to follow the A’s. Las Vegas has been Oakland’s Triple-A team since 2019, and many on the current Oakland roster played here. There were as many green-andgold “LV” hats in the stadium Friday and Saturday as there were A’s and Brewers hats. Total attendance for both days reached 17,280.
Jacob Olenick is from Massachusetts but now lives in Las Vegas and attends games regularly at Las Vegas Ballpark, a lovely facility that has been named the best Triple-A park three years running. He likes the looks of the “spherical armadillo” stadium on the Strip even more.
“It’s going to be the nicest stadium in baseball,” he said. “I like the open outfield, the structure, the colors. I’ve heard people say baseball won’t work in Vegas, but there’s been a team here since the ’50s. It works. I’ll be going to a lot of games.
“I know it sucks for the people of Oakland, but it’s a business.”
A number of fans, including Olenick, expressed hope that the A’s will play at Las Vegas Ballpark in the interim while waiting for their proposed stadium on the Las Vegas Strip to open in 2028, but that’s unlikely given the size of the stadium (10,000, including standing) and the summer heat, plus that little matter of the $70 million or so the team would lose from NBC Sports California if they don’t remain in the Bay Area.
Jason Giambi, the 2000 American League MVP while playing for the A’s, has lived in Las Vegas for decades and he also believes a big-league team will thrive.
“People are ecstatic about it,” he said. “There isn’t a summer sport here. We’ve got football and hockey, and they’re unbelievable, off the charts. In the summer, everyone is bored, you can’t go outside, my kids can’t even ride their bikes because it’s 1,000 degrees, so people who live here will go to the games, and the other teams’ fans will travel here, because who’s not going to come to Vegas?”
Giambi still loves Oakland, but he pointed to the fact that the playoff teams he was part of in the early 2000s were broken up for financial reasons.
“The sad part is the fans that are there in Oakland every day,” Giambi said. “They’re as good as anybody in baseball. They know the game, they’re loving, they root for you. I feel terrible for them, but coming here will be a good thing for the franchise. They’ll have a bigger payroll, they’ll be able to compete. They’ll just be better here, and I hope that true A’s fans will keep following them.
“A new park in Oakland would be beautiful, but where would you put it? There are so many factors and it just hasn’t worked out there, and things just get done here. Vegas makes things happen.”