The saga of the Oakland A’s remains fraught with not-so-veiled threats of relocation as the team seeks a new stadium somewhere, seemingly to whoever is willing to sweeten the deal more.
John Fisher, the team’s ignominious owner who has shred a once-competitive team down to bare bones, certainly doesn’t appear like he’s going to pay for all of it himself.
So here we are, with the New York Post reporting on Monday that the A’s have secured a potentially massive handout from Rob Manfred’s MLB.
Per the Post, if the team moves to Las Vegas, “Major League Baseball doesn’t plan to charge the Oakland Athletics a relocation fee,” which is described as “a rare accommodation that shows the league is concerned about the team’s ability to find a viable home.”
The Post suggests a relocation fee for the A’s could have been as high as $1 billion, making the report, and decision from MLB, an astounding one.
There is no certainty, at this stage, about the future of A’s.
As is always the case with these things, there appear to be major complications and no shortage of sloppiness.
The Post’s report says the team had hoped to announce a move to Las Vegas this month. That doesn’t appear likely to happen as the move could depend on getting public financing.
In April, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak reportedly threatened to block a potential move by the team to Las Vegas, based on the league’s request for hundreds of millions of subsidized dollars for a new stadium, per the Post.
That would leave Fisher seeking at most, $250 million in public financing for a roughly $1 billion stadium, according to the Post.
This report is coming out, not coincidentally, two days before a massive vote which may decide the future of the franchise in Oakland.
On June 30th, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission is expected to vote to determine whether Howard Terminal’s 56 acres will remove a Port Priority Designation, which would effectively be a vote for a new stadium at that location.
Approval requires a two-thirds vote from the commission. If the commission votes no, there will be no stadium at Howard Terminal, and if that happens, the team may follow through on its threats to move to Las Vegas.
A more detailed review of that vote and the situation can be found here, from The Chronicle.
All eyes will shift to that vote on Thursday, which, for all intents and purposes, would seem to decide the future of the A’s, and whether the city would lose its third franchise in four years, and second to Las Vegas.
