Written by JACOB WEINGARTEN

Graphics by ARIA KIM-BROWN

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// On February 8th it was reported that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he would be “disappointed” if the Athletics were not in a new Vegas stadium for opening day 2028. The Oakland Athletics, who are set to become the Las Vegas Athletics, had still not shown any renderings of the new stadium for Vegas.

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When they finally did reveal something on March 7th, initially people were stunned by the beautiful renderings that looked eerily similar to the Sydney Opera House. However, it took only a short time for many to look deeper and criticize the glaring issues. Upon further review, it was quickly pointed out that the stadium in the render was missing a batter’s eye—something used at ballparks to block the sun out of the batter’s eyes when hitting. The stadium was also missing bullpens, lights, luxury suites, and on-deck circles. In addition to its major flaws, there is a hotel that currently sits on the future site for the stadium. People began to question whether it would be ready for 2028 since 2024 is the last year on the A’s lease at the Oakland Coliseum. Back in February, Commissioner Manfred said the A’s would need clarity on where they would be playing after this season until the Vegas stadium was ready “in the next few months”. Despite this, currently, no such plan has been made public. With the move being executed extremely sloppily and with a lack of clarity, many people, including the mayor of Las Vegas, think the best thing for the A’s would be to stay in Oakland and cancel the move altogether. Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman has been quoted saying “This does not make sense” and “they got to figure out a way to stay in Oakland.” A’s owner John Fisher recently had an interview of his own with the San Francisco Chronicle in which he said that in order to fund the $1.5 billion stadium he would be putting in $500 million of his own, $350 million would be funded by the public and $200 million would be debt. This still leaves a remaining $500 million that Fisher said would come from “equity investors”, though investors in what, he didn’t say.

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Las Lomas sophomore Eli Harrison attended one of the reverse boycott games last year where thousands of fans went to the stadium wearing shirts that said “sell” encouraging John Fisher to sell the team rather than move it to Las Vegas. Harrison said, “It shows that the community really cares about the A’s and wants them to stay in Oakland.” Not much is known about where the A’s will be playing next year. However, despite the sloppy process, it looks like 2024 may be their final year in Oakland. The Las Vegas Athletics are planned to arrive in 2028, however, the location of the 2025-2027 team is currently unknown. Many are hopeful the team will stay in Oakland, a city that brought some of the best seasons and moments in the history of the franchise.