MLB owners unanimously approve the relocation of one franchise

  

    Baseball’s owners have unanimously voted to approve the Athletics’ move from Oakland to Las Vegas, reports John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle. The approval was seen as something of a formality, with little — if any — opposition from the sport’s other owners anticipated.

The Athletics’ current lease at the Coliseum only runs through the end of the 2024 season, which leaves plenty of questions about where the club will play its home games in the interim. Among the potential scenarios that have been discussed are sharing the Giants’ Oracle Park, playing home games at their Triple-A stadium in Las Vegas, or temporarily extending the current lease. The current plan, while not yet final, could see them split their time between multiple sites, reports Bob Nightengale of USA Today. The Athletics plan to build a $1.5B stadium with a capacity of 33,000 on the Las Vegas strip, at the site of the Tropicana Casino. That new home, however, is not expected to be ready until the start of the 2028 season.

With the valuation of the Athletics’ franchise slated to rise following the move, the remaining owners included a provision with their vote that team owner John Fisher would be taxed “heavily” on any sale if he ultimately strives to sell the club for an immediate profit. The magnitude of the tax isn’t clear, nor is the length of time for which he’ll need to retain ownership of the team before he is exempt from said taxation. In such an event, the amount that he’s taxed would be divided among the other 29 franchises.

Heading into the 2024 season, A’s fans will be in an odd position — knowing full well that the relocation they’ve dreaded now looms and facing limited opportunities to cheer on the club they’ve followed for more than five decades (their entire lives, in many instances). At the same time, many will be loath to offer their money to further support an ownership group by whom they understandably feel jilted and betrayed. Beyond that, the team made little effort to field anything resembling a competitive product in recent years, tearing down the core of a team that went 316-230 from 2018-21 and made the playoffs on three straight occasions — including consecutive 97-win campaigns in 2018-19.