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Athletics stadium bill in Nevada reaches finish line with legislative approval, Gov. Lombardo's signature

callie lawson-freeman
Contributing writer
·3 min read
36

Despite Oakland fans' best efforts, it appears the Athletics are set to relocate to Las Vegas.

Thursday marked a major step for the move. A day after the Nevada Assembly voted to approve the final version of a bill for a proposed 30,000-seat baseball stadium on the Las Vegas Strip, Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo signed it.

"This is an incredible opportunity to bring the A's to Nevada, and this legislation reflects months of negotiations between the team, the state, the county, and the league," Lomardo said via a statement upon signing the bill in to law.

In a 25-15 vote on Wednesday, the Assembly approved $380 million in public funding for the project, which is expected to cost $1.5 billion. The Assembly came to the decision after making some changes to the measure the Senate approved on a 13-8 vote Tuesday.

The relocation now requires approval by 75% of MLB's ownership, which is expected.

Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the passage of the bill Thursday morning at the MLB owners meetings in New York. "I hear from 'em. I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland," he said via The Athletic's Evan Drellich. "I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do."

Manfred went on to question the validity of preventing the team from moving.

"I think the real question is, what is it Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. OK? They never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. And it's not just [Athletics co-owner] John Fisher," he added. "The community has to provide support. At some point, you come to the realization it's just not going to happen."

Julie Edwards, the spokeswoman for Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, countered Manfred's assessment in a statement.

“This is just totally false,” the statement reads. “There was a very concrete proposal under discussion, and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize approval.”

Both recent legislative outcomes in Nevada unfolded with the cinematic backdrop of significant sports developments. The Senate's initial approval occurred on the same day that fans in the Bay Area conducted a "reverse boycott" to keep the team in Oakland. Meanwhile, the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup.

On Wednesday, as the A's seven-game winning streak ended, the Senate accepted the Assembly's changes in a unanimous voice vote before getting it to the governor's desk as an "emergency measure."

The adjustments shifted some money allocated for homeless programs to funds for low-income housing. In the finalized measure, the A's would not owe property taxes for the publicly owned stadium. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, would pay an additional $25 million in credit toward infrastructure costs.

Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch (D-Reno) spoke out after the ruling, saying she voted in opposition to the bill in light of the lack of funding for Nevada's crowded classrooms and insufficient childcare services while "people [are] sleeping on the streets."

"No amount of amendments are going to change the fact we are giving millions of public dollars to a billionaire," she said Wednesday.

To the dismay of some fans, the Athletics issued a statement Wednesday thanking Nevada legislators for their "hard work, due diligence, and attention to detail." The statement mentioned excitement for Lombardo's signature. It didn't spare any words for fans hoping to keep the team.

The proposed stadium, which would be the smallest in MLB, is close to the Knights' T-Mobile Arena and not far from the Raiders' Allegiant Stadium. The Raiders also moved from Oakland to Las Vegas, another sore spot for many Bay Area sports fans.