A's Owner and President Attempt to Rally Support for Their Vegas Relocation

John Fisher and Dave Kaval traveled to Las Vegas to try and get their hands on some public funding

On Wednesday, A's owner John Fisher, and President Dave Kaval traveled to Las Vegas to meet with lawmakers ahead of votes being cast for their $380 million bill requesting public assistance. Best guess is that they started the day without the votes they needed to get this deal done. Why else would they be there? 

This is how the day started. 

Kaval is in the green tie on the right, and the guy on the far right in the blue suit is A's owner John Fisher. If you've never seen a picture of him (which is entirely possible given his lack of public appearances), that's what he looks like. 

Here is a zoomed in look at the expressions on their faces. Doesn't looks as though they were hearing what they went to Nevada to hear. 

You think they’re getting good news? pic.twitter.com/vjCPelLSSC

— Locked On A’s (@LockedOnAs) June 1, 2023

However, late on Wednesday night Vital Vegas tweeted this out. As they state, this is one source, unconfirmed. They have been fairly accurate in their reporting on this matter, however. 

Rumblings are A’s deal approved, $380 million public funding, presumably A's to contribute $1.1 billion (we’ll take the under). One source, unconfirmed.

— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) June 1, 2023

This isn't to say that the deal has been agreed upon for certain by any means. For starters, the deal being approved is a little vague. It could very well mean that they have the votes in every voting body that matters. But it could just mean that the first body to vote, the Senate Finance Committee, has had their needs met through some sort of concessions from the A's. 

The A's bill (SB 509) needs to be approved by the Senate Finance Committee, needing 5 of 8 votes, per Assemblywoman Selena La Rue Hatch. From there, it would have to pass through the Senate, requiring 11 of 21 votes. The third step would be the Assembly Ways and Means Committee, needing 8 of 14 votes to pass. The final step would be getting approval in the Assembly and needing 22 of 42 votes.

If SB 509 passes through all of those votes, then it would land on Governor Joe Lombardo's desk, where it would be signed. 

The A's would still need approval from Major League Baseball's owners to relocate, and Commissioner Rob Manfred indicated last week that vote could be done in the month of June. 

One interesting wrinkle that came from Monday's joint committee hearing for the bill was that it's not exactly a given that MLB's $300 million relocation fee would be waived. That price tag is what an A's representative (Jeremy Aguero) at the meeting touted, though there have been other reports that it could be closer to $500 million. 

The owners could vote to approve relocation but require the relocation fee, which could throw a wrench into all of John Fisher's plans as well. It would be un-billionaire-like to turn down free money after all.

So that is where we currently stand. Fisher and Kaval were in Las Vegas pleading their case on Wednesday, and there is one unconfirmed report they may have the votes to get the bill approved in at least one chamber. If the bill is approved on all four of the votes, the A's are pretty much Vegas-bound.