A's Beat Teachers Group in Court, Squash Referendum--For Now

Jason Burke | May 14, 2024

Dec 10, 2023; Paradise, Nevada, USA; The Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on the strip. Mandatory / Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

On Monday, the long-awaited ruling came down in the battle between the Oakland A's and Schools Over Stadiums, with the teachers taking the loss according to the Nevada Supreme Court. This means that SOS cannot gather signatures in an attempt to get their referendum in front of voters for November's election.

That's the bad news. Yet, even if the court had ruled in SOS's favor, they would have had just 44 days to collect a little over 100,000 signatures to get this on the ballot anyway, which was a tall order in an of itself. In a press release, Schools Over Stadiums reaffirmed their commitment to fighting the funding granted to the A's in SB 1.

"Schools Over Stadiums remains committed to stopping Nevada tax dollars from paying for a stadium for a California billionaire, and we are disappointed Nevada voters will not have their say in 2024. With this guidance, Schools Over Stadiums plans to refile our petition next year and win in 2026. Nevada voters deserve the opportunity to decide where their money goes."

- Alexander Marks, Schools Over Stadiums

What this means is that SOS can take their time to make sure they dot all of their i's and cross their t's in order to get their referendum on the ballot in 2026. As Casey Pratt pointed out, that looming question about public funding is being drawn out even longer, even with the win in court for the A's, which could continue to cause potential investors to be tentative about signing on.

The Nevada Independent did a great job of explaining the reasoning for the court's decision in their piece on the matter, so if you're interested in the nitty gritty, check out their piece.

In some ways this is a win for the A's, who have a clear path (for now) of accessing the public funds granted to them in SB 1. On the other hand, they have to get to work on getting shovels in the ground by April of next year to stay on target for their 2028 opening date, and as things stand right now, owner John Fisher is still looking for funding to the tune of $500 million for this project.

While the A's won in court, it won't feel like anything has truly changed until they find an investor.