A's Las Vegas Deadline Pushing MLB's Relocation Vote

A deadline in Las Vegas looks to be what's pushing MLB owner's vote on A's relocation

It shouldn't come as a surprise that yet another deadline is what is pushing the A's relocation process forward. At first it was the deadline for a binding agreement to keep the A's on revenue sharing. Then the Nevada legislature closing up shop in June that pushed $380 million in funding for the proposed ballpark through. Now, it looks like a new deadline is pushing MLB's owners to a relocation vote.

Major League Baseball's owners are expected to vote on the Oakland A's proposed relocation some time during the owner's meetings next week in Arlington, Texas. There are plenty of reasons that they should vote "no" on relocation, and chief among them is that we just don't have answers to questions like: Where will the team play following the 2024 season when the Vegas ballpark won't be ready until at least 2028? What will the project look like? Who is the design architect? How exactly is John Fisher going to pay for this thing? 

Simple questions that should have a big impact on which way the owners vote--if this is a legitimate process. There was a three-person committee formed with the owners of the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals, and Philadelphia Phillies that has been going over all of the details of the proposed move. One big question has to be: What details do they actually have that matter? 

That brings us to Casey Pratt's report on Wednesday. Pratt took a screenshot of the filing from GLPI, who owns the Tropicana site, and their agreement with the A's. Highlighted at the bottom, it says:

"In addition, the LOI provides that the transaction will be subject to customary approvals and other conditions, including, without limitation, the approval of the MLB Owners to relocate the Team on or before December 1, 2023, and certain approvals by the Nevada Gaming Control Board and Nevada Gaming Commission."

That December 1st deadline for a relocation vote has to be why this vote is expected to happen next week with so many questions left unanswered. If, for some unforeseen reason the vote doesn't pass or gets pushed back, that could be the end of the A's baseball dreams in Las Vegas. 

That isn't expected to be the case, but if there is any hiccup with the vote, then the Tropicana site may no longer be available to the A's, and if the site is no longer available, then the funding from Nevada, which is specifically tied to the Tropicana site, also goes away. There would be no way for the A's to put that genie back in the bottle, especially before their own self-imposed deadline of having a binding agreement somewhere by January 2024. 

According to the new CBA, if the A's don't have a binding agreement by that time, then the A's would be taken off of revenue sharing, which owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval have admitted is immensely important. 

At yesterday's press conference at City Hall, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said that she would be open to working with John Fisher again if he came back to the table. If Fisher were to return to negotiations with Oakland after the deal in Las Vegas fell apart and after everything he has put The Town through, then the Mayor would be in an extremely strong position, especially with the team needing a deal completed by January and zero other options. 

That's a few steps ahead of where we currently are, however. As we sit here today, with nearly a week until the owner's vote, we're expecting it to pass. Lack of information and all.