Dave Kaval's Exit From A's Signals...Something

Jason Burke | Dec 28, 2024

May 16, 2022; Oakland, California, USA; Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval talks on the field before the game against the Minnesota Twins at RingCentral Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images / Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

On Friday afternoon, the Athletics sent out a press release stating that team president Dave Kaval has resigned from his role and that Sandy Dean, who had been handling the meetings in Las Vegas anyway, would be the team's interim president while the club searches for a new option next year.

While the release states that the team is in the process of building a new ballpark in Sin City, that isn't exactly true. No round has been broken just yet, and without investors in the team or the project, the space may go untouched.

Kaval's resignation likely doesn't mean that things are going great in general. While he hasn't been running point on anything and has been practically invisible since the A's announced their intention to flee for Nevada, this departure seems to say that things aren't progressing, at least at the pace needed, if at all.

The longer that delays take in the potential construction of the Armadillo Dome, the more it will cost to build. Without investors, that is money coming straight out of the Fisher family's fortune. That is one potential reason for this sudden announcement.

The other could be to paint Kaval as the fall guy for when the Vegas deal collapses, and open up other avenues for the nomadic A's to eventually land. They could piece together a reworked deal with the Nevada legislature for a different site in Las Vegas that could attract the investors Fisher is after, or they could cut their losses and look to build in California, where investors are more likely to line up, given the club's history in the region.

There have been unconfirmed rumors of a meeting between Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob and Fisher's team, presumably about the potential sale of the club. Despite insisting that the team is not for sale, taking a meeting with Lacob could suggest otherwise, for the right price.

Now, Kaval will be "staying in California to explore new opportunities at the crossroads of business and government." So after aiding the process of ripping the A's out of Oakland and making the team and it's owner the laughingstock of sports due to constant mismanagement over the relocation, Kaval himself will now be staying put. That should work out well.

The man who once got into a fight on social media with a fake seagull is leaving the franchise after helping to diminish the product he was meant to help sell.

The A's relocation saga is far from over, and won't be until there are shovels in the ground in Vegas, with Fisher spending his own money. That, or a new option emerges and this thing gets prolonged for years to come. Either way, it's impossible to say with any certainty what will happen with the A's. But Kaval leaving before the ballpark construction has even begun certainly means something in this neverending process.

Kaval's last day with the A's will be December 31.