Did Rob Manfred Just Admit Las Vegas is Getting a Bad Deal with A's Proposed Relocation?

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke to the media about the A's relocation process, and may have just admitted that Las Vegas is getting a bad deal in the process

Before Game 1 of the World Series, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred talked to reporters, as he typically does before each Fall Classic. This entire year he has been fielding questions about the Oakland A's potential relocation to Las Vegas, giving his viewpoint on the saga, as well as some details on the process itself. 

On Friday he said, "If there was an adverse development with respect to that referendum, that would be a significant development." 

We've talked about the referendum plenty on this site, so I won't re-hash all of those talking points again, but the quick synopsis is that the group Schools Over Stadiums is attempting to collect roughly 102,000 signatures from four different Nevada districts in order to get a referendum on the ballot for next year's elections in November. The group has until July of 2024 to collect enough signatures. If successful, the referendum would strip key funding from the A's proposed ballpark project in Las Vegas. 

That's the backdrop for Manfred's comments. 

The vote would be a simple majority vote, so 50% plus one would do the trick. The question now is whether they can collect enough signatures to get this on the ballot next year. Keep in mind, it also came out that the A's wouldn't begin construction until April 2025, so there isn't necessarily a risk that the project would already be underway. 

The question about Manfred's comments here is what exactly he meant by an "adverse development." To some, that could mean that Schools Over Stadiums starts gaining more traction and looking like they're going to get enough signatures to force their referendum onto the ballot in 2024, leaving the A's fate in the hands of the public. There doesn't seem to be a lot of public support for the project on social media, so there could be legitimate fear that even if the owners approve relocation next month, that the people of Nevada would scuttle the deal. 

Could it be that Rob Manfred just admitted that he thinks that if this got to the ballot in 2024 that the people would vote it down? Without explicitly saying it, it's possible. 

The other option here is that he was thinking that the way things are unfolding in general are going well, and that if the data they have on public support changes, then that would be an "adverse development." 

There's no way to tell which one he meant because there is no audio or visual of the interview, so all we have are the words he spoke. Based on his track record and the people of Nevada not really being excited specifically about the A's relocation, it sounds more like it's option number one. 

If Las Vegas fell through, the team could attempt to look into other markets to relocate, because John Fisher returning to Oakland is beyond unlikely at this point. He has burned too many bridges with the community to be welcomed back. That said, Baseball has been getting beat up pretty bad over Fisher's sloppiness in this process all summer long, and by that point enough might be enough. If the funding fell through, that could be enough for MLB and the other 29 owners to force him to sell the team instead of trying this all again in another market.