How NBA expansion could impact the A's to Las Vegas

Jason Burke | Oct 15, 2024

Jul 22, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Miami Heat guard Isaiah Stevens (50) dribbles the ball against the Memphis Grizzlies during the second half at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images / Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images

The A's decided that they wanted to move out of a top-10 media market to go to the smallest in MLB. That logic has never really made sense to anyone who has taken a few seconds to ponder the situation, and the math just got a little more fuzzy for the A's, and MLB.

ESPN recently tackled some FAQ on the topic of expansion in the NBA, and this partiular bit was very interesting, with Las Vegas being one of the heavily favored cities to land an NBA expansion team.

"With Silver not yet fully committing to expanding and keeping the timeline for even beginning the process undefined, both sides -- league sources and people who are working on forming bidding groups -- are targeting the 2027-28 season. Although starting in 2026-27 isn't impossible, it has become more unrealistic."

The 2027-28 season would be the year before the A's potentially land in Las Vegas, with the team hoping to open their doors to the Armadillo Dome in 2028, though 2029 may be more realistic.

That would mean that the A's would be the last of the big sport teams to join the Las Vegas area, and they would be a team with plenty of their own history already, not an expansion club like the one in the NBA. It would be extremely difficult for the team in the less popular sport with loads of bad publicity and zero connections to the city to make a huge dent with the locals, even in their first season. At some point the locals will run out of spending cash with so many sporting events in town, many of which were Vegas Born.

The only other team in Las Vegas that didn't go the expansion route has sure been having a tough time drawing home fans to their stadium, and videos like this one get shared multiple times a year.

Not what you want to see. pic.twitter.com/KRZQSuMETA

— Raiders Beat (@RaidersBeat) October 13, 2024

While a packed stadium would seem like a win, baseball is a different beast. It's more of a marathon season where small sample sizes don't matter, instead of a sprint. If the Yankees are coming to town, you'll have three or four chances to see them each and every season. It's less mandatory that you have to see them on this one specific day, or even in a specific year, because they'll be back around next year. In the NFL, teams outside fof the division don't travel to each stadium quite so often.

The MLB team that ends up in Vegas will need some local fans in order to support the club, because not every team that comes to town will have fan bases that travel in huge numbers.

With the NBA seemingly set to beat MLB into Vegas, this could be a chance for Baseball to take a step back and really dot some I's and cross some T's as they launch in a new market that could do very well for them financially if they do more than show up with their hands out.

This could be the pause that MLB needs to truly decide whether the A's in Las Vegas is the best option for the league, or if they should switch plans and go with an expansion club. It wouldn't be the best short-term look for the League, but it could have the best long-term benefits.