Rob Manfred says A's are "100 percent full steam ahead" in Las Vegas

Jason Burke | Nov 21, 2024

Oct 16, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred before game three of the NLCS for the 2024 MLB playoffs at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images / Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred spoke with Evan Drellich of The Athletic about the Athletics' planned move to Las Vegas recently, and according to Manfred, the A's are "100 percent full steam ahead" with their plans to move to Sin City.

Now, we have been skeptics of the proposed move since it was announced. A lot of what has happened with the Vegas plans has been stuff that is being painted as progress, but really doesn't get them any closer to actually opening a ballpark.

The Tropicana Hotel coming down is being pointed to as a clear sign of progress, yet that demolition was always supposed to happen.

There have been three different renderings unveiled for this project: one that we were told almost immediately to wad up and throw in the trash, another of a spherical armadillo, and then most recently one that Bally's released that the public was also immediately told to wad up and throw away. You know, progress.

But as Manfred sees it (via The Athletic), "Las Vegas is going to happen...I understand there seems to be some sense of doubt that persists out there, but (owner) John Fisher is completely committed to the process.

"The building’s been demolished. The site’s available. They are on track for a 2028 opening. They’ve gone through the process of demonstrating that whether or not he takes local (investment) partners, he has the capacity to build the stadium. We’re full speed ahead."

Ah yes! We totally forgot that because John Fisher is a billionaire, he "has the capacity" to build the ballpark in Las Vegas. Funny thing, he had that same capacity in Oakland, too. It's about actually following through and putting shovels in the ground that Fisher has typically had a problem with despite releasing renderings and having the site available in Fremont, Oakland, and San Jose.

Fisher also also the financial capacity to go to the moon, but if he doesn't want to go, then he's not going to go. See how that works?

The real question here is why Manfred and the president and CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), Steve Hill, keep saying that Fisher has the. "capacity" or the "ability" to pay for this on his own. Why don't they just say that he's doing it and present the financial documents that prove it? Why consistently hedge their bets? There is one insanely logical reason for that, and it's because of Fisher's track record of never actually building the darn stadium.

If Fisher ends up getting this thing built, kudos to him. Yet, he exhausted his benefit of the doubt quite a few renderings and locations ago.