A's Will be Rejoining the Raiders in Vegas

The Las Vegas Raiders moved from Oakland to the desert, and now the A's are joining them.

The Oakland Athletics will be rejoining the Las Vegas Raiders in Las Vegas.

A’s Team President Dave Kaval said earlier this week that Athletics had signed a binding agreement to buy a 49-acre site in Las Vegas to build a ballpark with a retractile roof after being unable to reach a new stadium agreement with officials in Oakland and Alameda County.

“It’s obviously a very big milestone for us,” Kaval said. “We spent almost two years working in Las Vegas to try to determine a location that works for a long-term home. To identify a site and have a purchase agreement is a big step.”

Kaval said the A’s hope to break ground by next year and would like to move into their new home by 2027.

The A’s have played in the Oakland Coliseum, built for the Raiders and opened in 1966 since they moved to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968.

What this means is that Oakland will be without a major league team other than the Oakland Roots soccer team after winning world championships over the years with the Raiders, Athletics, and Golden State Warriors, who left the Oakland Coliseum Arena in 2019 to play at the Chase Center in San Francisco.

The Raiders were founded in 1960 and played their first two seasons in San Francisco at Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park before Frank Youell Field was built to keep them in Oakland before the Oakland Coliseum opened. They won Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVII. They moved to Los Angeles from 1992-84 but then came back until moving to Las Vegas in 2020.

The Warriors moved from Philadelphia to San Francisco in 1962 but moved into the Oakland Coliseum Arena in 1972 and won the National Basketball Association championship in 1974 by upsetting the Washington Bullets in a four-game sweep behind Coach Al Attles, superstar Rick Barry, forward Jamaal Wilkes and guard Phil Smith, who played at the University of San Francisco.

The Athletics captured three straight World Series from 1972-74 behind superstar outfielder Reggie Jackson and pitchers Catfish Hunter, left-hander Vida Blue and relief pitcher Rollie Fingers, who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y., other than Blue.

Like the Raiders before them, the A's had been trying for more than 20 years to fund a new ballpark in the Oakland area without success. There are multiple reasons why this failed over the years, but the biggest element stems from a lack of private investment.

In recent years, Oakland has attempted to reach an agreement on a new stadium in the Howard Terminal area.

“The city has gone above and beyond in our attempts to arrive at mutually beneficial terms to keep the A’s in Oakland,” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said. “In the last three months, we’ve made significant strides to close the deal. Yet, it is clear that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game–the fans and our residents deserve better, as they did with the Raiders and Warriors.

“I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished as a city, including securing a fully entitled site and over $375-million in new infrastructure investment that will benefit Oakland and its port for generations to come. In a time of budget deficits, I refuse to compromise the safety and well-being of our residents. Given these realities, we are ceasing negotiations and moving forward on alternatives for the redevelopment of Howard Terminal.”

The Raiders played their final game at the Oakland Coliseum before 52,788 fans on Dec. 16, 2019, when they blew a 16-3 halftime lead before losing to the Jacksonville Jaguars by a score of 20-16.

Coach Jon Gruden and quarterback Derek Carr circled the stadium shaking hands with fans, who alternately cheered and booed because this was the last the game in Oakland and the Raiders were leaving. Still, Raider Nation will always love the Silver and Black—no matter where they play.

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The 2023 NFL Draft will go from April 27-29 and be held at Union Station in Kansas City, Mo. The 2023 NFL Year and Free Agency period began at 4 p.m. EDT on March 15.

The Raiders are expected to be significant players in the free-agent market this offseason.

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