Last November, MLB ownership unanimously approved the Oakland Athletics' relocation to Las Vegas once their lease expires at the Oakland Coliseum after the 2024 season.
As the franchise gears up to call Las Vegas its home, the Athletics had their first relocation event on the Vegas Strip on Wednesday, and the excitement from the crowd was ... non-existent.
The emcee introduced the Athletics ownership group on stage, hoping to get a receptive response from the crowd. Instead, the energy was met with a few quiet claps and a lot of silence.
"The Las Vegas A's! We like the sound of that, right, Vegas?" the emcee said emphatically before changing her tone.
"Yeah? Yes? Are we alive back there?! Las Vegas how we feelin'?" she said after getting almost zero feedback from the crowd.
Oof. pic.twitter.com/9C7EA7IwAw
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) January 24, 2024
The A's relocation to Las Vegas has been met with a ton of resistance from Oakland's fanbase. Even after suffering three consecutive losing seasons while owning the worst attendance rate in the league, there are still loyal fans who preferred owner John Fisher to sell the team instead of relocating it to Sin City.
Last season, Athletics faithful organized a "reverse boycott," showing up to the Coliseum with plain green t-shirts that read "SELL" across the chest.
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The efforts came to no avail, though, as Fisher's hope to move the Athletics to Las Vegas was approved by MLB's ownership group.
When are the Athletics moving to Las Vegas?
This will be the Athletics' final season in Oakland, meaning 2025 will be their first season in Las Vegas.
However, their new stadium will not be ready until 2028, and they are expected to work with MLB on an interim location to compete in until their new home on the Las Vegas Strip is ready.
Despite several efforts to build a new stadium in the Bay Area to keep the A's local, nothing came to fruition. Last June, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed an MLB stadium funding bill worth $380 million to prepare for the franchise's relocation to Vegas.
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The A's plan is to construct a $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat stadium on the Tropicana Hotel's site on the Strip.
The construction is expected to begin in "early" 2024 and conclude in 2028 in time for the Athletics to move in for their debut season.
