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Rob Manfred ‘Not Optimistic’ that A’s Stay in Oakland

Oakland

(Via Dominic Gutierrez)

Oakland
(Via Dominic Gutierrez)

Rob Manfred ‘Not Optimistic’ that A’s Stay in Oakland

As if Rob Manfred hasn’t ruined baseball enough, his idea of team relocations is just comical. Manfred is no longer optimistic that the A’s will stay in Oakland and believes that the team moving to Las Vegas is more likely.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported the comments made by Manfred after the commissioner appeared on Chirs Russo’s radio show.

There are so many things wrong with this. The A’s and their waterfront ballpark in Oakland is as close as it’s ever been. Vegas is a terrible city for existing teams, and I wouldn’t call Bob Nightengale a ‘reliable’ source.

While their Oakland ballpark is taking longer than expected, it’s the closest they’ve been in years. It’s a $12 billion privately funded waterfront ballpark that seats 35,000 and will have over 3,000 residential units, offices, hotels, and performance centers.

All year the A’s have been clearing hurdles. In February, the city council voted to certify the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) deeming the project beneficial for the environment. In June, the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission voted to remove the port designation from Howard Terminal.

The only big step missing is the city getting the rest of the funds for the offsite infrastructure. They’re about 90% there, but still don’t have enough to pay their share. Once that’s set, the city council can vote to make the project official.

The only problem is, elections are in November, and many of the city council members who support the project, including Mayor Libby Schaaf, will be termed out. A binding vote is unlikely here in 2022, making the Vegas talk grow.

It still seems like a gimmick. Last year, renderings for a potential Vegas ballpark were set to release after the World Series. That never happened, and it’s now late 2022 and we haven’t seen any renderings or locations sites.

Yet in the same interview, Manfred said he believes the Tampa Bay Rays will stay in Tampa and their stadium plans will be a breeze. How? The Rays and the city have done NOTHING to make significant movements in a new stadium. All the A’s are waiting for is a little more money from the city and a binding vote.

As I said, Bob Nightengale is not exactly a reliable source either. He has screwed up multiple times, including when he reported that the A’s were optimistic that Kyler Murray would report to Spring Training just a few minutes after he made his decision on the NFL. You can find many of Nightengale’s screwups here.

Vegas would be a crappy place for a baseball stadium. Look at the Raiders. Their once-strong fanbase is no more. Allegiant Stadium is constantly taken over by tourists and opposing fans. Just imagine what an A’s stadium in Vegas would look like, especially when their fanbase is already pretty weak.

Not to mention it would have to be an indoor stadium because summer baseball in Vegas would be hell. And football is only 17 weeks, half of that being at home for the Raiders. There are 162 games in baseball, is it going to sell out every day?

I still believe the A’s stadium in Oakland will be complete. Tell me I’m in denial, I don’t care. There has been no real evidence of the A’s having a spot in Vegas. No renderings, no sites, nothing. The city of Oakland will go broke if they lose all the A’s, they already lost the Warriors and Raiders. A waterfront ballpark is beautiful and much better than a dusty, hot desert.

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