Oakland A’s concur to purchase property close to the Las Vegas Strip

According to team president Dave Kaval on Wednesday, the Oakland Athletics have a legal contract in place to buy land close to the Las Vegas Strip where they plan to build a big league ballpark.

The deal relates to a 49-acre property owned by Station Casinos’ parent firm, Red Rock Resorts.

According to Kaval, the property would also house a restaurant and an amphitheater in addition to a 35,000-seat stadium with a partially retractable roof that would cost $1.5 billion to construct.

“For a while, we were on parallel paths [with Oakland], but now our focus is on Las Vegas to secure a deal for the A’s and locate a permanent home.” According to Kaval, the Review-Journal. “Oakland has been a great home for us for more than 50 years, but we really need to wrap up this 20-year saga, and we feel there is a path here in Southern Nevada to do that.”

The acquisition agreement and the A’s refocusing their efforts toward a transfer to Las Vegas after being established in Oakland since 1968 have received the blessing of Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred.

“We support the A’s shifting their attention to Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing closure to this process by the end of the year,” Manfred told the Review-Journal.

The mayor of Oakland, Sheng Thao, condemned the declaration and declared that the city is “ceasing negotiations and moving forward” to alternative possibilities.

In a statement, Thao said, “I am deeply disappointed that the A’s have decided not to negotiate with the City of Oakland as a true partner, in a way that respects the long relationship between the fans, the City and the team.” “However, it is obvious to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have only been utilizing this procedure to try to get a better offer from Las Vegas. The fans and our citizens deserve better, so I have no interest in continuing to play that game.

The Review-Journal claims that the purchase agreement only covers the land; the A’s have the option to buy an additional eight acres at a later time. The location is roughly one mile west of T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, and one mile north of Allegiant Stadium, the home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders.

The existence of a webpage, according to Kaval, is really exciting. “We’ve spent almost two years doing our homework, working with community leaders, elected officials, and everyone in town to really determine a location that could be a win for the A’s as well as the community and public officials,” said one local figure.

Since 1983, a Triple-A team has called Las Vegas home; at the moment, the franchise is an affiliate of the Athletics.