The Oakland Athletics are reportedly seeking approval to play up to 10% of their home games away from their new ballpark in Las Vegas after their planned relocation in 2028.
Because of course they are. If this isn't the dumbest factoid to come out of this entire relocation saga, it's damn well close.
According to Athletics President Dave Kaval, the idea is to play up to 7 neutral site games per year in order to increase brand recognition and encourage sponsorship and free agent acquisition opportunities.
So on one hand, we've got the A's claiming that they have to leave Oakland because they don't have the requisite fanbase to remain a profitable enterprise. And on the other, we've got the A's claiming that they don't have the requisite fanbase in Las Vegas and need to play random domestic and international games to drive fan interest...in Las Vegas.
We've completely lost the thread here. If Las Vegas wasn't a turnkey market for an MLB franchise, why has so much effort been placed in trying to get a team there?
The Athletics' relocation plans look more questionable every day
We know that Vegas is a worse market than Oakland, for a number of reasons. The A's are leaving a top-10 TV market in favor of the 40th largest TV market in the country. There were always going to be questions about the viability of a team there, never mind a team that has a history of not caring about the product on the field.
But walking into this situation in Las Vegas and acknowledging the limited excitement surrounding the relocation is beyond understanding.
A’s move to play more games outside of Vegas could undercut stadium finances by millions
— Howard Stutz (@howardstutz) June 4, 2024
A request to play 8 home games a season away from Vegas could harm the team’s financial projections and bonding capacity for public financing.https://t.co/h1tVKCEUxF @TheNVIndy
The Athletics certainly have their work cut out for them if they want this relocation to go smoothly. Already, people are questioning the A's methods. Jeremy Koo was quoted saying "The Athletics should not be arriving in Las Vegas with one foot already out the door".
That's fair criticism of the process. The A's relocation model was predicated on selling out their new park 81 times a year. If they're only averaging 74 home games per year, they'll have quite a bit of revenue to make up.
And that's assuming they can actually sell out the ballpark on a consistent basis. The A's are currently averaging less than 6,500 fans per game, so there are massive question marks about whether they'll be able to draw in Vegas.
The Athletics continue to fly by the seat of their pants during this relocation process, and they look more stupid every day.