Sources: A's to play in Reno before moving to Las Vegas

The Oakland Athletics are on the verge of submitting an application to the MLB in order to get their relocation to Las Vegas going ahead of the voting by fellow franchise owners that would all but seal the A's move away from Oakland.

According to Steve Hill, the CEO of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and as reported by Nevada Sports Net on Thursday, Reno has emerged as the leading location for the team to play games while their new Las Vegas Strip stadium is built and after the lease of the Oakland Coliseum expires at the end of the 2024 season.

There is a team playing minor-league ball in Reno already, the Triple-A Reno Aces. They are currently using the Greater Nevada Field, which holds a capacity of 9,013. Just for context, the A's are averaging a daily attendance of 9,688 this season according to data gathered by ESPN.

As we already echoed yesterday, and according to Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the A's are already progressing in the submission of the application to get the relocation kickstarted.

Akers revealed in his writeup that the A's "have officially begun the relocation application process with MLB," according to a person with knowledge of the process.

With no stadium in the Strip until at the very least midway through the 2027 year, the A's have already agreed to remain in Oakland next season (at the Coliseum) but they won't have a home past Dec. 2024 when their lease of the stadium runs out.

Up to this news regarding Reno's Triple-A team, the most probable option was the Las Vegas Aviators' stadium in Summerlin, the Las Vegas Ballpark with a capacity of 10,000.

For now, the A's will play in Oakland, but it makes sense for the franchise to move away from the town as soon as possible if the relocation is approved by the rest of the MLB owners in order for the team to start building a new fanbase in Nevada ahead of their final move to Las Vegas.

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