Oakland A's headed to Las Vegas

Nah, they'll keep the name, they actually have some franchise tradition, even if it is pretty spread out over the decades. And green and gold makes sense in Vegas.

 

Nice work if you can get it.

 

Las Vegas Aces would make perfect sense but the WNBA already grabbed that one.

I wonder what they'll do when the NBA wants to jump in, just make it "Aces B.C." with both women's team and a men's team, Euro style?

 

I was gonna post the same thing. Everything is so big, you look at it and say, "It's just right over there. We can walk it." Haha.
I remember reading on the SJ Vegas thread a couple of years ago, somebody's critique of the MGM: Be sure to account for cab fare to get you from the lobby to the casino.

 

In Nov a business client wanted to go to In N Out (on the Strip) from Cosmo and said “let’s just walk” and I said ok; damn it was not worth the hassle. I would’ve taken the Uber and expensed it. I already knew nothing is close in Lv but he insisted.

 

I know people question the actual financial worth of a pro sports team to a city, but there's no doubt it helps with name recognition and the perception of it being a major city.
With the Warriors, Raiders and A's all leaving, does this now make Oakland just another fairly large but relatively anonymous California city that's overshadowed by the "Big Three," like Bakersfield, Anaheim or Riverside? Seems like they've always been living in San Francisco's shadow, and now this makes them seem like even more of a very large suburb.

 

The A's were purchased by Lew Wolff as a lynchpin to some real estate development. And every potential move/site has included an ancilary development that would benefit the team owners. Winning or even building a new stadium was always secondary. I don't feel bad. Even though my first major league game was an A's game. Maybe real estate was the only way to "unlock maximum value" from the team, since they would always be second fiddle to the Giants in the Bay Area - but the Giants blocked a move to the South Bay claiming it was their "turf." Always felt Pleasanton made the most sense - especially since they now have BART. They could have their own mixed used development near the stadium - good freeway access. Not too far a drive for the fan base in Contra Costa. .And it isn't like you get the sense that the owners are very ambitious about their prospects in Vegas building only 35k capacity or whatnot. Likely the team will remain the Pittsburgh Pirates of the West They won't be competing for the most part against the Raiders or Knights (which is good) and the people of Vegas will get tourists to pay for amenity they probably will never use.

 

One other thought - I'm not going to defend the Coliseum asthetically - it is what it is - but I will say it has a better legacy than Dodger Stadium in terms of championships. One more thought, how has Dodger Stadium held up so well for 60 plus years? I can't even remember hearing about a major renovation.

 

I keep coming back to the idea that Las Vegas is the No. 40 Nielsen market, Reno is No. 102 and the only other nearby unoccupied territory is No. 29 Salt Lake City, which is going for an expansion team and is otherwise more oriented to Denver anyway. Whatever TV contracts look like by the end of the decade, that’s still an awfully scrawny base to build from.

 

I think virtually every new baseball stadium going forward will be close to 35k capacity. When Henderson tried to lure away the Diamondbacks the proposed stadium was only going to have 32k seats.

The D-Backs want to renovate Chase Field and part of that plan would be to seriously reduce the capacity.

 

I've always figured they'll find a way to put slots in Allegient (if they aren't there already). I don't think that building is used on more than 30 days a year. 40 max.

I will say, a 30k baseball facility with a roof would probably be a great size for a title fight - if they do those any more.

 

Dodger Stadium has undergone constant renovation. The latest, a $100 million upgrade, was completed in 2021.