Manager Mark Kotsay and the Oakland Athletics have not been having a great 2024 MLB season so far, as the team currently sits with a record of 39-61, which is last place in the AL West. As Kotsay's struggles continue to get his team in the win column, the Athletics also have to deal with the reality of switching locations from Oakland to another location next season, and then to Las Vegas beginning in the 2028 season, where the team will hope to garner some new fans and some momentum for itself as an organization.
However, if the latest intel is any indication, there are still some major problems as it pertains to just where exactly the Athletics will be relocating to in Sin City.
“At a presentation to the Las Vegas Stadium Authority on July 18, 2024, the Oakland A’s confirmed there is currently no financing in place for a proposed $1.5 billion ballpark in Las Vegas,” reported Scott Roeben of Casino.org.
Roeben also confirmed that the Athletics don't have the lenders that some have just assumed they did.
“The A’s don’t have lenders who are actually lending,” reported Roeben. “The A’s are claiming multiple financial institutions are excited to lend the A’s $300 million, but excitement isn’t money.”
Making matters even worse is that there is apparently exactly zero public funding for the ballpark.
“The $380 million in public funding everyone assumes is a done deal actually isn’t,” reported Roeben. “…the A’s have to spend $100 million to get the public money. If that $100 million doesn’t exist, neither does the public funding.”
A disastrous move
The Athletics have long been the punching bag of the MLB when it comes to things like sparsely attended games and general ineptitude on the field, which made it so that not many people were clamoring when it was announced that the team would ultimately be relocating to Las Vegas in 2028.
The Athletics become just the latest franchise to move to the gambling capital of the world, joining the Raiders, Golden Knights, and a potential NBA team whenever that league decides it wants to expand.
Still, in order to garner interest in a city where there is already plenty to be entertained by, the Athletics will have to start actually putting together a competent product on the diamond itself, something they haven't been able to do in years.
Of course, it's also pretty important to have a diamond to play on, and at this rate, it seems like the team is far away from accomplishing even that goal.
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