OT: Oakland A's moving to Vegas

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

I came in here to say a) I'm sad whenever a champion leaves a city, but b) to me the only time I'm really bothered is when the lone team from a bigger market moves to a smaller market - because to me really raises questions.

But you make a great point. I had assumed they must have a dome to play in...but they don't. Attendees are going to get sunstroke. It's irresponsible to approve this until they get a more protective stadium for the Vegas summer. I'm honestly surprised this wasn't a dealbreaker.

Is there pics of the new stadium? Otherwise I dont think they actually play there until 2027

Ya, from the article linked in here The club announced it had reached an agreement to acquire land near the famous street of casinos and hopes to begin playing games in a new billion-dollar retractable roof stadium there by the 2027 season.

They were hinting that they would come earlier if the MLB let them, and that they'd play here:

Im having trouble googling, but is it really that hot at 7PM? I would think it would actually be decent weather once the game starts and you are in the 2nd-3rd inning. Honestly have no idea.

Would be a good summer attraction where it gives a family friendly thing to do at night.

[AbeVigodaLive]

I have always found it weird how people are fans of privately owned teams which use city/state's name for financial reasons instead of being a fan of the team/player whose play style they like.

I always felt it was weird to like the opposite. Rooting for players instead of teams feels like a new thing starting since Jordan.

Maybe more of a technology thing. The world has changed a lot...

In the earlier days of sports, you didn't have unfiltered access to any team (or player). You had the nearest local team that would be on the radio or television. And you didn't have the internet, so you relied on the local newspaper. So it made sense you'd be more familiar with the local team. As a result, sports developed into regional fandom.

Imagine going to school as a kid in Massachusetts and arguing with your friends that the early-era Spurs were a better team. The Celtics fans would cite the cool game/play that Havlicek or Cowens made in the game the night before. You'd have to do a bunch of legwork just to find out stats for George Gervin. And you'd only have occasional highlights (maybe) to make your case.

Now, you can watch any team/player at any time. You can discuss any team/player at any time with anybody/anywhere.

The other part of this is that every NBA player in the game today also grew up with this era. It's probably why many more are more willing to demand trades. They grew up in an era where regional fandom was not the only way to follow the sport.

[BlackKnight]

Oakland is a **** city that doesn’t deserve a sports team

[Sedale Threatt]

Is there pics of the new stadium? Otherwise I dont think they actually play there until 2027

Ya, from the article linked in here The club announced it had reached an agreement to acquire land near the famous street of casinos and hopes to begin playing games in a new billion-dollar retractable roof stadium there by the 2027 season.

They were hinting that they would come earlier if the MLB let them, and that they'd play here:

Im having trouble googling, but is it really that hot at 7PM? I would think it would actually be decent weather once the game starts and you are in the 2nd-3rd inning. Honestly have no idea.

Would be a good summer attraction where it gives a family friendly thing to do at night.

Not a huge baseball guy anymore, but I know the Rangers struggled with midsummer heat issues throughout their history until finally getting a roofed building. I can only imagine it's that much worse in the middle of the desert.

[CS707]

I have always found it weird how people are fans of privately owned teams which use city/state's name for financial reasons instead of being a fan of the team/player whose play style they like.

I always felt it was weird to like the opposite. Rooting for players instead of teams feels like a new thing starting since Jordan.

Maybe more of a technology thing. The world has changed a lot...

In the earlier days of sports, you didn't have unfiltered access to any team (or player). You had the nearest local team that would be on the radio or television. And you didn't have the internet, so you relied on the local newspaper. So it made sense you'd be more familiar with the local team. As a result, sports developed into regional fandom.

Imagine going to school as a kid in Massachusetts and arguing with your friends that the early-era Spurs were a better team. The Celtics fans would cite the cool game/play that Havlicek or Cowens made in the game the night before. You'd have to do a bunch of legwork just to find out stats for George Gervin. And you'd only have occasional highlights (maybe) to make your case.

Now, you can watch any team/player at any time. You can discuss any team/player at any time with anybody/anywhere.

The other part of this is that every NBA player in the game today also grew up with this era. It's probably why many more are more willing to demand trades. They grew up in an era where regional fandom was not the only way to follow the sport.

This totally resonates. I started my baseball fandom as a Yankee fan because someone gave me a baseball almanac for a gift and I would read about all the great Yankees through history. At some point though I started going to A's games because they were accessible and the bash brothers became a thing and it was A's from that point forward.

[vital_signs]

I'll never recognzie a Las Vegas professional team

*shakes fist at clouds*

But seriously, I have more to worry about than adding that place to my list of pro team locations.

[Dubnation]

A's ownership has been one of the worst in professional sports and the Raiders are right there with them. Fitting they both end up in LV.

Agreed that both ownerships are among the most inept. It remains to be seen if LV can work for the teams under the same management.

[nick p]

Oakland losing a NBA, NFL & MLB team in recent memory is wild

[LakersLegacy]

Last four years Oakland has lost the Warriors, Raiders and now the A's

They really need to take care of the crime/homeless issues, my wife won’t go to A’s games. It looks like a village of the
tens of thousands of homeless under the freeway near the stadium. It’s not the usual downtown food and social life that’s needed. It’s the complete opposite of the Padres stadium which should be the standard.

A home near downtown that feels safer and makes you want to walk around and spend money in the community

Oakland has a lot to offer. Its leadership has just done worse than its neighbors. Northern San Fransisco, Berkeley, San Jose seem to be doing better

[Doctor MJ]

Is there pics of the new stadium? Otherwise I dont think they actually play there until 2027

Ya, from the article linked in here The club announced it had reached an agreement to acquire land near the famous street of casinos and hopes to begin playing games in a new billion-dollar retractable roof stadium there by the 2027 season.

They were hinting that they would come earlier if the MLB let them, and that they'd play here:

Im having trouble googling, but is it really that hot at 7PM? I would think it would actually be decent weather once the game starts and you are in the 2nd-3rd inning. Honestly have no idea.

Would be a good summer attraction where it gives a family friendly thing to do at night.

Well first off:

Yes, you'd absolutely need to be focusing on night games, which would make televising tough. Remember that Nevada is in the Pacific time zone so every time you do a nigh game in Vegas, that's starting at 10PM Eastern time.

But second, yeah in my anecdotal experience, it can be shockingly hot at night during the summer in Nevada & Arizona. It's not a given, and certainly these are areas that get cold in the winter with their distance from the ocean, but to me the general rule here is that the weather is hellishly hot in these places West of the Rockies a decent chunk of the time, and if I were looking to build a stadium for regular summer use, I'd absolutely want something that had a dome - ideally a retractable dome, but I'd want the option to close out the environment.

[wegotthabeet]

Wonder if they will rebrand at all or retain the color scheme. I always liked the green and yellow

Maybe rebrand as the Las Vegas A(ces)? White, Red and Black uniforms

Maybe like this

booo!

Athletics' is one of the best names ever in pro sports. Aces is awful. did you come up with that? horrible.

[wegotthabeet]

All Vegas needs now is a basketball team. Just a matter of time until they get that when the league expands.

more likely that a team will relocate and there are plenty of teams that would do better financially in Vegas than their current location.

[Doctor MJ]

Oakland losing a NBA, NFL & MLB team in recent memory is wild

It's really sad, but we have to keep in mind what's happening in California's battles between city populations.

There was a time when Oakland was actually the 2nd largest city in California (behind San Francisco). Where is it now?

1. Los Angeles
2. San Diego
3. San Jose
4. San Francisco
5. Fresno
6. Sacramento
7. Long Beach
8. Oakland

The most critical rivalry here is between Oakland and San Jose as the 2nd most important city in the Bay Area. Suffice to say that San Jose is MUCH more important than Oakland now - more than double the population, and a wealthier population with all that Silicon Valley money.

Realistically, if you were creating a new sports league now and you were looking to put teams in the biggest markets, you would never consider even consider Oakland.

Again, I'm sad about Oakland losing it's teams and in general I really tend to cheer for those small markets with long histories (Go Packers!), but this is what happens when a city loses ground to other cities.

A couple other notes:

1. Oakland's initial rise to prominence came as a result of it being the natural train stop on the east side of the Bay before you brought things over to San Francisco. Now that San Francisco isn't as significant, airplanes exist, and much of the sea trade is focused down in LA/Long Beach, we'd expect Oakland's importance to fall off as well even without the rise of Silicon Valley as the most successful of the Bay area suburbs.

2. Anaheim is 10th on the list and it can make you wonder why they are getting teams. In a nutshell it's because "Anaheim" represents Orange County which used to be a part of LA county. While no one city there is big enough on its own to warrant a major sports team, the County on the whole does. There are two cities that historically dominated the OC - Anaheim & Santa Ana - and then Disney built Disneyland in Anaheim and sought to promote the Anaheim name giving it preeminent status in circles such as these. (Incidentally Irvine is arguably the city with the greatest power in the county going forward, but Anaheim's place as the sporting focal point of the county seems unlikely to be challenged.)

[Doctor MJ]

All Vegas needs now is a basketball team. Just a matter of time until they get that when the league expands.

more likely that a team will relocate and there are plenty of teams that would do better financially in Vegas than their current location.

I'm sure a team will re-located if the NBA doesn't expand, but I expect the NBA to expand in the near future. 32 teams is a natural final destination for these leagues.

[Doctor MJ]

Maybe rebrand as the Las Vegas A(ces)? White, Red and Black uniforms

Maybe like this

booo!

Athletics' is one of the best names ever in pro sports. Aces is awful. did you come up with that? horrible.

Agree, Vegas would be foolish to move away from the green & yellow of the A's.

[wegotthabeet]

All Vegas needs now is a basketball team. Just a matter of time until they get that when the league expands.

more likely that a team will relocate and there are plenty of teams that would do better financially in Vegas than their current location.

I'm sure a team will re-located if the NBA doesn't expand, but I expect the NBA to expand in the near future. 32 teams is a natural final destination for these leagues.

you think no league will ever expand beyond 32? like ever?

[wegotthabeet]

Maybe like this

booo!

Athletics' is one of the best names ever in pro sports. Aces is awful. did you come up with that? horrible.

Agree, Vegas would be foolish to move away from the green & yellow of the A's.

and more importantly the name. oldest name in pro sports. never changed, never should.

[Doctor MJ]

more likely that a team will relocate and there are plenty of teams that would do better financially in Vegas than their current location.

I'm sure a team will re-located if the NBA doesn't expand, but I expect the NBA to expand in the near future. 32 teams is a natural final destination for these leagues.

you think no league will ever expand beyond 32? like ever?

Hmm, I'll put it like this:

1. 32 being a power of 2 is a super-convenient number for schedule planning.
2. If you have too many teams in a league, they can't all play each other very much. If they don't play much, then using W-L records to decide playoff qualification isn't very meaningful.
3. There's really no urgent need for leagues to add teams in teams that are the 33rd+ market within any country. For the most part if you're that small, the only reason you have a team is because you already had one.

This to say:

My guess would be that if you ended up with a global super-league with more teams, it would truly operate as a bunch of separate leagues like how European football works, or how the MLB used to work.

So for example, I could imagine a future where there are leagues under the NBA umbrella doing a Champions League sort of thing, but it's hard for me to see the NBA as we know it trying to have regular seasons with ever more teams in one league.

[marthafokker]

Happy day growing up as a local A's fan.

The only blame is the City. The policians played the A's for 30 years. Never willing to build a new stadium, just talk. And forcing sports teams to pay up and fix city problems for the politicians.
It needed to stop. So happy the team can have the money to keep their kids post 2027.

[Nate505]

Happy day growing up as a local A's fan.

The only blame is the City. The policians played the A's for 30 years. Never willing to build a new stadium, just talk. And forcing sports teams to pay up and fix city problems for the politicians.
It needed to stop. So happy the team can have the money to keep their kids post 2027.

Yeah, like that cheap SOB will actually pay for anybody or anything.

Then again, dude is only worth $2.4 billion, so I get why he has to be thrifty.