It's amazing that Oakland has lost their 3 major league sports teams in 5 years. And now there's a possibility the A's move to Vegas as soon as 2025 to play at the home of the minor league baseball team until their new stadium is ready.
Post by libertyfan2020 on Apr 22, 2023 11:47:43 GMT -5
The Warriors moved due to the owners wanting a brand new arena instead of just updating the Oakland Coliseum. Both the Oakland Raiders and Oakland As had terrible owners. I do wonder if this will help the WNBA's odds to land a team there now.
It would be nice. But with the A's gone, the Coliseum complex is even more of an economic albatross. The ideal situation for the WNBA:
A developer comes in, tears down the Coliseum and leaves the Arena. The Arena host concerts, motocross, etc., and is eager for 20 WNBA dates in the summer and so cuts a good deal.
The likely outcome: The Coliseum complex deteriorates, as no one has any motivation to spend any money maintaining or upgrading it. No Bay Area owner with $20 million to spare (Alana Beard's number after working with AASEG) wants to put a team in the Arena, and there really aren't many other options. Joe Lacob holds out for a relocation rather than an expansion team. (It's possible Lacob will move on the WNBA when the Warriors don't play so deep into the summer. That could happen in the next week -- or the Dubs could roll to the Finals again.)
It would be nice. But with the A's gone, the Coliseum complex is even more of an economic albatross. The ideal situation for the WNBA:
A developer comes in, tears down the Coliseum and leaves the Arena. The Arena host concerts, motocross, etc., and is eager for 20 WNBA dates in the summer and so cuts a good deal.
The likely outcome: The Coliseum complex deteriorates, as no one has any motivation to spend any money maintaining or upgrading it. No Bay Area owner with $20 million to spare (Alana Beard's number after working with AASEG) wants to put a team in the Arena, and there really aren't many other options. Joe Lacob holds out for a relocation rather than an expansion team. (It's possible Lacob will move on the WNBA when the Warriors don't play so deep into the summer. That could happen in the next week -- or the Dubs could roll to the Finals again.)
is the feeling around town that the Coliseum most likely will get torn down once the A's move out? otherwise, what purpose would it serve continuing to exist, in its current dilapidated condition, without a tenant or any other entity motivated to renovate it?
No one knows. The City of Oakland owns half the site, and I think the A's own the other half. AASEG is focused on an unlikely NFL expansion team, which would require a massive renovation of the Coliseum. Absent that renovation, the Coliseum is a decaying pile of concrete that's not fit to host anything.
But Oakland has no money, is corrupt and incompetent, and is unlikely to make anything happen. A private developer is probably the only hope, and the issues with getting any kind of development plan through the layers of approval are a multi-year process.
now we wait for Tampa Bay’s situation to clear up.
one thing i realize is, Oakland moving to Vegas would remove another roadblock to MLB expansion. those of us in Seattle would love to get a true rival in Portland, but we also hope Seattle politics don’t ultimately get in the way of that either. the politics in this city are perhaps just as deplorable as those in Oakland’s.
Yeah, at this point I don't know where else MLB wants to expand outside of Portland and Montreal now. And they shouldn't return to Montreal. The Nashville team keeps hitting roadblocks in getting a stadium done.
Utah/the SLC area recently arose as a legitimate candidate with a prospective ownership group right before the A's owner's purchase of land in Vegas was announced (which is interesting). People also throw North Carolina (either Charlotte or Raleigh) around, though I don't believe a legit ownership group has come about there. MLB has expressed its interest regarding that area, though.
So with Oakland presumably going to Vegas, the updated list of prospective MLB expansion locations is Portland, Montreal, Nashville, Utah, and North Carolina. Vancouver has only gotten very sparse mentions, so I wouldn't think of them as being a serious contender at this time.
Don't forget Tampa Bay has stadium problems too. Municipalities are less willing to fund stadiums than in the past, so it's not going to be a simple process no matter where MLB looks.
I certainly didn’t. MLB has made it clear that it’s the one other expansion roadblock. It sounds like that situation too could find resolution between now & the end of the year. Would be nice. What I don’t get is why the Rays owners would even consider keeping the team in St. Petersburg, the root of all their problems. What if even moving that team into St. Petersburg’s downtown (from its less accessible & less desirable location towards the outskirts) doesn’t solve its attendance issue? Then what? Moving the team to downtown Tampa really ought to be the only solution they’re considering, though at least they apparently still are. At least for their sake it sounds like MLB is on their side in trying to keep the team from moving. Certainly more courtesy than they’ve given to Oakland.
The Rays' current lease at Tropicana Field runs out at the end of the 2027 season.