LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Major League Baseball to Las Vegas is still on the table, but the Oakland City Council voted 6-1 on Tuesday in favor of a non-binding term sheet for a proposed new waterfront stadium in a bid to keep the Athletics franchise from moving.
However, A's President Dave Kaval said during the meeting that led to the vote that the current plan does not work for the organization.
"I just really want to stress that voting 'yes' on something that we don't agree with or we don't have consensus around, is not an effective path forward. The current term sheet, as it's constructed and with its current language, is not a business partnership that works for us," said Kaval during the meeting.
"If the A's are not happy with what was produced today and are still talking about leaving after the city has bent over backwards and provided some of their best work in the interest of Oakland residents, I don't know where we go from here, after doing somersaults, after receiving insults, after being disrespected," responded Carroll Fife, Oakland City Councilmember representing District 3, where the new ballpark would be built.
The team is still scheduled to visit Las Vegas again on Wednesday to look at a new potential home.
Officials from the team, including Kaval, have made three prior trips to Las Vegas to speak with city and county officials as well as hotel operators to look at the feasibility of MLB in Las Vegas.
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The vote could be crucial in keeping the A's in Oakland. Just last week, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said if the stadium project is not approved, the team would move forward with either a move to Las Vegas or a wider relocation search.
During one of the previous trips to Las Vegas, Kaval told 13 Action News that the team was considering two dozen different locations where they could build a new ballpark in the Las Vegas valley ranging from the strip to near the airport and beyond.
Originally from Philadelphia, the Athletics have called Oakland home since 1968 and have won four World Series during their time in California. The team has played at RingCentral Coliseum (Oakland Coliseum) since they moved to town.
The team formerly shared the Coliseum with the Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas and played their first season in Southern Nevada in 2020.
