Twenty years ago, the thought of professional sports teams in Las Vegas was unthinkable. The gambling capital of the world and pro sports was not a good mixture. Then Vegas was given a Stanley Cup Final, and they are looked upon as a model franchise.
The Fortress (as T-Mobile Arena is so fondly known), is rocking from the rafters for every game, and other teams fear having to play on the unfriendly ice.
With the Golden Knights in tow, the Oakland Raiders were the next team to migrate to Sin City. Their new stadium (which is yet to see fans thanks to the pandemic), is the one of the crown jewel stadiums of the NFL.
When the Vegas Raiders kick off the 2021 season, Allegiant Stadium will be full and rocking, the homefield advantage for the Silver and Black will be back. Along with Seattle, the NBA has also given the go ahead for an expansion team, should the league decide to expand.
Which would make Vegas one of the few cities with three professional sports teams. With the transient nature of Las Vegas, fans of all teams will make the trek here, and the stadiums will be rocking.
Then there was one!!! MLB may be the toughest league to place a team as building a stadium takes a lot of space (which Vegas has), time (which Vegas has) and money (which Vegas has in spades). MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has already given his approval of Vegas as a Major League city, all that is missing is the team.
The city has proved that it can host a minor league team and make it an experience like everything else in Vegas. The Las Vegas Aviators, the Triple A affiliate of the Oakland A’s call Vegas home, and have an amazing stadium built in Summerlin, a suburb of Vegas.
The ballpark is one that, except for the size, would be amazing for any Major League team. Complete with swimming pool just beyond the outfield fence for those hot Vegas nights. So where could Sin City get its newest tenant?
Look no further than the city that they already got the NFL team from, and already has a baseball presence in Vegas. That’s right! The A’s are finally ready to ditch the worst stadium in baseball and move into what would be one of the best.
On July 20th, the Oakland City Council voted 6-1 in favor of exploring a $12 Billion ballpark along the Oakland estuary at Howard Terminal, but the A’s did not agree to this term sheet, and are not happy that the Council went ahead with a vote on something that the team did not get behind.
Even Manfred has come out opposed to the Council’s vote saying “We are disappointed the City Council chose to vote on a proposal to which the A’s had not agreed. We will immediately begin conversations with the A’s to chart a path forward for the club”.
Those words from baseball’s head honcho, seem to pave the way for the Oakland A’s to become the Las Vegas A’s. With their Triple A team already here, plenty of money to build a state of the art ballpark, that will be baseball only, and already proof that Vegas is a viable city to host a Major League team, it appears it is just a matter of time.
All of a sudden, this little desert town that was once just a stop over for people heading to Los Angeles, is a major player in the sports world. By 2025, I am betting the NBA will be in Vegas too, meaning they will be one of the select few major cities that is represented by all four of the major sports leagues. Add in the fact that there is already a NASCAR track here that is part of their circuit, and that the NCAA holds many of it’s conference basketball tournaments there too, and Vegas is about to become the sports capital of America, you can bet on it!!!!