This article is free for anyone to read, but please consider becoming a Patreon subscriber to allow me to keep writing posts like this one. Sign up to receive articles like this one in your inbox here.
You will be shocked, but the A’s are in the news again for their planned move to Las Vegas. You will be even more surprised by this, but it’s more like “news” where information we’ve already had access to is being presented as if it’s new, in such a way that makes it seem if progress is being made. Ah, well, nevertheless.
Here’s an Oakland Fox affiliate, KTVU, doing that very thing earlier this week:
A clearer picture of the timeline for building a new ballpark for the A’s in Las Vegas is emerging.
The construction companies hired by the A’s plan to break ground on the project in the spring of 2025.
And their goal is to have the baseball park ready in time for opening day in 2028.
The 33,0000-seat stadium will be built along the Las Vegas strip at the site of the Tropicana Hotel, which is scheduled to be torn down next month.
Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that the A’s have three outstanding agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority that are being negotiated and set to be presented in nearly final forms at a Oct. 17 meeting. Those agreements include nonrelocation, lease and development agreements, the Journal reported. A final vote will occur in December.
“We’re on track for those and we’re really happy with the progress we’ve made and ensuring that it’s done in an appropriate fashion and working hand-in-hand with the stadium authority,” A’s President Dave Kaval said, according to the Journal.
We already knew that construction was set to begin in the spring of 2025 — in fact, we knew that they were aiming for April. We already knew about the Oct. 17 meeting, as well, with the expectation from both sides being that everything would be settled there for a vote in December.
This is all the stuff that’s already been mentioned again and again this summer. What’s truly missing, what absolutely needs to be solved for any of this to matter, is for owner John Fisher to secure the remaining $900 million or so in private investment, which would unlock the public subsidies and allow construction to begin next April. What do we have for updates on that? Oh, just vague assurances things are coming along like usual? Cool.
While we’re on the subject of the A’s, former owner Wally Haas does not have kind things to say about the relocation. From a conversation with the San Francisco Chronicle’s John Shea:
“I think what makes it so difficult for me and obviously a lot of others to watch is the fact that, unlike my father being the last hope at the time in Oakland, it sure sounds like John has had a number of groups—I know that he has—approach him to buy the team and keep it here, one in particular, which was pretty public and certainly viable, is, of course, Joe Lacob and his group.
Haas would say that it was “frankly unforgivable” for the team to be relocated when alternative ownership groups existed within the region that would have happily kept the team in Oakland. And he’s not wrong! It’s not like Vegas is going to solve any problems the A’s might have, real or imagined. All it’s going to do is allow Fisher to collect revenue-sharing checks by being in the smallest media market in the game. It’s egregious even by MLB owner standards.
Jerry Reinsdorf has been a little quiet on the trying to get a new ballpark paid for by the city of Chicago front of late, but don’t worry, he hasn’t forgotten about his goal. Nor does he feel any shame in putting on this whole dog and pony show in a season in which his team has lost 117 games with nine left to play. As Neil deMause put it at Field of Schemes, the White Sox basically organized a game of catch between former players and legislators on a makeshift diamond at the stadium site they’d like a $2 billion subsidy for.
We don’t know who attended, only that some of the legislators weren’t impressed. Which makes sense. The White Sox aren’t exactly awash in impressive former players, either. Neil’s got the breakdown of all the points worth exploring, so be sure to check that out.
Reinsdorf is also in the news thanks to The Athletic, which put together a deep dive on just how much everyone hates him and the way he operates the White Sox, from the fact that the plane the team charters makes the players feel like they’re still in the minors, to their inability to embrace analytics or modern game plans that help them develop either better players or better in-game decisions and results. The whole organization is a mess, and every bit of it points to the man at the top. This is something fans in Chicago surely know about already — maybe not to the degrees explained in this feature, but certainly who is at fault for everything someone needs to be blamed for — but the wider world that hasn’t hated this guy for years and years should know, too.
The White Sox aren’t set to lose the most games in a season by accident. MLB is mostly full of competent teams at this point. There are ones who are worse, sure, but generally, wounds in the modern game are self-inflicted, since everyone has practically the same baseline game plans for development and trying to keep up with everyone else. The Marlins are cheap, the A’s are in the middle of a very lengthy grift that won’t allow them to actually try, the Pirates are basically both of those things. But there are a few truly dumb teams that don’t know what they’re doing and will never change until their owner does. The White Sox are the worst of them, which is saying something, because the other two teams that spring to mind immediately for me are the Rockies and Angels.
Don’t worry, though. At least the White Sox will also spend even less money in 2025. Surely that’ll fix these deep-seated organizational issues.
Visit my Patreon to become a supporter and help me continue to write articles like this one.