A's to Aces: The Oakland Athletics are set to move to Las Vegas

The Oakland Athletics baseball club was founded in 1901 as the Philadelphia Athletics, but moved to Kansas City in 1955. In 1968 they moved to Oakland where they reside today. However, after years of negotiations, the team is projected to land a spot in the Tropicana lot, off the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada.

The Athletics used to have a high standard of accomplishments but in many recent years, many say they have fallen short. Fans say it's because the team trades away talented players or the organization is too cheap; but nevertheless, fans still show up to the games. Currently, the A’s are struggling to sell a good number of tickets, with record low attendance ratings in the past year and most recently a record low 2,064 fans showed up. This is a huge wake call to the organization and might just be one of the reasons for the move.

This baseball team is the last professional sports team to reside in Oakland, with The Raiders leaving for Vegas in 2020, and The Warriors leaving for San Francisco in 2019. This has been a sad past few years for loyal Oakland fans, as the city of Oakland has failed to maintain a good agreement with these three teams and has not failed to disappoint the fans.

Las Vegas has an extreme amount of potential to bring loads of money and more fans to the organization, with Vegas being the center for American sports betting and most of all, the world-renowned casinos could bring profits like the team has not seen in years. The stadium would be located in the Tropicana Resort Hotel lot. Forbes.com claims; “The team has signed a binding purchase agreement for land to build a $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat stadium with a partially retractable roof that has the support of MLB commissioner Rob Manfred”.

The Oakland Athletics are a legendary team no doubt, but it has been an emotional roller coaster these last couple of decades for fans. However, the Vegas move could be a way to start fresh.

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Cover photo courtesy of Bridget Bennett for The New York Times

Anthon Correa is a staff writer for The Lion's Roar. You can learn more information about the writer by clicking here.