The mayor of Las Vegas believes the A’s need to go back to The Bay.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said the Athletics need to stay in Oakland instead of leaving for Sin City.
“I personally think they’ve gotta figure out a way to stay in Oakland and make their dream come true,” Goodman said on the “Front Office Sports Today” podcast.
The Athletics leaving for Las Vegas has been widely panned, especially by their faithful fans in Oakland, but it’s odd for an official from the city welcoming them to push back.
Las Vegas has added a championship hockey team in the Golden Knights in the NHL, a title-winning WNBA team in the Aces and the ever-entertaining yet usually dysfunctional Raiders, and Goodman even added that it’s a matter of if and not when there will be an NBA team.
But she has her reservations about the A’s, who are slated to move to Las Vegas in 2028, although it is not guaranteed.
Goodman said she knows A’s owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval would prefer to stay in Oakland if they had a new stadium built.
“I love the people of Oakland,” Goodman said. “I think they deserve to have their team.”
“Mr. Fisher, a longtime successful family, in my opinion, needs to listen to the people that are up there,” she added. “It’s their team.”
Goodman detailed how the A’s plans to move to Las Vegas and be near the strip, compared to where the city preferred to place them, just did not add up.
The A’s stadium lease is up after this upcoming season.
“I thought, this does not make sense, and so why is it happening?” Goodman said. “And then I thought, well, because they really want to stay in Oakland, they want to be on the water, they have that magnificent dream. Yet, they can’t get it done.”
After the comments went viral, Goodman clarified what she said in a statement.
“I mentioned the passionate fans of Oakland who often visit our city to cheer on the Raiders,” she wrote. “My points included that it is my belief that in their perfect world, the ownership of the A’s would like to have a new ballpark on the water in Oakland and that the ownership and government there should listen to their great fans and try to make that dream come true.
“Should that fail, Las Vegas has shown that it is a spectacular market for major league sports franchises.”