LAS VEGAS — I’m walking around in the desert heat with a hard hat on my head, boots on my feet, gloves on my hands, sunglasses on my face, looking out at 600 construction workers roaming nine acres of dirt with 350,000-pound beams hanging overhead, and seeing the Athletics’ future on the Las Vegas strip.
This is the site of the Athletics’ new home in Vegas that could be completed next summer, well ahead of their move-in date in 2028, and it will be a ballpark like no other. It’s shaped like an indoor amphitheater with a towering glass curtain wall with gorgeous views of the Strip, along with the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area in the distance.
It will be a fully enclosed dome without a retractable roof, where baseballs will have normal carry in the climate-controlled conditions, unlike playing outdoors in Summerlin, Nevada, where routine fly balls became moon shots this past week. The ballpark is located on the most populated intersection on the Strip – the southeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd. and Tropicana Blvd. There will be air conditioning circulating underneath each seat, and the intimacy of a 30,000-seat arena – the smallest ballpark in MLB.
There will be 44 luxury suites, including two that are adjacent to the dugouts, close enough where you could whisper your thoughts on late-game strategy and pitching changes to the manager at the end of the bench.
There will be celebrities, entertainers and high-rollers in the stands, a young, entertaining team on the field, resurrecting memories of the days of Rickey, Reggie, Stew, Rollie, Catfish, Big Mac and Eck.
This $2 billion joint will be surrounded by an entertainment district along with a Bally’s resort and casino. It should immediately become the ultimate destination for the game’s marquee free agents, with players on opposing teams already telling A’s players to pass the word they want to come.
“Let’s just say," A’s president Marc Badain tells USA TODAY Sports, “we won’t have trouble recruiting."
The A’s may never again be viewed the same.
This is a proud franchise that was once a powerhouse, winning four World Series titles and six American League pennants from 1972-1990, including three consecutive championships. Yet, they haven’t won the World Series since 1989. They haven’t won a postseason series outside the COVID-shortened season since 2006. And they haven’t had a winning season since 2021.
It became an organization run on the cheap, where the biggest stars departed when given a chance, playing in the decaying Oakland Coliseum where rats roamed the ground and hot water became a luxury.
They lost 102 games in 2022, bottomed out with a 50-112 record in 2023, and then announced they were giving up and leaving. They improved by 19 games their final season in Oakland in 2024, another seven-game improvement to 76-86 last season, and this year are 34-35 are just two games out of first place in the AL West.
“They’re coming," Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy said after losing two of three games to the A’s this past week. “There’s some really special dudes over there."
So I asked Athletics owner John Fisher what would create the biggest splash for 2028 Las Vegas arrival. Making the playoffs before they leave Sacramento? Or come roaring out of the gate by making the postseason and playing deep into October in their first year in Vegas, just like the Golden Knights who made the Stanley Cup Finals in their inaugural season?
“I don’t want to wait, I want to win the World Series this year," Fisher said in a 30-minute interview at their Triple-A Las Vegas ballpark office. “And I want to win it next year. I’m not smart enough to think about how to plan for being great in 2028 or 2030.
“Life is short and unpredictable. When I look at the Golden Knights making it to the Stanley Cup in their first year and winning it in their sixth year, and back in it again in their eighth year, that is incredible."
The Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas in 2020, may stink to high heavens, failing to win a playoff game since 2002 while going 7-27 the past two seasons, but the Golden Knights and Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA have already established championship pedigrees.
It’s only natural for the A’s to feel a bit of pressure to win immediately just to keep up with the local neighbors. Their adopted town can’t stand losers.
“I'm like the fans here are so spoiled to think that it's that easy," Fisher says, laughing. “You know, not just get to these Finals, but win them. I mean, there are people who own their teams their whole lives and never make it to the finals of their given sport.
“They're definitely a good example for us to look up to and to follow some of their best practices."
Fisher, of course, is one of those owners who haven’t won anything, either. He has spent 21 years with the A’s and will forever be loathed in Oakland for fleeing town.
The good folks in Sacramento haven’t warmed up to him either, with the A’s refusing to be identified with the city’s name, and making it clear that the stay would be only temporary. If Fisher had his druthers, the A’s would be in Las Vegas tomorrow, and although the ballpark construction is ahead of schedule, the move-in date remains Feb. 29, 2028.
It will be a clean canvas for Fisher to prove he’s interested in building a World Series caliber team, emptying his wallet to swim in the deep end of the free-agent pool, and grossly expand their organization’s infrastructure.
Fisher has told associates that he expects to receive about $500 million in revenue their first year in Las Vegas, which would be the sixth-highest in baseball, ranking behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, New York Mets and Boston Red Sox, according to Forbes.
Now, if they want to play with the big boys at the adult gaming table, they’ve got to raise the ante. The A’s opened the season with an $89.8 million payroll, sixth-lowest in MLB, and $71 million less than any other team in the AL West.
If you want to really create a grandiose, red-carpet entrance into Vegas, go bid this winter for two-time Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal, who grew up just 100 miles away from Vegas in Kingman, Arizona.
If you want legitimacy, increase your contract extension offers to Nick Kurtz and Shea Langeliers. Let your fans know you’re not ready to stop spending just because you’ve already locked up young stars like Tyler Soderstrom, Brent Rooker, Lawrence Butler, Jack Wilson and Jeffrey Springs to $312.5 million worth of deals.
“It hasn't always been the easiest thing for the Athletics to sign the best players or to retain them for lots of reasons," Fisher said. “But now that we're in a new facility and able to generate the kind of revenues that are consistent with what larger market teams are able to generate. The free-agent market itself is a dicey, dicey place, but I think the added resources will for sure make a big difference in our ability to retain our players and attract new players to this great market.
“It’s not like we didn’t try before. I mean, we tried to sign [Matt] Olson. We tried to sign [Matt] Chapman. We just couldn’t make it happen. Now, we think that we have the nucleus of incredibly dynamic young players, and we want to keep those guys as long as we can. I think that really bodes well for us in the future."
Certainly, the A’s chic ballpark, even with a capacity of just 30,000 – with 3,000 standing-room only tickets – should deliver revenue streams. The team attracted more than two million fans only once since 2006. But already, nearly all of their 44 suites have been sold out, with the casinos also purchasing thousands of season tickets in the club level, too.
“We’re not going to take any of that for granted," Fisher said. “You know, you have to earn your attendance by giving people a great product. If you don't have a great team, it doesn't matter how nice your building is. We’re really focused on the ability to again draft well, make good trades, and then begin to enter the free-agent market, which I think will become easier and easier for us to attract players."
The A’s also plan to generate revenue with concerts and shows at the ballpark. The lower deck will have only 20 rows of seats and upper deck features consists of just eight rows, which should make it feel like the most intimate setting in baseball. They’ll also have a partial share of the mixed retail zone with Bally’s, who plan to build a 2,500-room hotel with two towers.
The toughest ticket in town may be just grabbing a parking spot for the games. There will be only 2,500 parking spaces available once Bally’s builds its garage, although the A’s say there will be 18,000 parking spots at nearby casinos.
And how do the A’s plan to capitalize on tourism? It’s not as if they expect families to pull up in their station wagons to kill a night, anyways.
They’ll be attracting the tourists who come to town to watch their favorite team, or the men and women who want a diversion from the blackjack and craps tables. The casinos plan to have their limos ready for the high rollers, making sure when they leave their joint, they’ll be coming back where they can drop more money at the end of the night.
“If you're going to build a stadium in Vegas, you want to capture everything that Vegas can deliver on," Badain said, “and you want to be a part of the infrastructure of the city and the strip and all the economic activities."
The A’s role model is not the Raiders and their gorgeous Allegiant Stadium or the Aces, who play their home games at the Michelob Ultra Arena inside the Mandalay Bay Resort, but the Sphere, the $2.3 billion revolutionary music and entertainment arena that has turned into a gold mine.
“People thought that [Sphere executive chairman and CEO] Jim Dolan was crazy and that he was going to go bankrupt with it," Fisher said. “It’s become the biggest attraction in Las Vegas for a good reason. It’s so unique.
“I think our stadium is equally unique in its own way. We created something from a design point of view that’s unique and has never been done before. We’re not a retro or a throwback. We didn’t want that. We thought this market wanted sort of something new, and create an environment that feels more like a theater than it does like a traditional stadium.
“So, we have a real opportunity to be a place that attracts not just baseball fans, but music fans and other sports fans. I think we built it to be the best baseball stadium in the world, but also built it with the idea that we wanted it to be one of the best music venues around and to serve other kinds of uses.’’
Meanwhile, the A’s have their players buying in, too, giving them a tour of their future home and letting them know they have invitations to stay in town instead of being traded away as soon as they become too expensive. There already were a handful of players who went house-hunting during the past week in Las Vegas, with several insisting they plan to have homes before they report to spring training, and manager Mark Kotsay already buying a place.
“These guys have heard from the hockey players and football players and basketball players here," Fisher said, “that this is a really great place to live. Not just because it's more affordable than a lot of other communities, but it's a very family-oriented place.
"The players’ spouses, girlfriends and significant others really drive the decision, right? They want to be in a place where they feel comfortable, safe, where there’s a lot of things to do, and where it’s a nice place to raise kids. This checks all of the boxes.
“I think people who aren't familiar with Las Vegas have the perception that Las Vegas is just all about the Strip. Obviously, the Strip is a really important part of the engine that serves Las Vegas, but there's 2½ million people here who are passionate about sports, about the community, and about becoming a world-class city, irrespective of the strip itself."
It’s up to the A’s now to take advantage of the golden opportunity. They were given Las Vegas without having to pay an expansion fee north of $2 billion. They were given their choice of relocating to other markets out West such as Portland and Vancouver, perhaps even Salt Lake City.
They’re gambling on Vegas, and soon, we’ll find out whether they made the right choice.
“You know, the success of the Raiders, the success of the Golden Knights, the success of the Aces," Fisher said, “showed to me that this was a market that embraced sports. The question is if this is a baseball market. I will say after spending time in Carson City, meeting the politicians, I was just surprised at how many of the politicians were strong baseball fans. It didn’t matter to me they weren’t A’s fans, I just wanted to know they were baseball fans.
“It’s up to us to win the hearts and minds of these kids and families and make sure the Vegas fans become Athletics’ fans.’’
Brewers president mourns Oakland Coliseum
The Oakland Coliseum was antiquated with rats patrolling the field, raw sewage coming from the drain pipes, but, man, did Matt Arnold, the Milwaukee Brewers president of baseball operations, ever love it.
He grew up in Bakersfield and was a diehard Athletics family with the rest of his family. They were so loyal that at one point someone in the Arnold family had been at every home playoff game they ever played. Arnold and his grandfather sat in the bleachers at the 1988 World Series between the A’s and the Dodgers.
“When I was a kid, I had my initials, my dad’s initials, his brother’s initials, and my grandfather’s initials,’’ Arnold said, “were all carved into the wood bleachers before they build Mount Davis in center field."
So, pardon Arnold for not feeling the A’s euphoria moving to Las Vegas, sitting in the Brewers’ visiting dugout this past week, lamenting the fact that they are gone from Oakland forever.
“Man, it’s tough," he said. “I sat in the left-field bleachers and watched Rickey Henderson growing up, and Carney Lansford and Dave Stewart. I loved the A’s. All of them. That was my team."
It’s why he took his family to Oakland when the Brewers played there one final time, with him and his now 14-year-old son, Tyler, climbing to the top of Mt. Davis in center field to take pictures.
“When I walked out and leaving the ballpark from our final game there, getting onto the team bus,’’ Arnold said, “and it kind of hit me. It’s tough. That place meant a lot to me. That’s how I got introduced to the game. I still have so many great memories at that ballpark. I’d play catch in the parking lot with my dad before and after games. I’d sit in the bleachers with my uncle. I just loved it there. I was so emotionally connected.
“It’s hard to believe they’re gone. It still doesn’t feel real. I know they’re excited about their new ballpark, but for me, my heart is always going to be in Oakland.’’
Around the basepaths
– It was a year ago when Milwaukee Brewers sensation Jacob Misorowski was asked to be an injury-replacement for Cubs starter Matthew Boyd at the All-Star Game, drawing backlash and ridicule since he had pitched in just five MLB games, the fewest ever by an All-Star.
These days? There wouldn’t even be an All-Star Game without the hardest-throwing starter we’ve ever witnessed, and arguably the best pitcher in the game today.
He is the talk of baseball. In his last eight starts, Misiorowski is 7-0 with a 0.17 ERA, with 80 strikeouts, nine walks, a .105 opponents average, and two extra-base hits allowed. It’s the lowest ERA over any eight-game span by any pitcher in MLB history.
Overall, he is 8-2 with 1.34 ERA, striking out 131 batters in 87 innings.
He celebrated his one-year anniversary in MLB with one of the most dominant performances in history. He was one pitch from a perfect game with a one-hit shutout over the Philadelphia Phillies, striking out 14. He facing the minimum 27 hitters, throwing 58 of his 95 pitches over 100-mph, including four pitches at 104-mph.
Let’s just say there won’t be anyone uttering a negative peep about him on this All-Star team.
“It will feel good," Misiorowski told USA TODAY Sports, “proving people wrong about last year."
– Teams expect New York Mets third baseman Bo Bichette to opt out of the final two years of his Mets contract after the season, giving clubs like the Philadelphia Phillies a second shot at him. It could be a massive gamble for Bichette considering he’s still owed $79 million. He is earning $2 million this year after already being paid a $40 million signing bonus, and if he opts out, he will be paid an additional $5 million.
– Hold those phone calls: The Detroit Tigers went into an utter free-fall after Tarik Skubal went down with a bone chip in his elbow, losing 21 of 25 games, with teams salivating at the chance to acquire Skubal.
Yet, the Tigers since have gone 7-3 in June and Skubal returned Saturday, with Casey Miza and Justin Verlander on the way back. The Tigers plan to wait until around the All-Star break to see if they can get back in the race before pulling the plug on their season and trading Skubal.
– The Phillies are desperately looking to acquire an outfielder at the trade deadline with Adolis Garcia expected to miss the rest of the season with his torn lat, and have Angels right fielder Jo Adell and Cubs right fielder Seiya Suzuki on their radar.
–While Athletics owner John Fisher is encouraging and even insisting some staff members to move to Las Vegas when their ballpark is ready, GM David Forst has been reluctant. His contract expires before they play in Las Vegas and has no plans to uproot his family not knowing his future.
– The Boston Red Sox ownership insists that Craig Breslow, president of baseball operations, is in no immediate danger of being fired. It’s just that no one in baseball believes them, believing they’ll be looking for his replacement this winter.
The Red Sox already fired manager Alex Cora and six of his coaches after going 10-17. They have since gone 18-22, and in danger of being the first Red Sox team since 1933 to have 50 losses by July 4.
The Red Sox also have a recent history of pulling the plug quickly on executives, firing Ben Cherington, Dave Dombrowski, and Chaim Bloom within four seasons, including Dombrowski just 10 months after winning the World Series.
Breslow is in his third season.
– The most stunning aspect of the Chicago White Sox’s breakout year with an AL-best 31-18 record since April 17 – is that they have already had 12 players make their major-league debut this season.
They entered the week with 37 victories and a chance to eclipse their entire win total from 2024 when they set an MLB record for futility with a 41-121 record. They plan to be aggressive at the trade deadline in their search for pitching, but not at the expense of parting with any of their top prospects as they build towards the future.
– The A’s would love to play more games in Las Vegas in 2027, but are capped at six because of the lease they signed in Sacramento, requiring them to play 75 games at the Giants’ Triple-A ballpark.
– San Diego Padres star third baseman Manny Machado wasn’t blaming anyone for the worst start of his career, but finally confirmed what Padre officials quietly revealed about the root of his woes this year:
He began seeking hitting advice during the winter from a self-taught swing instructor who calls himself, “Teacherman." Richard Schenck teaches players to stay on their back leg, letting the ball travel as deep as possible and then unleashing a vicious swing.
It may have worked for Aaron Judge, but the results have been disastrous for Machado, who entered Saturday hitting .178 with a .612 OPS.
– You never know who you’re going to run into in Las Vegas, but sitting in Brewers manager Pat Murphy’s office this week was famed Notre Dame football figure Daniel "Rudy" Ruettiger, whose life at Notre Dame was portrayed in the hit movie.
The way the Brewers have been playing with their small payroll, Ruettiger may be pushing for a new movie: “Murph.’’
– When the A’s had their groundbreaking ceremony last June, the team created some parting gifts with clear, plastic boxes filled with dirt from their site. Well, there was one little problem. Some of the dirt seeped out, and when one of the financial officers tried to board his flight, he was stopped.
The dirt contained remnants of the Tropicana explosion, alarming TSA officials.
“We felt bad about the leakage," A’s president Marc Badain said, “but it sure made me feel good about our TSA officials."
– Pete Alonso missed a total of just 27 games in his entire seven-year career with the New York Mets, hitting 264 home runs. Jorge Polanco, who signed a two-year, $40 million contract to replace him, has missed 56 games and counting. He has one home run.
– Well, the good news for the Boston Red Sox’ struggles is that closer Aroldis Chapman’s trade value has gone up.
There won’t be a single reliever traded at the deadline who will have a fresher arm. Chapman, who has converted all 13 of his save opportunities with a 0.46 ERA, has pitched just twice in the last 26 days going back to May 18, and has pitched only 19.2 innings this entire season.
– Teams are convinced that this is the year that the Marlins will trade ace Sandy Alcantara, who is under control for one more season with a $21 million club option.
– White Sox outfielder Braden Montgomery, who hit a walk-off homer in his MLB debut this week, is the latest young star who played baseball because of Yankees Hall of Famer Derek Jeter.
“Braden grew up a Derek Jeter fan," Richard Willock, Montgomery’s step-father, told the Chicago Sun-Times. “The reason why Braden plays baseball now is Derek Jeter. He saw himself in Derek Jeter, being an interracial kid playing a sport that a lot of Black kids aren’t playing. Braden for the longest time wore No. 2.’’
Montgomery is one of 125 players who have made their Major League debut this season.
– Los Angeles Angels left-handed starter Reid Detmers is starting to pick up plenty of traction among teams seeking a starter at the trade deadline. Detmers is 1-0 with a 1.73 ERA in his past four starts, yielding a 0.54 WHIP and .105 opposing batting average with 37 strikeouts in 26 innings. He also has two more years of control.
– Congratulations to Toronto Blue Jays starter Max Scherzer, who produced his 3,500th strikeout this past week, and Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who collected his 2,500th hit.
Scherzer ranks 11th on the all-time strikeout list and Freeman becomes the only active player to achieve 2,500 hits.
– The Chicago White Sox took a $20 million gamble that they would find a sucker to take center fielder Luis Robert Jr. off their hands when they picked up his option, and the Mets right up stepped up, acquiring him for outfielder Luisangel Acuna and minor-league pitcher Truman Pauley.
Robert, who missed 289 games the past five years with the White Sox, has already been sidelined 46 games with a back injury and no timetable to return.
He has earned a cool $70 million since 2020.
– Now that the Giants are putting him in the lineup every day, they may have found a star in Bryce Eldridge, who is hitting .316 with a .959 OPS, and embracing the responsibility of being an aircraft carrier.
“I want to be the face of this franchise,” he told reporters. “That’s something that motivates me every day. I want to be in that moment. I want to be that guy.”
– Brutal news for the Colorado Rockies with prized young pitcher Chase Dollander diagnosed with a torn UCL that likely will sideline him for the next year.
–Mariners starter Bryan Woo is still trying to figure out how in the world he can be 4-0 with a 2.57 ERA at home this season, and just 1-5 with a 5.93 ERA on the road.
– Tampa Bay Rays officials now must wait until Aug. 20 on their preliminary $2.3 billion stadium agreement with the vote pushed back from June 1.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: When are Athletics moving to Vegas? New era turn MLB upside down
