Botched Deal Could Mean the End of a Las Vegas Strip Icon

The Oakland A's stadium drama continues on a roller coaster ride with twists and turns that remind people of a television soap opera.

About a year ago on May 2, 2022, while the A's were hinting at a possible move to Las Vegas, the team got encouraging news on a stalled plan to build a $12 billion mixed-use development that would include a $1 billion new ballpark on the 56-acre Howard Terminal site near Jack London Square in Oakland.

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Regional agency San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Agency's staff recommended that a port priority use designation on the site be removed. The designation's removal was necessary to allow the mixed-use project to be built on the site.

"This is great news for #Oakland and our entire region. Onward!" tweeted then-Oakland Mayor Libby Schaff on May 2.

Dave Kaval, the Oakland A's president, agreed in a tweet.

"Massive deal. Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) staff recommends allowing @Athletics waterfront ballpark to move forward," Kaval wrote.

A's Had High Hopes For an Oakland Deal

Then on June 30, 2022, BCDC voted to approve removing the port priority use designation for Howard Terminal, opening up the site for the Oakland Athletics’ potential mixed-use ballpark project. But that wasn't the final approval of a new stadium. The Oakland City Council was contemplating a non-binding public referendum vote on the Howard Terminal project for the November 2022 ballot. Such a vote would give the city council guidance on the proposed project and probably stretch the approval process into 2023, which Kaval opposed. But the referendum never happened.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in July 2022 said the city of Oakland needed to move quickly to make a binding deal with the team on building a new stadium. If that did not happen, he said relocation would become the best option. Time is also running out on the A's lease on the Oakland Coliseum, which expires in 2024. But nothing happened on a non-binding agreement between the city of Oakland and the A's.

In the meantime, the A's kept inquiring about possible relocation sites in Las Vegas. Originally, the A's were considering building a ballpark in partnership with a casino operator on a site occupied by the Tropicana Las Vegas casino on the Las Vegas Strip, which is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties  (GLPI) - Get Free Report. It also considered building a stadium on the Las Vegas Fairgrounds site adjacent to Phil Ruffin's Circus Circus. Neither of those deals would be finalized.

But The A's Agree to Buy Las Vegas Site

The A's kept at it and finally in April reached a binding agreement to purchase a 49-acre former Wild Wild West site near the Las Vegas Strip owned by Red Rock Resorts. The A's plan to build a $1.5 billion, 35,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof and entertainment complex. A June 5 deadline, which is the end of the Nevada Legislature session, is approaching for the A's to secure $500 million in public financing for the proposed project.

The Wild Wild West deal could still fall through, but the A's keep moving like a rolling stone that gathers no moss, as an old proverb suggests. Despite sealing the binding land deal, the A's are talking with the owners of the Rio Hotel and Casino about a previous offer to purchase 22 excess acres of its 88-acre site for $1, the Nevada Independent reported. The A's had previous balked at that deal because of traffic issues.

And the A's reportedly still haven't given up on a deal to purchase the 34-acre site of the Tropicana. That deal would need approval by the owner Gaming and Leisure Properties and Bally's, which leases the property. If approved, it could also mean the end of the iconic Tropicana, which first opened in 1955 and has had improvements over the years.