The A's are no longer in Oakland. They are not sure when they will be gone. It is going to happen. If team president Dave Kaval talked about the energy from sports fans in Las Vegas last year, it was proof enough.
The A's were supposed to pay a relocation fee of $1 billion. The fee is intended to discourage teams from skipping town to potentially more profitable markets by forcing them to work with less money. MLB wants Oakland to move so bad that it is willing to eliminate the fee entirely to speed up the move to Vegas.
The last Major League Baseball team to relocate was the Astros. Washington, D.C. became the new home of the Nationals in 2004. There was no relocation fee assessed at the time, but why would they fine themselves for moving when they were owned by Major League Baseball? The relocation fees are included in other leagues. The Raiders were charged $378 million for moving to Las Vegas. The football team was charged a little more than a third of the fine the A's would have been given. The weight has been removed from the A's shoulders. The billion dollars was a huge deterrent. That's right, poof!
The A's want to move because their ballpark is in a bad shape. The home of the A's is old and rundown. While the team has tried to build a new ballpark in the Bay Area in the past, it seems that the only option left is to move across the state line.
The A's have the worst record in the league at 25-50 and are last in attendance this year. Despite the team finishing ten games over.500, traction for the A's departure from Oakland increased. After the A's decided to trade away almost all of their big stars during the off-season, it was only accelerated.
The A's should stay in Oakland. The first baseball game I ever attended was in Oakland. It's been a long time since a new ballpark was built. If MLB was willing to waive the team's relocation fee so quickly, perhaps this move has been in the works for some time behind closed doors. Despite MLB's willingness to move the team, the A's are still pursuing their $12 billion renovation project to remain in the Bay Area. I don't think that's why the plans for a new ballpark in Oakland never got approved, but I also don't think it's a coincidence that the A's gave the city of Oakland an ultimatum to approve their ballpark They were willing to use their Vegas in their back pockets as leverage.
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