Signed an agreement to buy land in Las Vegas to build a ballpark with a public-private funding mix. Their plans/hopes for a waterfront ballpark in Oakland appear to be dead.
Let’s see, the A’s went from Philly to KC to Oakland and now Vegas. They get the nomad award for MLB, which they currently share with the Braves (Boston to Milwaukee to Atlanta). I guess if you want to get picky, the Braves’ move to the suburbs (Cumberland, GA) makes them a four-city franchise as well.
There are three other cities actively campaigning for an MLB team: Nashville, Portland, and Salt Lake City.
They all eventually may get a team if the Rays abandon their creepy off-kilter domed stadium for a town that really wants an MLB team. The majority of the owners supposedly think adding two more teams would be a good thing financially.
They’re looking at splitting a couple of 2-billion-dollar-plus expansion fees, I suspect, which would be worth $130 million plus to each existing club. I don’t think it makes a lot of difference with their TV deal, which looks like it’s headed to a streaming model anyway with all the RSN issues.
Montreal is trying to get a team back as well. With a better ballpark instead of the boondoggle that was Stade Olympique, it might just work there again. And every other city that has lost an MLB team in the last 69 years has gotten another one (New York, Seattle, Kansas City, Milwaukee and Washington). Boston and St. Louis aren’t gonna get another one because they still have teams; the Braves and Browns/Orioles left in 1953.
Charlotte is fishing around for a team as well.
Rob Manfred has said expansion won’t happen until after the Oakland and Tampa situations are resolved one way or the other. Looks like Oakland is basically resolved, so now it’s down to the Rays.
Interesting, just don’t see Las Vegas as a baseball town, of course what do I know. I remember, some years ago (probably before the Diamondbacks) where the baseball talk was that one reason the Rangers would often start strong and finish poorly was the oppressive climate in Arlington(DFW) area for outdoor baseball. I know Arizona and even Las Vegas are in areas with less humidity, so if outdoor baseball is the chosen option, maybe they don’t see the climate as an issue.
Retractable roof for both.
Las Vegas is already a have for one of the NFL’s most notorious nomads, the other Oakland team (Raiders)
Oakland
To LA
Back to Oakland
Then to Vegas
Oakland is a pit and a dump. I can’t believe they stayed in that city that long.
I still consider them Atlanta. The NFL Cowboys went from Dallas to Irving to Arlington. The NFL Giants play in New Jersey. The Patriots are in Foxboro.
The real misnomer is Arkansas State. It is only in Jonesboro and has no following outside it 
Which is why I call them Jonesboro Tech, home of the Pink Puppies/Chihuahuas.
Speaking of nomad franchises, there’s the Rams. Cleveland, LA, Anaheim, St. Louis, back to LA and now Inglewood.
Drought, not heat, may be the climate issue that most impacts Vegas & baseball there. If Lake Mead water level continues to drop, Vegas residents will soon be without water & hydro sourced electricity that support the population, much less new stadiums & further population growth.
Lack of water is going to be a huge issue in the west before long.
Already a problem in the DFW area as the dry line continues to move east & spring/summer rains less frequent.
Fortunately Beaver Lake has kept up with demand & remains close to capacity even with the population growth in NWA. Recollect in the early '80s Texas tried to buy water rights to Lake Ouachita. Fortunately, Arkansas turned down the offer.
Arkansas is fortunate when it comes to abundant water.
We’re fortunate here in Chattanooga too. The Tennessee river and the lakes on it have a huge supply. Atlanta is in trouble too for water. Overbuilt for the water available. Georgia sued TN for access to the Tennessee river near us. They claimed a survey from long, long ago was incorrect and part of the river was in GA. They lost.
It is a sad place to be exiled to, at least they have a nice view of the bridge.
Vegas gets very little electricity from Hoover Dam Almost all of it goes to LA area.
For Vegas, it is the drinking water that really matters, since the lake provide the vast bulk of their drinking water. If Lake Mead went to dead pool status, Vegas would probably still have enough drinking water, but there would be no agricultural use flow downstream, which would be bad news.
If Lake Mead can’t generate a lot of electricity, it would be really bad for SoCal. They don’t have enough renewable power built or on the boards to make up the difference at current usage levels, and of course projected electricity need is going to go up a lot in the next few decades. You won’t find any projections from the green power advocates that control California’s energy policy that don’t include Hoover Dam cranking out a substantial amount of power on a regular basis. A really low Lake Mead puts SoCal in a bit of a pickle as to what to do with all those nasty natural gas and nuclear plants.
The lake is up a tiny bit from last year’s historic lows and the current projection is that it that the level of the end of this year will be about forty feet higher than the present level. They’d need another epic snow fall in the mountains next winter to continue to make any progress.
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