The Oakland Athletics are getting closer to following their former NFL counterparts, the Raiders, out of the Bay Area and into the desert.
The A's have already met with Joe Lombardo, who was recently inaugurated as Governor of Nevada, about a potential move to Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Review Journal reported.
The team met with Lombardo to discuss what options the team has when it comes to public-private partnership opportunities.
However, unlike the deal the Raiders got, Lombardo is not considering a new tax in order to finance construction of a new stadium.
“Governor Lombardo will not raise state taxes to bring a sports team to Nevada,” a spokesperson told the Review-Journal.
“However, the Oakland A’s, or any other team or company looking to relocate to Nevada, may or may not be eligible for a variety of existing economic development programs in the state.”
The A's are reportedly looking to leave their current confines in Oakland and build a $1 billion, 35,000 seat retractable dome stadium in Southern Nevada.
The A's on The Strip
The Oakland Athletics have reportedly been talking to owners of multiple Las Vegas sites while also pursuing a new stadium in Oakland.
The A's have talked with multiple site owners on and adjacent to the Las Vegas Strip. In recent months, however, the team's efforts have focused on two sites -- one next to Circus Circus owned by Phil Ruffin, and a second one at the current site of the Tropicana which was just purchased by Bally's Corporation (BALY).
Now, it appears that the team has stopped talking with Ruffin's team about the Las Vegas Fairgrounds site on the Strip adjacent to Circus Circus, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
The team confirmed to the paper that it continues to talk to Bally's about the Tropicana site.
The question -- and it's a big one -- remains whether the A's actually want to leave Oakland and move to Las Vegas. That remains in doubt although it's very unclear whether the team is using Oakland for leverage against Las Vegas or Las Vegas for leverage against Oakland.
