A’s Home Games On The Road? Seek 8 Games Out Of Vegas
You just went grocery shopping, but you want to eat out. You just bought your dream car, but you want to rent a different one. For the Oakland Athletics, their move to Las Vegas is a big ticket item. Now it is seeking to have 8 A’s home games on the road when they begin playing in the valley in 2028.
What in the…?
10% Of A’s Home Games On The Road? It Could Happen
It sounds ridiculous, but it is true. The Major League Baseball franchise has requested as part of the team’s non-relocation agreement to be able to play 8 A’s home games on the road. Given there are 81 home games a year, that means just shy of 10 percent of the entire season could be played… somewhere else.
Now there are examples where a home game could be played on the road. For example, the London Series that brought the Red Sox vs Yankees in 2019 and several other games that have followed. Those games took home games away from one of the teams. Something like that, a two game series, makes sense. It helps broaden the sport to a larger market.
But eight games would be unprecedented. Where would the A’s play if not Las Vegas? Oakland? They can barely draw 7,000 a night there, given their fan base is infuriated at their gaslighting them, giving them false hope and terrible rosters for years. Sacramento? A’s home games on the road in Sac Town could help prop up that market, but there are already rumblings that Sacramento might make a push in the short term to keep them there.
No one imagined that the public would be financing part of a stadium that would go unused for some home games. And that’s the biggest issue…
A’s Home Games On The Road = Less Ability To Pay Back The Bond
The ability for Clark County’s bond to be repaid ties directly to the team being able to fill the stadium for 81 home games a year. The 9th inning ask to have 8 A’s home games on the road every year means the stadium will remain vacant for those dates.
Sure, you could fill the stadium with something else during those times. But unlike football stadiums, baseball stadiums are really only great for one thing: baseball. There are no specialty productions besides potentially NFR that could fill the baseball stadium yearly, and considering NFR takes place in December, that would be no help.
The Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board plan on voting on the measure on July 18th. The red flags are blowing in center field already.