Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman says A’s should stay in Oakland
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman isn’t exactly giving a warm hug to the Oakland Athletics, who plan to build a $1.5 billion stadium in her city.
Goodman said the team’s stadium plan “doesn’t make sense” and that A’s ownership should go back to the drawing board and pitch a new plan in the Bay Area.
“Personally, I think (the A’s) have to figure out a way to stay in Oakland to make their dream come true,” she told the Front Office Sports Today podcast.
The A’s ballpark is planned for a nine-acre parcel on the Las Vegas Strip, and Goodman said the crowds make the site less attractive than a larger site in north Las Vegas that she had proposed. However, the mayor and city have no jurisdiction over the Strip, which is instead overseen by Clark County.
“There are a lot of questions about whether that’s going to fit,” Goodman said of the plans for the stadium on the small lot.
A’s owner John Fisher has drawn the ire of Vegas locals for failing to share revised artist renderings of the park to show how it will be situated on the lot. Fisher’s plan is to complete the park in time for the 2028 season and vacate the cavernous and worn Coliseum in Oakland, the fifth-oldest stadium in the major leagues, after the team’s lease expires after the 2024 season . The team has not yet secured a facility for the interim three seasons.
Plans to put $380 million in public financing into the Las Vegas project are also being legally challenged.
Unable to reach an agreement with officials in Oakland on a new waterfront stadium in the city, Fisher shifted his focus to Las Vegas.
Goodman told Front Office Sports that she believes athletics “really wants to stay in Oakland. They want to be on the water. They have this wonderful dream, and yet they cannot achieve it.”
Although the Oakland Raiders moved to Las Vegas, she said the A’s belong in California.
“I just think there’s an appetite (in Oakland). I run into people from Oakland all the time,” she said. “They want to keep the team, and it’s just the government up there. It costs money… I love the people of Oakland. I think they deserve to have their team.”
After her appearance on the podcast, Goodman added context to her social media comments, saying she was “excited about the prospect of Major League Baseball” in her city, though she did not back down from her statement that Oakland and the A’s should give it a try to make their relationship work in a “perfect world.”
Jorge Leon, president of the Oakland 68’s, a fan group, told the San Francisco Chronicle that Goodman’s position was positive.
“I think it’s a good thing,” Leon said. “We’re a little surprised because we’re used to politicians saying, ‘Come to our city.’ So it’s a relief. We have been advocating for the removals to stop, and if the government money stops, I think the removals will stop.”
Fisher has not yet commented on Goodman’s comments.