ADVERTISEMENT
Support LVSportsBiz.com by shopping at advertisers like Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection. And if you believe LVSportsBiz.com’s independent journalism helps you understand issues better, then consider making a donation via PayPal at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.
By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.om Publisher-Writer
In Las Vegas, the historic Tropicana hotel-casino is closing Tuesday after opening April 4, 1957, a run of nearly 67 years.
In Oakland, the historic Athletics franchise, an American League charter member from 1901, says its moving to Las Vegas in 2028 after playing in Oakland since 1968, which would be a 60-year run.
On Major League Baseball’s Opening Day — a pseudo national holiday — there was a clear convergence of Las Vegas and Oakland as the Athletics’ passionate, intense and history-aware fans expressed their love for a sports franchise that is breaking their hearts because its owner, John Fisher, plans to build a new stadium on property now occupied by the Tropicana at Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue on the Strip by 2028.
The Athletics’ fans were clear: they love their baseball team, but detest its owner. Fans protested in the Coliseum parking lot on A’s Opening Day when attendance inside the venue was announced at 13,522. The A’s fan displays and tents set the tone for a “summer of boycott.”
The pregame/postgame host for Athletics’ TV broadcast, Brodie Brazil, put the A’s home-opener at the Coliseum today in historic context: “Is this the last Opening Day for the A’s at the Coliseum? After 50 plus years of their East Bay existence, are the seasons or games already constrained to a final countdown?”
For Brazil’s complete Opening Day video, view this:
To understand the historic significance of the A’s moving to Las Vegas, there has been only one MLB franchise that has relocated in the last half-century.
In 2005, the Montreal Expos moved to Washington in 2005 after 36 seasons in Montreal.
In 1972, the second version of the Washington Senators moved to Texas. In 1970, the Seattle Pilots moved to Milwaukee.
And interestingly enough, the Kansas City Athletics moved to Oakland in 1968.
From 1953 to 1966, six MLB teams moved. But only two teams have relocated since 1972. The A’s would be only the third if they move to Las Vegas in 2028.
The convergence of the A’s Opening Day and the Tropicana closure a mere five days away at 12 noon Tuesday to make way for the Athletics stadium was put into focus by former Tropicana hotel-casino public relations director Ira Sternberg.
“The A’s opening day is so close to the closing day of the Tropicana that it feels preordained. Adding to the sense of timing and passing of an era, John Chiero, president and general manager of the Tropicana for many of the years that I worked there (and a great guy), recently passed away,” Sternberg pointed out.
“The stained-glass ceiling overlooking the main casino was the hub of property. Despite the changing themes of the resort, the ceiling remained. I hope it finds a home. It would be great if it could somehow be incorporated into the new ballpark,” he said.
“There is a sense of resignation about an historical property passing in the night, an edifice mortality that reminds you that time spares no one and no thing. It’s a new era for Las Vegas, and I choose to view transition wistfully, but optimistically.”
A Tropicana employee in the casino’s main room told LVSportsBiz.com that the hotel held gatherings for workers during two sessions on Thursday.
The demolition of all the 35-acre site’s buildings are supposedly to start later this year, with a stadium groundbreaking some time in the first half of 2025.
But on Opening Day, A’s fans — who have showed so much love for their franchise — were not thinking about hotel implosions in a tourism city 550 miles away.
They were at a stadium parking lot on Opening Day.
LVSportsBiz.com reached out to A’s President Dave Kaval to get his thoughts about Opening Day. If we hear back, we will share Kaval’s comments.
Just a week ago, Kaval was sitting at a Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board meeting and witnessing the stadium board routinely approve an A’s community benefits plan.
And a week before the stadium board meeting in mid-March, Fisher, Kaval and team architects unveiled A’s stadium renderings and then a small stadium model of the “spherical armadillo”-themed venue that was displayed at the Athletics’ Triple-A team’s stadium in Las Vegas area during Big League Weekend.
The vibe was very different before tonight’s A’s Opening Day game where ABC7 sports reporter Casey Pratt was reporting from the A’s fans’ block party:
This could be the last A’s Opening Day at the Coliseum because the team’s lease expires at the stadium in 2024.
Where will the A’s play in 2025, 2026 and 2027?
It’s unknown.
The A’s execs are negotiating with the city of Oakland to play at the Coliseum from 2025-2027 while the $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat domed stadium is built on the Strip. The owners of minor league teams and stadiums in Sacramento and Salt Lake City have also offered their venues as a temporary home for the A’s before the planned move to Las Vegas in 2028.
The A’s are using the same construction contractors that built the Raiders’ Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas. The Raiders won state legislation in 2016 that earmarked $750 million for the NFL stadium that had a construction budget of $1.4 billion (the biggest part of the $2 billion stadium project.)
The A’s won state legislation in Nevada in June earmarking $380 million for the $1.5 billion baseball stadium, which is supposed to be built on nine of the 35 acres owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties, Inc. (GPLI) at the southeast corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Tropicana Ave. The company that manages Tropicana hotel-casino, Bally’s Corp., has talked about building a new hotel tower on the 35-acre site, but there have been no hotel plans made public yet.
A state teachers union is also legally battling the A’ stadium in Las Vegas on two fronts, arguing the state stadium funding legislation violates the state constitution and working to get a public vote on the stadium funding.
Emotions are running deep on Opening Day in Oakland that falls just five days before the Tropicana hotel-casino closes in Las Vegas.
The A’s play the Cleveland Guardians, with a first pitch set for 7:07 PM.
The final score was Cleveland 8 Oakland 0.
Attendance was 13,522.