Athletics Try To Plant Seeds In Las Vegas Market With A’s Season-Opener Watch Party At Brewery In Henderson Thursday; Final: Seattle 4 A’s 2
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Shop at Jay’s Market at 190 East Flamingo Road at the Koval Lane intersection east of the Strip.
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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
HENDERSON, Nevada — So, this is how the next chapter of the MLB Athletics’ rich and storied history plays out on 2025 Opening Day: the Las Vegas-bound A’s are having a watch party at a brewery in downtown Henderson to inaugurate the first regular season after a 57-year run in Oakland and its eventual arrival in the Vegas market in 2028.
The Athletics opened their regular season Thursday in Seattle, the first game played by the A’s since closing the book on Oakland in late September 2024 after the historic American League franchise played in Kansas City, and, before that, in Philadelphia.
At Lovelady Brewery where fans were drinking bear and watching the A’s play the Mariners, LVSportsBiz.com spoke with former A’s player Jason Giambi, who has lived in metro Las Vegas for more than a quarter-century.
We asked Giambi what the A’s need to do in Las Vegas to spawn a fan base in a city of so many transplants from other towns around the country:
It was a festive crowd watching the A’s season-opener at Lovelady Brewing. New A’s team president Marc Badain and former Henderson Mayor Debra March were among the 100 or so fans catching the A’s game.
Brewery co-owner Linda Lovelady, who owns the Water Street establishment with husband and brewer Richard, said she grew up in Oakland and was an A’s fan. Not only did she want the brewery to host the watch party because she’s an Athletics fan, Linda Lovelady said she also wanted to show the A’s that local beers made by breweries like Lovelady should be available at the new A’s stadium that is scheduled to open on the Strip for the 2028 MLB season.
Linda Lovelady appeared before the Las Vegas Stadium Board several months ago to express her dismay that the Raiders and Allegiant Stadium do not sell much local beer and are influenced by team corporate sponsors like Modelo.
The A’s, wearing popular yellow jerseys, had a 2-1 lead over Seattle in the bottom of the eighth inning. But the Mariners blasted two home runs to tie the game at two and then give them a 4-2 lead after eight innings. Seattle closed out the 4-2 win in the final inning to hand the A’s an Opening Day loss.
After the first three games in Seattle, the A’s will begin the first of three MLB seasons at a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento at 7PM Monday before planning to christen a $1.75 billion, 33,000-capacity, domed stadium on the Strip at the old Tropicana hotel-casino site in 2028.
That’s the plan, anyway.
While the A’s prepare to open their home schedule at Sutter Health Park, they’re also trying to do marketing in the Las Vegas market.
It’s not going to be easy.
The Athletics’ former stadium mate at the Coliseum in Oakland — the NFL Raiders — moved to Las Vegas because the team received $750 million in public dollars from Southern Nevada to help build and open a domed stadium in 2020. The A’s are receiving up to $380 million in government assistance to help build their stadium.
Five years later, Raiders home games are sold out but the attendees at Allegiant Stadium root for the visiting team as much as they do for the NFL team here in Las Vegas. Under team president Sandra Douglass Morgan, the Raiders do try to connect with the Las Vegas market through everything from supporting girls flag football to donating money to charities and education programs.
But the fact is Las Vegas does not consider the Raiders the home town team as much as they do the NHL Vegas Golden Knights, a franchise born in this market. Many Raiders fans who do attend home games in Las Vegas are from Southern California or Northern California.
The A’s are trying. They donated baseball equipment to Little Leagues in Nevada, handed out green-and-gold A’s ball caps at community events and began trying to sign up fans to give them the chance to secure a spot to buy season tickets at the new A’s stadium on the Strip.
This was the roster the A’s began the season with:
The A’s even emailed fans in Las Vegas about the watch party at the brewery in Henderson:
It’s not too late to kick off the 2025 season with us at our Opening Day Watch Party TONIGHT beginning at 6 PM! Head over to Lovelady Brewing in Henderson to cheer on your Green and Gold as we take on the Seattle Mariners. Enjoy Happy Hour pricing from 6 – 7 PM, get to know the A’s staff, learn more about our new ballpark in Las Vegas, and more. Be among the first in attendance to receive A’s swag!
Lovelady Brewing Company
20 S. Water Street
Henderson, NV 89015
We look forward to seeing you tonight and Go A’s!
The included a promo for fans to secure a spot to buy tickets:
