The A’s can make it work in Vegas with an Allegiant Stadium style full ETFE roofed ballpark and a retractable field with sliding glass panels as seen in Houston (Minute Maid Park) and Miami (Loandepot Park). Also, summertime in Vegas is also pool club season so I’ll call my shot …a Vegas A’s ballpark will include a resort style stadium swim club. If they can make it happen, the perfect site is the Vegas Festival Grounds by Circus Circus on the north end of the strip. In addition to possibly luring tourists to catch a game, the valley has a metro population of 2.2 million, 200K lower then Portland who I consider the only other competition in relocation currently but has had no talks with the A’s. But in Las Vegas, they’ll likely also draw road crowds from the Dodgers, Angels, Padres and Diamondbacks.
IMO, there’s no question the A’s will be more successful in Vegas then in Oakland, stuck perennially in the shadow of the Giants in the City. The A’s are offering to fully fund construction of the waterfront ballpark if the city cleans up its infrastructure at Howard Terminal. And with the port/Schnitzer Steel opposing this along with the demands of local politicians, there’s no way I see the the July 20 city council vote going in their favor. Last weeks meetings revealed their simply too far apart to come to an agreement by July 20th. Interestingly enough, the A’s are due to visit Vegas for a 3rd time on July 21st, a day after the Oakland city council vote.