Stadium/Arena Saga Omnibus

[WestCoastBias]

3 hours ago, JerseyJimmy said:

 

just about any of the other options would've been better than Vegas. it's really amazing how hard I've soured on that city over the past five or six years between the standard Sunbelt "People" populace, horrific urban planning, realization that sports betting is genuine pure evil, what the Knights' fanbase has become, and the fact that Fallout: New Vegas was a more accurate prediction of what it'd be like in 50 years than 250.

 

honestly? if I could've picked anywhere for them to move? it'd be Sacramento. hell, you move there and you can basically keep the same fanbase you've already built up.

 

Sacramento would have been a great move.

 

The A's were the Sacramento River Cats' major league affiliate for their first 15 years of existence, the fan base was probably already there if they wanted to move. But then the A's moved affiliates to Nashville (and now Las Vegas) and let the Giants (who were in Fresno the previous 17 years) take over the River Cats.

[tigerslionspistonshabs]

Pardon my ignorance, but is this basically a done deal? Like no chance of them staying in Oakland?

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

10 minutes ago, tigerslionspistonshabs said:

Pardon my ignorance, but is this basically a done deal? Like no chance of them staying in Oakland?

 

I saw on a Casey Pratt report on the news that it is dependent on legislation in Nevada that hasn't been passed yet.  But the passage of that legislation is likely.  Pratt puts the chances of the move happening at 95%.

[WestCoastBias]

4 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

I saw on a Casey Pratt report on the news that it is dependent on legislation in Nevada that hasn't been passed yet.  But the passage of that legislation is likely.  Pratt puts the chances of the move happening at 95%.

 

And the owners could vote no on allowing the relocation but that won't happen.

[kolob]

13 hours ago, Sykotyk said:

One, Las Vegas Ballpark is a top of the line, beautiful AAA level park. It's honestly to MLB standards in quality it's just small and lacks the numbers of things people want in an MLB stadium. Fewer seats, fewer boxes/clubs/etc. But quality wise it works.

 

Got to see a game there back in 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's not unreal. Arizona Coyotes are playing in a 4500 seat venue. Chargers played a year at whatever they called the StubHub Center that year.

 

The other thing is that the Aviators are the A's affiliate. They could 'swap'... Put the A's in Las Vegas Ballpark and send their AAA team to Oakland until they vacate the LV Ballpark for this new venue. You could even still call them the Oakland A's. Then bring them back or leave them depending how well they do. LV Ballpark could be a A or AA venue (quite large) but to avoid going up against the MLB team now in town.

 

But staying in Oakland will not work. Attendance cratered already with the chance they'd find a new home in Oakland. This isn't the regionalized Raiders fan base that tolerated it somewhat. Plus NFL has ridiculously high standards for their home venues now. They were not playing at Sam Boyd or anywhere else.

 

 

 

The only thing I could see being an issue would be duel use of Las Vegas Ballpark by the A's and Aviators and it's not like they can do doubleheaders with day games because of the heat. I wonder if the Aviators move back to Cashman Field for a couple years or move to Fresno, Tucson or similar underserved market temporarily until the A's move out?

 

Additionally, the LV Ballpark has a 10,000 capacity. I feel like you'd need add at least 5,000-10,000 for temporary use, but I'm not sure if that's possible with the park's footprint? 

 

 

But, maybe all that speculation is a moot point with this quote ...

 

Quote

“We have an agreement with the Aviators with Don [Logan] and Howard Hughes [Corporation] to play at their stadium temporarily,” he said. “We’re really deferring to Major League Baseball to kind of help us make that decision.” (source)

 

10,000 seats might be enough? I mean it definitely is for the team at the moment.

 

[kolob]

7 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Pratt puts the chances of the move happening at 95%.

 

Can we place bets on that?

[OnWis97]

I figured they'd avoid the current LV minor league park because of the heat.  Perhaps they'll be playing almost no day games after during the hottest times of the year. (June-Aug???)

[WestCoastBias]

6 hours ago, JerseyJimmy said:

 

just about any of the other options would've been better than Vegas. it's really amazing how hard I've soured on that city over the past five or six years between the standard Sunbelt "People" populace, horrific urban planning, realization that sports betting is genuine pure evil, what the Knights' fanbase has become, and the fact that Fallout: New Vegas was a more accurate prediction of what it'd be like in 50 years than 250.

 

And not only is Vegas getting the A's but everyone seems content with the Aviators remaining there as well.

 

The area is home to only 2.5 million people, they have NHL, NFL, WNBA, and now MLB. In what world do they need a Triple-A team?? The Aviators play 20 minutes (11 miles) from the property the A's just purchased, I mean c'mon it's just unnecessary.

[TBGKon]

The can definitely schedule to work the Aviators and A's out of Las Vegas Ballpark, as long as they plan in advance.  The AAA season goes from April-September and a series is Tuesday-Sunday each week.  They could alternate homestands I'm sure to make it work.

[kolob]

2 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

And not only is Vegas getting the A's but everyone seems content with the Aviators remaining there as well.

 

The area is home to only 2.5 million people, they have NHL, NFL, WNBA, and now MLB. In what world do they need a Triple-A team?? The Aviators play 20 minutes (11 miles) from the property the A's just purchased, I mean c'mon it's just unnecessary.

 

Well, the Golden Knights and Silver Knights share the same market (about 11 miles apart as well). 

 

Now with that said, with all of the major leagues now at least 30 teams each the emphasis of the minor leagues isn't necessarily on serving or testing new markets for expansion, it's mostly focused on development. That's why we have the St. Paul Saints, South Bay Lakers, Tacoma Rainiers, San Jose Barracudas, etc. the closer to the parent team the more focus on player development your minor leaguers can have with the parent team coaches, etc. 

[goalieboy82]

5 hours ago, kimball said:

 

Can we place bets on that?

 

[LMU]

6 hours ago, kimball said:

 

Well, the Golden Knights and Silver Knights share the same market (about 11 miles apart as well). 

 

Now with that said, with all of the major leagues now at least 30 teams each the emphasis of the minor leagues isn't necessarily on serving or testing new markets for expansion, it's mostly focused on development. That's why we have the St. Paul Saints, South Bay Lakers, Tacoma Rainiers, San Jose Barracudas, etc. the closer to the parent team the more focus on player development your minor leaguers can have with the parent team coaches, etc. 

You also have to take into account that some minor league teams exist with no intent of drawing any sort of profit. The South Bay Lakers play at the Lakers’ training facility that only has 750 seats.  So, in the case of the Athletics it’s entirely possible that they could force the Aviators to have 8:30-9:00 AM first pitches to avoid the heat knowing full well that it’ll be a ghost town in the stands.

[Cujo]

As much as we despise BFBS, when the A's move to Vegas, I totally expect them to embrace black to fit their city's pro sports identity. The Raiders and Knights obv utilize black. They'll go heavy black. Convert yellow to 'Vegas gold'. And use 'Blackjack table felt green' as trim. Something pretty close to this:

 

[GDAWG]

23 hours ago, WestCoastBias said:

 

And not only is Vegas getting the A's but everyone seems content with the Aviators remaining there as well.

 

The area is home to only 2.5 million people, they have NHL, NFL, WNBA, and now MLB. In what world do they need a Triple-A team?? The Aviators play 20 minutes (11 miles) from the property the A's just purchased, I mean c'mon it's just unnecessary.

 

They also want NBA and MLS and will not stop until they get them all.  

[BBTV]

4 hours ago, Cujo said:

As much as we despise BFBS, when the A's move to Vegas, I totally expect them to embrace black to fit their city's pro sports identity. The Raiders and Knights obv utilize black. They'll go heavy black. Convert yellow to 'Vegas gold'. And use 'Blackjack table felt green' as trim. Something pretty close to this:

 

 

They've had 3 distinct color schemes (if we treat kelly and forest green as the same thing) so it's not like a total change to correspond with the move wouldn't be out of the question.

 

While it's logical to assume they'd use gold and silver in the scheme, that would mean that black would be the tertiary color, because I can't think of another color that works with a gold/silver combo.

 

It might be cool if they were a gold-first team.  Think gold hats, helmets, lettering, stripes, etc, with black outline and silver drop shadow.  Kinda like the Pirates when they were a "mustard" team, but brighter and golder - which I assume is doable with today's technology.

[Cujo]

19 minutes ago, BBTV said:

It might be cool if they were a gold-first team.  Think gold hats, helmets, lettering, stripes, etc, with black outline and silver drop shadow.

 

Like the Golden Knights, but replace their red trim with green. I could see it as an alt or City Connect. But how many teams use a bright colored hat as their primary? It's like a rule in MLB to not wear any flashy colors.

 

Btw we've seen this OaklandVegas transformation before..

 

[VampyrRabbit]

5 hours ago, Cujo said:

As much as we despise BFBS, when the A's move to Vegas, I totally expect them to embrace black to fit their city's pro sports identity. The Raiders and Knights obv utilize black. They'll go heavy black. Convert yellow to 'Vegas gold'. And use 'Blackjack table felt green' as trim. Something pretty close to this:

 

That would be an absolutely awful choice for a new look, but then again, moving to Vegas is an awful choice, so it tracks.

[Cujo]

2 minutes ago, VampyrRabbit said:

moving to Vegas is an awful choice, so it tracks.

 

Getting a new state of the art stadium and thriving sports city where fans will actually show up is an awful choice?

[VampyrRabbit]

9 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

Getting a new state of the art stadium and thriving sports city where fans will actually show up is an awful choice?

It is when they are moving to a smaller market that already has 2 established Big 4 league teams, and is the home of UFC which is more or less equivalent to a big 4 team. And considering they will probably be moving to Vegas on the back of a second, perhaps even third, 100 loss season after sandbagging the f*** out of Oakland, there is no guarentee that fans in Sin City are even going to show up for a team that is as cheaply run as the A's.

 

[Cujo]

Just now, VampyrRabbit said:

It is when they are moving to a smaller market that already has 2 established Big 4 league teams, and is the home of UFC which is more or less equivalent to a big 4 team. And considering they will probably be moving to Vegas on the back of a second, perhaps even third, 100 loss season after sandbagging the f*** out of Oakland, there is no guarentee that fans in Sin City are even going to show up for a team that is as cheaply run as the A's.

 

How is any of this worse than staying Oakland?