Las Vegas Athletics? Nevada Senate Passes Bill For Baseball Stadium

A harsh reality is setting in with fans of the Oakland Athletics.

Their team is (likely) headed for Las Vegas.

The Nevada Senate passed a $380 million bill on Tuesday to help fund a new stadium for the Athletics in Las Vegas, the first step toward the A’s expected move out of Oakland.

There are multiple steps that remain before the Athletics’ move becomes official, but Jeff Passan of ESPN explained why the move all but guarantees it will happen:

While multiple steps remain to finalize the A’s move, the passage of Senate Bill 1 — in a special session called by Gov. Joe Lombardo, a proponent of Las Vegas adding a baseball team to the NHL’s Golden Knights and NFL’s Raiders — paves the way for it to happen. If the 42-person Nevada Assembly approves it by a majority vote and Lombardo signs the bill into law, MLB owners plan to authorize the A’s to relocate and end the team’s half-century-plus-long tenure in Oakland.

The passage of the Senate bill came on the same day A’s fans held a “reverse boycott” at Oakland Coliseum, encouraging billionaire Athletics owner John Fisher to sell the team. The calls for Fisher to sell come after he’s continuously forced fire sales and made it clear he would pursue the $1.5 billion stadium in Las Vegas.

The Boston Red Sox benefited from the A’s penchant for selling, picking up Pablo Reyes for practically nothing earlier this season.

“This agreement follows months of negotiations between the state, the county and the A’s, and I believe it gives us the tremendous opportunity to continue building the professional sports infrastructure of Southern Nevada,” Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo said last month, per Sportsnaut. “Las Vegas is clearly a sports town, and Major League Baseball should be a part of it.”