David Villafranca
Los Angeles (USA) (EFE).- The MLB Athletics leave Oakland for Las Vegas. They are following the path of the NFL’s Raiders, who also traded California for Nevada. Why does the working-class soul of the San Francisco Bay bleed out sportingly and the glittering city of the game does not stop adding new teams?
Charles Dickens set his novel “A Tale of Two Cities” in London and Paris, but perhaps if he lived now and were a fan of sports, perhaps his famous book would begin like this: “It was the best of times in Las Vegas, it was the worst of the times in Oakland”.
900 kilometers separate Oakland from Las Vegas, the distance the MLB Athletics will travel when they make their move to the home of 24-hour casinos.
Last week it was revealed that the A’s have purchased land very close to the Strip, the backbone of Las Vegas, to build a baseball stadium.
For a few years now, the nine-time World Series champions had their sights set on Las Vegas, but the announcement of their plans to build a new stadium has plunged Oakland fans into depression and anger after more than half a century of Major League Baseball in his city.
At the crossroads of Oakland…
Unfortunately, losing a team isn’t a new thing for Oaklanders, and indeed, Las Vegas is already a recurring nightmare.
In 2020, the NFL Raiders left their home in Oakland behind, landed in the city of the game and became the Las Vegas Raiders to play in the brand new Allegiant Stadium, which will host the Super Bowl in 2024 and which in 2022 was the venue chosen by Real Madrid and Barcelona to face each other in a friendly.
Without MLB soon and without the NFL, what is left for Oakland?
Little thing. Nor does it have an NBA anymore because in 2019 the Golden State Warriors left the Oracle Arena in Oakland to settle in the Chase Center in San Francisco, which, broadly speaking, is the richest and most privileged part of the Bay.
What about hockey? Nothing, since the Bay Area NHL team is the San Jose Sharks. Any soccer? No, since the San Jose Earthquakes compete in MLS. And in American football it is clear that the kings are the San Francisco 49ers, who, despite their name, play their games at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
Facing the prospect of losing the A’s soon, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao called the plans for a new stadium in Las Vegas “extremely disappointing” news.
“The city of Oakland has worked for years to reach an agreement that would keep the A’s here,” he told a news conference before accusing the team of manipulating them to get a better deal in Las Vegas.
“I want to be very clear: This announcement (of the land purchase) happened in the middle of our negotiations and it shows that they had no interest in reaching an agreement with Oakland. This city is not interested in being used as leverage in its negotiations with Las Vegas. It is disrespectful to our residents and to our fans,” he added.
Instead, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred came to the team’s defense.
“You have owners who want to win and I think Las Vegas will present a real opportunity to increase revenue. I think they are going to have a good product,” Manfred said, according to The New York Times.
The precarious situation of the old Oakland Coliseum and the low attendance at the stadium are two of the reasons for the Athletics, with very poor sports results in recent years, to leave Oakland for a Las Vegas that offers a larger and more vibrant market, infrastructures first class and a place where they will not have to compete for attention with a powerful neighbor like the San Francisco Giants.
…and the face of Las Vegas
Within its mammoth entertainment offer (concerts, shows, discos, casinos, luxury hotels…), Las Vegas has recently found a new jewel in its crown in sports.
In addition to the Raiders and the imminent landing of the Athletics, several franchises have settled in the Nevada desert such as the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights (created in 2017) or the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces (landed in 2018 from San Antonio and that in 2022 they took the ring with Becky Hammon as coach).
There are more plans on the horizon.
One that appears in the relatively near future is the landing of the MLS since Las Vegas and San Diego, another city that is gaining integers recently in the sport in the US, appear as prominent destinations for the expansion of the soccer league. .
Although the project in capital letters of “sports fever” in Las Vegas has LeBron James as its protagonist, who has said on several occasions that he wants to own a new NBA team in that city.
Apart from the established franchises, Las Vegas has also opted for one-off and high-profile shows beyond the traditional and historic boxing evenings.
For example, in 2022 it became the first city to host two All-Stars at the same time: the NFL Pro Bowl and the NHL All-Star Game.
And this June, CONCACAF will celebrate the Final Four of the League of Nations in Las Vegas with a semifinal starring Canada and Panama and another very spicy and surrounded by great expectation between the US and Mexico.