Getty Images
- Negotiations ongoing with city officials regarding new venue in Oakland
- A’s reportedly submit bid for one of ‘two or three’ sites of interest in Las Vegas Valley
The owners of the Las Vegas Aviators, the Oakland Athletics’ Triple-A affiliate, have offered the Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise free land in the city suburb of Summerlin as a possible relocation site.
The proposal from Howard Hughes Corp was confirmed by the company’s senior vice president and general counsel, Peter Riley, to the Las Vegas Review Journal (LVRJ).
He said: “I know they’re getting a hard sell from different people on the strip that own the land that they want the A’s to buy. We can donate land. That would give us a big leg up, should they make the decision [to relocate].”
The LVRJ and the Athletic both recently reported that the A’s had made a bid for another site for a potential new ballpark in Las Vegas as the team looks to force the issue regarding a new venue in its current home city of Oakland.
A’s team president Dave Kaval confirmed the bid to the LVRJ and added: “We’re kind of moving from a phase of research/data gathering to action around a final site. That’s really important because the site selection is a really critical path to keep the process moving forward to where we could have a holistically blessed project.”
The A’s have reportedly made several trips to the Las Vegas area this year after getting approval from MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to explore relocation. According to reports, team officials have been scouting potential sites and meeting with local political leaders.
The team is also in continued negotiations with officials in Oakland to get approval for a new ballpark and entertainment district at the Howard Terminal waterfront site.
Elsewhere in MLB, Rogers Communications, the owner of the Toronto Blue Jays, is considering selling off its stake in the team to write down debts as it seeks to acquire Shaw Communications, according The Globe and Mail. The Canadian daily reports that Edward Rogers, the chairman of both Rogers and the Blue Jays, is a potential buyer as he could use the transaction to pay off the company’s debt while keeping control of the team.
