After an eventful week of Las Vegas-based announcements for the Athletics, the hype surrounding the team’s planned relocation is building among fans.
The future Las Vegas ballclub saw a flurry of encouraging news, with the A’s unveiling new renderings, hiring Marc Badain as new team president, launching season ticket deposits and inking a Las Vegas jersey patch deal.
A’s vice chairman Sandy Dean said in the first 24 hours of the season ticket deposit launch, where fans can get a spot on the Las Vegas season ticket list for a $19.01 deposit, they’re encouraged with what they have seen.
“There was a lot of interest, and we are really pleased with the response,” Dean said. “There will be more on that in time, but it was a good first day.”
All of that news lead into Saturday and the first of two Big League Weekend games for the A’s at Las Vegas Ballpark against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The A’s came out victorious over the Diamondbacks by a score of 4-2, in front of an announced crowd of 8,708, a sellout.
The A’s will play the Diamondbacks again at Las Vegas Ballpark at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Interest sparked
The new renderings sparked a lot of attention after being released on Thursday. Tom Macari, a lifelong A’s fan originally from the Bay Area, who two years ago moved to a suburb of Salt Lake City, said the new images increased his excitement about the A’s planned 2028 relocation and their $1.75 billion ballpark.
“The fact that it’s a dome is fine because the design lets in a lot of natural light and I think it’s beautiful,” Macari said. “I will definitely be there opening day.”
Macari made the six-hour drive from his home in Utah to Las Vegas for Big League Weekend, a trip he expects to make a lot more often in 2028 and beyond. Although he feels for Oakland fans for losing the team, he said a Las Vegas move would benefit his ability to watch the team live.
“I don’t even have to fly to get to Las Vegas,” Macari said. “I will try to make it out at least one weekend per month.”
With the A’s former home, the Oakland Coliseum, deemed outdated, leading to the A’s relocation, Macari said it was about time a new stadium deal came into play for the ballclub. Not having to share the Northern California market with the San Francisco Giants across the Bay will be a nice benefit from the Southern Nevada move, he said.
“For 20 years, ever since the Giants have won those World Series and built that nice ballpark, I feel like my beloved A’s have kind of been second fiddle to the Giants,” Macari said. “I’d actually rather see them go to Las Vegas or Sacramento instead of remaining in the Coliseum for 20 more years. So, for me, I hate to say it, but it’s a net positive.”
Macari hopes the A’s start to conduct outreach in Utah, as he believes the market would embrace the A’s as their own team. That’s something that the Golden Knights have done over the years in neighboring states that don’t have an NHL team.
City swap shouldn’t deter fans
Daniel Heller traveled to Las Vegas this weekend from Southern California with his wife and young daughter to attend the fan fest, mainly to get a picture with A’s mascot Stomper, and then attend the game. He doesn’t see the A’s relocation being a detriment to the fan base.
“A lot of people are fans not based on a city but because of what the team represents, an underdog who succeeds by making the most of limited resources,” Heller said. “That’s what appeals to me.”
With the A’s signing multiple players and their manager to contract extensions over the past few months, Heller is looking forward to that tradition continuing when the A’s arrive in Las Vegas, leading to a team that can compete for the post-season.
“I hope after moving to Las Vegas, they’ll keep what makes them special and also keep more of their best players,” Heller said. “Their offseason has been very encouraging.”
The more the merrier
Harvey Puller, an almost 50-year Las Vegas resident, is excited about the continued expansion of professional sports in the city. After seeing what the Raiders, Golden Knights and Aces have brought to the table, adding the A’s and Major League Baseball makes sense to him.
“We need all the entertainment we can get here,” Puller said. “It brings a lot of great people into town.”
Seeing the A’s hosting the fan event pregame in Downtown Summerlin is an encouraging sign for Puller. Instead of waiting until they call Las Vegas home to conduct outreach, the team has been doing so on a regular basis over the last couple of years.
“They’re getting out into the city, which is a good thing,” Puller said.
Puller attends a number of Las Vegas Aviators games each season and even though he grew up a New York Yankees fan, he said he’d cheer on the A’s when they arrive in Southern Nevada. He doesn’t see drawing MLB fans to Las Vegas being an issue.
“I’ll be going to (A’s) games,” said Puller, wearing an A’s hat. “I don’t know how many, but I will be going to ball games. … With it (the stadium) only being 33,000, I figure the seating pricing will be a little bit higher than normal, but we’re going to have the smallest ballpark in baseball. So, I don’t think they’re going to have any problem filling it up.”
Contact Mick Akers at [email protected] or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
