A's entering purchase agreement for stadium site in Las Vegas to build $1.5 billion stadium opening in 2027

[Hubs]

4 minutes ago, Hubs said:

They have to say this as they have an agreement with the Aviators. 

They will move. Guaranteed.

@MMC why would you buy Aviators season tickets when you could watch the A's. It's not a good business model and no market as small as Vegas has both a AAA and a MLB Team. I know Summerlin is an hour away, and they do draw well, for PCL, but 7,000 fans a game.

Plus, there is a lot to do in Vegas.

[disarcina]

I think the A's will do well in Vegas - but - even if they are not as successful as the Raiders and/or the VGK hockey team in terms of attendance and support -- the bar from the Bay Area / Oakland experience of the past decade plus is so low, if the A's draw 17,500 average per game - it beats their numbers in Oakland.

The move to Vegas is a no lose situation for the A's.  The only way they could lose, if they delayed further - giving Oakland /Oakland Coliseum Commission even more time to disappoint with their 'efforts' towards building a new ballpark - that would then cause the Las Vegas venue to be lost to the A's and instead given to a potential MLB expansion team.

The big winners in this "A's move to Las Vegas" announcement are - the A's, Las Vegas and also Nashville and Portland.    Nashville and Portland win. because if MLB expands (which I don't think they should but it seems inevitable that MLB is moving towards expansion)  - one of the top venues to snag the expansion franchise - Las Vegas - is now off the table.   In the expansion battle, I think Nashville is ranked first and then Portland, second.  I Also have significant doubts whether a Portland based franchise will succeed which is why MLB was looking at Las Vegas and Nashville.

[disarcina]

1 hour ago, Hubs said:

@MMC why would you buy Aviators season tickets when you could watch the A's. It's not a good business model and no market as small as Vegas has both a AAA and a MLB Team. I know Summerlin is an hour away, and they do draw well, for PCL, but 7,000 fans a game.

Plus, there is a lot to do in Vegas.

MLB may make the Aviators move per MLB rules re MLB teams and AAA team locations,.  Perhaps with traffic Summerlin may be an 'hour' away  from Vegas -- but you can get from Summelin to Vegas and vice versa in about 30 minutes -  perhaps less.  If the Aviators do move -- it would be a shame if that relatively new (very nice). AAA ballpark in Summerlin is not used for baseball on a regular basis.  I guess some youth teams in the area, college, community college, high school, etc. could benefit -- I believe that ballpark was built and owned by the. City of Summerlin.  the VGK. practice arena is right across the street.

[gotbeer]

1 hour ago, disarcina said:

MLB may make the Aviators move per MLB rules re MLB teams and AAA team locations,.  Perhaps with traffic Summerlin may be an 'hour' away  from Vegas -- but you can get from Summelin to Vegas and vice versa in about 30 minutes -  perhaps less.  If the Aviators do move -- it would be a shame if that relatively new (very nice). AAA ballpark in Summerlin is not used for baseball on a regular basis.  I guess some youth teams in the area, college, community college, high school, etc. could benefit -- I believe that ballpark was built and owned by the. City of Summerlin.  the VGK. practice arena is right across the street.

They could just as easily use that facility as their rookie ball, A ball, AA ball facility if it can't be used as a AAA location.  Especially A ball, geography doesn't seem to matter as the Angels have an Inland Empire affiliate, and the Dogs have Rancho.  But even in AAA, Braves AAA is in a suburb of Atlanta 30 miles away, Twins AAA is 11 miles away, Bostons AAA is in Worchester 44 miles away.

[stormngt]

5 hours ago, Hubs said:

@MMC why would you buy Aviators season tickets when you could watch the A's. It's not a good business model and no market as small as Vegas has both a AAA and a MLB Team. I know Summerlin is an hour away, and they do draw well, for PCL, but 7,000 fans a game.

Plus, there is a lot to do in Vegas.

Summerlin is an hour away?  From where?  Lake Meade.

More accurately Summerlin is 20 minutes from the strip.  Maybe 30 minutes from Allegiant Stadium.

[gotbeer]

On 4/24/2023 at 4:07 PM, stormngt said:

Summerlin is an hour away?  From where?  Lake Meade.

More accurately Summerlin is 20 minutes from the strip.  Maybe 30 minutes from Allegiant Stadium.

Vegas traffic is quickly catching up to LA traffic.  You hit it at the wrong time, and you are in for a wait.  

[CaliAngel]

1 hour ago, gotbeer said:

Vegas traffic is quickly catching up to LA traffic.  You hit it at the wrong time, and you are in for a wait.  

I don't remember what freeway we were on a couple weeks ago in Vegas but yes, it reminded me of LA traffic. The freeway was horribly organized, did not seem like it was designed with the capacity of cars on the road.

Really made me understand less why anyone would want to live there.

[Hubs]

On 4/24/2023 at 12:31 PM, disarcina said:

MLB may make the Aviators move per MLB rules re MLB teams and AAA team locations,.  Perhaps with traffic Summerlin may be an 'hour' away  from Vegas -- but you can get from Summelin to Vegas and vice versa in about 30 minutes -  perhaps less.  If the Aviators do move -- it would be a shame if that relatively new (very nice). AAA ballpark in Summerlin is not used for baseball on a regular basis.  I guess some youth teams in the area, college, community college, high school, etc. could benefit -- I believe that ballpark was built and owned by the. City of Summerlin.  the VGK. practice arena is right across the street.

I was getting Summerlin Mixed up with Laughlin. Still, proves my point, no way that a AAA team stays there if the A's move there.

 

[mmc]

On 4/24/2023 at 11:04 AM, Hubs said:

@MMC why would you buy Aviators season tickets when you could watch the A's. It's not a good business model and no market as small as Vegas has both a AAA and a MLB Team. I know Summerlin is an hour away, and they do draw well, for PCL, but 7,000 fans a game.

Plus, there is a lot to do in Vegas.

Why would you buy Silver Knights tickets when you could buy Golden Knights tickets?  

[Duren, Duren]

I was in Vegas in the first year of their NHL franchise. There was a ton of merchandise everywhere. Even at the airport. Surprising because hockey doesn't have a long history there. The arena is conveniently located, and the fans were rabid and excited from the beginning. More enthusiasm than hockey knowledge, but the got into it quickly. 

The game experience is odd compared to other places. All sorts of 'entertainment' distractions before the game and during breaks. Cheezy costumes and characters. And a P.A. announcer who thinks he's Michael Buffer. 

Also, quite  big presence of visiting team fans like myself who made it part of the vacation itinerary. 

Because of intentionally tweaked expansion rules they had a great first season and almost won it all. And mostly have had good teams, The NHL had everything go the way they hoped it would. 

Football too obviously was a success, especially since the Raiders were a familiar franchise. 

Baseball is a bit different because of length of season and many weekday games. But attendance should be respectable. Fans of all teams are always in and out as tourists and many others relocated from other cities. Within a few years a native fan base should be solid. Especially if they ever become a winning franchise. Vegas loves winners! 

[Revad]

Perhaps someday there will be an AW Vegas event.

[jsnpritchett]

 

[Redondo]

22 hours ago, mmc said:

Why would you buy Silver Knights tickets when you could buy Golden Knights tickets?  

Tickets are a lot less and you can get good seats

Been to both and had fun at both arenas

[Blarg]

On 4/24/2023 at 12:25 PM, disarcina said:

The big winners in this "A's move to Las Vegas" announcement are - the A's, Las Vegas and also Nashville and Portland.  

Portland would require a retractable roof, the rain is just too prevalent. 

[cals]

1 hour ago, Blarg said:

Portland would require a retractable roof, the rain is just too prevalent. 

Not in the summer.  That said, until you actually see it, it’s tough to describe the shithole Portland has become.

[Vegas Halo Fan]

On 4/24/2023 at 12:31 PM, disarcina said:

I believe that ballpark was built and owned by the. City of Summerlin. 

Not to put too fine a point on it, but there is no City of Summerlin. Summerlin is a master planned community within the City of Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority put up the bulk of the money for the building of Las Vegas Ballpark.

Edited April 30, 2023 by Vegas Halo Fan

[disarcina]

On 4/28/2023 at 1:09 PM, Duren, Duren said:

I was in Vegas in the first year of their NHL franchise. There was a ton of merchandise everywhere. Even at the airport. Surprising because hockey doesn't have a long history there. The arena is conveniently located, and the fans were rabid and excited from the beginning. More enthusiasm than hockey knowledge, but the got into it quickly. 

The game experience is odd compared to other places. All sorts of 'entertainment' distractions before the game and during breaks. Cheezy costumes and characters. And a P.A. announcer who thinks he's Michael Buffer. 

Also, quite  big presence of visiting team fans like myself who made it part of the vacation itinerary. 

Because of intentionally tweaked expansion rules they had a great first season and almost won it all. And mostly have had good teams, The NHL had everything go the way they hoped it would. 

Football too obviously was a success, especially since the Raiders were a familiar franchise. 

Baseball is a bit different because of length of season and many weekday games. But attendance should be respectable. Fans of all teams are always in and out as tourists and many others relocated from other cities. Within a few years a native fan base should be solid. Especially if they ever become a winning franchise. Vegas loves winners! 

your comments --  all true --  having been to several VGK games I would call  what you characterize as 'distractions' during the game. - as 'the full Vegas Entertainment treatment' and really makes the Golden Knights game an entertainment venue for the whole family unlike any other in the NHL --  the VGK have been a huge success in Las Vegas.  As for baseball --  step back one second -- remember the Oakland bar is very low for the A's -- if the Las Vegas A's (Aces?) --  draw 17,500 to 20,000 per game they're ahead of where they were in Oakland.  Also - I think the 'opposing team' fan attraction to the game you mention for the NHL above will translate to baseball. Fans planning a trip to Vegas will schedule around when their team is in town.

[HeavenlyHalos]

On 4/29/2023 at 11:59 AM, Blarg said:

Portland would require a retractable roof, the rain is just too prevalent. 

It's usually not too bad in the Summer but, yes, for April in particular it would need one, ala T-Mobile Park or whatever the hell the Mariners call it these days.

[stormngt]

On 4/25/2023 at 7:23 PM, CaliAngel said:

I don't remember what freeway we were on a couple weeks ago in Vegas but yes, it reminded me of LA traffic. The freeway was horribly organized, did not seem like it was designed with the capacity of cars on the road.

Really made me understand less why anyone would want to live there.

There are certain bottlenecks where you would always have traffic.  The streets are where the worst of it exists.  It seems like there are always lane closers on the streets.

However it still doesn't compare to LA traffic.  You have your rush hour 8-9 am and 5-6 am traffic.  When I loved in the LA Basin rush hour was 6 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm.  

In Las Vegas, the bottlenecks are where the freeways are merging.  In LA the traffic goes for 40-60 miles.

[James]

15 minutes ago, stormngt said:

There are certain bottlenecks where you would always have traffic.  The streets are where the worst of it exists.  It seems like there are always lane closers on the streets.

However it still doesn't compare to LA traffic.  You have your rush hour 8-9 am and 5-6 am traffic.  When I loved in the LA Basin rush hour was 6 am to 9 am and 3 pm to 7 pm.  

In Las Vegas, the bottlenecks are where the freeways are merging.  In LA the traffic goes for 40-60 miles.

Traffic isnt that bad there. I lived over in Rhodes Ranch and worked in Henderson mostly and outside of a crazy snow day, traffic was always alright. While it has gotten more congested it aint like trying to get from Torrance to El Segundo anytime of a day or night on no day in particular. 

[ten ocho recon scout]

On 4/29/2023 at 1:06 PM, cals said:

Not in the summer.  That said, until you actually see it, it’s tough to describe the shithole Portland has become.

Which sucks. Portland is a cool area. Considered moving out there a few times. But now it's like "what's the difference?"

[stormngt]

4 hours ago, James said:

Traffic isnt that bad there. I lived over in Rhodes Ranch and worked in Henderson mostly and outside of a crazy snow day, traffic was always alright. While it has gotten more congested it aint like trying to get from Torrance to El Segundo anytime of a day or night on no day in particular. 

When I lived in socal, you couldn't drive to the store in 15 minutes.  Most parts of the Vegas Valley can get you to the center of the strip or downtown in 20 minutes.

40 years ago you could drive to one end of the city to the other in 20 minutes.

[mmc]

 

[HeavenlyHalos]

Just sell the damn team. Horrible owner regardless of the city they are in.

[gotbeer]

13 hours ago, mmc said:

 

 

It's a legit plan b.   And it's where I thought the A's were headed in the first place.  So much unused property on that Rio site, especially since the convention side of Rio never really materialized.