Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf Says A's Could Follow Raiders to Las Vegas

In 2019, the city of Oakland lost the Golden State Warriors after the perennial NBA contender [...]

In 2019, the city of Oakland lost the Golden State Warriors after the perennial NBA contender moved back to San Francisco. In 2020, the city will see the departure of the Oakland Raiders, who are moving to Las Vegas. Losing two franchises in the span of two years could be considered devastating for local fans, but now the Oakland A's could also be departing.

The reason for the potential departure is that the city of Oakland is currently suing Alameda County to stop the sale of the RingCentral Coliseum so that the A's could redevelop the 155-acre site and build a new stadium.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred reportedly told Oakland officials that they needed to drop the lawsuit or risk having another professional team leave town. According to NBC Sports, Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf has confirmed that the MLB team could soon be leaving the Bay Area.

In the suit, the city argues that Alameda County violated the Surplus Land Act, which calls for extra land owned by public entities to be considered for public housing prior to any private sales. According to the suit, the city said the county did not negotiate "in good faith" for the required 90-day period. Instead, they began negotiations with the A's in order to get the deal done.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Manfred told Schaaf and City Councilman Larry Reid that fans could potentially head to Sin City to watch the A's considering that they would already be making the trip to see the Raiders.

"The commissioner pointed out that Bay Area fans will soon be going to Las Vegas to see the Raiders and that unless things changed, Bay Area fans may be going to Las Vegas or elsewhere to see the A's as well," Reid said.

The Oakland Alameda Coliseum, which is now known as RingCentral Coliseum, has been the home of the A's since the team relocated from Kansas City in the 1960s. The Raiders have also shared the Coliseum with the baseball team throughout two separate tenures in the Bay Area. Although the A's had sole possession from 1982-1994 when the Raiders were based in Los Angeles.

If Manfred is proven correct and the A's head to Las Vegas, will they share Allegiant Stadium with the Raiders? This nearly $2 billion stadium is expected to be a destination for multiple sporting events, including the PAC-12 Championship Game, so adding MLB games to the docket could be a real possibility.

For now, however, the city of Oakland and the A's will remain in more of a stalemate while the legal situation plays out.

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