The Oakland A’s are visiting Las Vegas this week. A four-person travel party led by owner John Fisher will make the trip. They’ll talk about relocating the Major League Baseball franchise. I expect 82-year-old Mayor Carolyn Goodman will greet the baseball contingent at a private airstrip wearing a hard hat and holding a blank check.
This is a recruiting mission now.
The A’s contingent will also make an official visit to Portland next month. An MLB source confirmed that Fisher along with team president Dave Kaval, vice president Billy Beane and executive Sandy Dean are planning to come to Oregon to do some fact finding.
The Portland Diamond Project confirmed it all on Monday. Founder Craig Cheek and managing partner Mike Barrett issued a statement to The Oregonian/OregonLive that said, “PDP can confirm that we have engaged in talks with the Athletics, and plans for a visit by team officials are underway.
“PDP will have no further comment at this time.”
This is an encouraging development. One that begs a comparison between the efforts in Las Vegas and Portland.
Vegas comes to play. Nobody is fooled by the lack of an organized effort there. The city doesn’t have an MLB-to-LAS group. No headquarters. No websites, bumper stickers or signatures. No stadium renderings, MLB rallies or Russell Wilson and Ciara, either. But Las Vegas has Mayor Goodman, who often gets her way.
She’s the wife of former longtime Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman. He’s the ex-mob lawyer who became a wildly popular mayor who won re-election over and over with more than 80% of the vote. Oscar left office after his 12-year term limit expired in 2011. Carolyn took over and is now on her third term. Be sure, Team Goodman dreams big, knows where the money is buried, and has a nose for opportunity.
Mayor Goodman — the wife — plays a mean poker game, too. We know because she went public immediately after the A’s announced they had permission from MLB to seek possible relocation cities. Goodman said, “Las Vegas is excited.” Also, the mayor claimed she had been in contact with A’s representatives as early as 2019.
That last part may be technically true. But we all know nuance is served up as a speciality on The Strip. The A’s have been engaged in a number of failed stadium proposals in Oakland, patience with local politicians is wearing thin, and the organization would be foolish to not stay in touch with a variety of possible relocation cities all along. Officials with the Oakland A’s have also been in touch with Portland for some time, turns out.
Are the A’s actually serious about moving?
Meaning, is this a bluff?
That’s become the question to ask. Because it may very well prove that we’re all being used here. Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf said she’s committing to keeping the A’s. The city council is expected to review another stadium proposal in July. But the A’s are apparently discouraged enough with the landscape to stop privately talking and begin taking sight-seeing road trips.
Las Vegas will likely offer to build the A’s a new stadium. It will throw financial incentives at the baseball club, find investors willing to partner on the real estate, and attempt to add the A’s to its growing stable of professional sports offerings. Goodman will be the project manager, because at this point she’s essentially the entire A’s to Las Vegas pitch.
Portland has some disadvantages it needs to shore up. Ones I’ve written about that need more careful examination. Our downtown needs a massive and immediate clean-up effort. Our city and state politicians also need to study the “Goodman Effect” in Vegas and ask whether we’d be interested in adding a multi-billion-dollar entity to our region. The A’s to Portland would bring massive construction, real estate development, housing, infrastructure, jobs and tax revenue.
If the MLB franchise really is on the move, this feels like a Portland vs. Las Vegas battle. Right now, because of the aforementioned issues, I’d probably make Portland a six-point underdog. But that’s something our city could easily overcome with adjustments. It would require going all-in along with the smart, well-funded effort already underway. We’d also need a distinct and noticeable pivot from city and state leadership.
The Portland Diamond Project has some preferred stadium sites, owns ballpark renderings, and already has an estimated $2 billion-plus in financial commitments. The group has solid momentum and has positioned itself as either a relocation or expansion candidate. (The more I think about it, maybe the line should only be Portland +3?) Team Goodman’s “Pleasure Island” pitch will be difficult to resist at first glance, but if I’m the Oakland A’s I’m tired of being treated like a second-class franchise.
The A’s have to ask themselves where they’d rank among the entertainment offerings if they moved to Las Vegas. Not in front of the NHL’s Golden Knights or the NFL’s Raiders. They’d again be second-tier. Probably just after the Knights/Raiders and somewhere just above the Blue Man Group and UNLV athletics. Also, they’d be playing games when it’s 114 degrees outside.
In Oregon, the A’s would be the summer headliner.
MLB’s regular season works nicely in contrast to the Trail Blazers’ (October to April) NBA regular-season. Baseball isn’t likely to cannibalize the success of the Timbers and Thorns, either. There’s a finite amount of local corporate sponsorship dollars but we’re essentially the most underserved sports market in the country.
It should be noted that there’s a difference between event “attendees” in Las Vegas and “fans” in Portland at play here. The A’s might draw a crowd in Vegas. But they’d get a fan base in Portland. I’m not sure the fact finding visit will capture how much untapped enthusiasm there is in Oregon for another major league sport.
Also, the potential TV rights contract for market No. 21 (PDX) would be stand to be more lucrative than No. 39 (LAS). Currently, six MLB clubs claim Las Vegas in their broadcast “territory” rights. That will be a headache to unravel. Only the Seattle Mariners -- three hours away by car -- currently claim Portland.
I have to think families from Eugene, Corvallis, Bend and other parts of the state would make regular outings to downtown Portland to catch a weekend A’s series. They’d stay in hotels, visit restaurants and help revitalize the city. But I’m getting ahead of myself now. We’ll remain underdogs until the city is cleaned up and the politicians actively support MLB to PDX.
The news here is that the A’s are coming to Portland to kick the tires. They’ll visit with the Portland Diamond Project partners and probably get an aerial tour of the city. There’s no more strategic way to see the Portland right now. The wonderful potential of our city, now a sleeping giant, has to be part of the pitch.
The A’s are going to visit Las Vegas this week. I hope they have a nice trip, see a show, and think about whether they’d matter much amid the noise. It’s a growing city with great night life and memorable pool parties. But no way is Las Vegas the best place for the A’s franchise. Not as long as Portland is in play.
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