- Programming note: Watch Raj Mathai's full interview with A's president Dave Kaval on NBC Bay Area's 7 p.m. newscast Thursday night.
The Athletics rocked their fan base late Wednesday night when news broke of a binding agreement with the city of Las Vegas for a site intended to be used for a $1 billion ballpark, followed by Oakland mayor Sheng Thao announcing the city had ceased negotiations with the team.
A day later, A's president Dave Kaval spoke to NBC Bay Area's Raj Mathai in an exclusive local TV interview to address the fallout from the team's decision to move forward with the path towards relocation to Las Vegas.
"I think we're all disappointed," Kaval told Mathai. "We put so much into our waterfront vision and to not have success based on all of the investment is disappointing. But at the same time, we have a new path and we're charting a course in Las Vegas. And that's why we're turning our attention to getting the final pieces in place there and getting an approval before the league deadline of January 2024."
While the move to Las Vegas is far from complete, the A's have stopped their "parallel path" plan and solely are focused on one option now.
The proposed Howard Terminal ballpark village in Oakland no longer is an option, and Kaval offered insight into why the grand plan for a waterfront stadium never materialized.
"The challenge is that we had an incredible visionary waterfront plan," Kaval told Mathai. "Maybe the boldness and audacity of it was too much and we had too much opposition at the waterfront with the maritime polluters and they were able to delay the project very successfully, which really impeded out ability to move forward on a timeline that worked, especially for Major League Baseball."
Oakland Athletics
MLB has set a January 2024 deadline for the A's to make a decision on where they will play moving forward, and in the eyes of Kaval, the Las Vegas plan allows the team to meet that timeframe.
If everything goes according to plan, the A's would break ground in Las Vegas at some point in 2024 and open their new ballpark for the 2027 MLB season.
At the end of the day, the A's appear set to leave the city they've called home since 1968, and that's not lost on Kaval.
"I think it's a bittersweet day," Kaval told Mathai. "We feel for our Oakland fans and we've had so many incredible memories here, world championships, World Series, Hall of Fame players, Rickey Henderson, Rollie Fingers. But by the same token, a lot of people, especially in the organization feel a sense of relief that we have a direction because that's something that we haven't had for some time. The parallel paths is something I think that was waning on everyone. So it's a bittersweet moment and one that makes you realize where you are as an organization. And we'll continue to communication with our fans and community about the next steps."
The A's just completed a six-game homestand and are off Thursday before beginning a seven-game road trip Friday in Texas. Oakland's next home game comes on Friday, April 28, against the Cincinnati Reds.
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Based on the news and how things have been handled by the team, it's possible that there is a very small crowd at the Coliseum that night.