Owners greenlight Athletics’ move to Las Vegas
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
ARLINGTON, Texas — Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously Thursday to allow the Oakland Athletics to move to Las Vegas, paving the way for the second relocation of a baseball team in the past half-century.
The potential move, which comes after more than two decades of failed efforts to secure a new stadium in the city to replace the aging Oakland Coliseum, needed backing from three-quarters of teams at the quarterly owners meetings. It received unanimous support despite unanswered questions about the team’s near-term future and stadium plans.
“Today is an incredibly difficult day for Oakland A’s fans,” Athletics owner John Fisher said. “It’s a great day for Las Vegas.”
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred echoed Fisher’s sentiments, saying: “I know — I know — this is a terrible day for fans in Oakland. I understand that. And that’s why we’ve always had a policy of doing everything humanly possible to avoid a relocation. And I truly believe we did that in this case. I think it’s beyond debate, that the status quo in Oakland was untenable. Those of you who have been in the building understand what I’m talking about. And I absolutely am convinced that there was not a viable path forward in Oakland.”
The move is not yet finalized. Legal challenges from a teachers union in Nevada regarding the $380 million the state has committed to the construction of a $1.5 billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip still could scuttle the move, but winning approval from owners marks a significant step toward Oakland losing its last major men’s professional sports team.
Prior to the Montreal Expos moving to Washington, D.C., in 2005, the last MLB team to relocate was the Washington Senators, who became the Texas Rangers in 1972. The Athletics moved to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968 and have won four World Series in their 56 seasons in the city.
After announcing in 2021 plans to pursue a “parallel path” in which it would weigh stadium deals in Oakland and Las Vegas, the team chose Vegas in April 2023, with Manfred saying MLB would waive its relocation fee, estimated to be around $300 million.
The backlash from A’s fans was immediate and consistent. Chants of “sell the team” directed at Fisher — a Gap heir who bought the franchise in 2005 — served as background noise at most home games for the A’s, who went an MLB-worst 50-112 in 2023 and carried the league’s lowest payroll. More than 27,000 fans showed up in June for a so-called “reverse boycott,” during which they implored Fisher to sell.
After giving a short statement Thursday, Fisher left a news conference without taking questions.
Asked whether he considered Fisher a good owner, Manfred pointed to the A’s on-field success (seven playoff appearances since 2005), pegged the low payrolls (never higher than 18th in his 19 years owning the team) to the stadium’s poor conditions and said: “My answer is, over the long haul, yes, I think he’s been a good owner.”
In a letter sent to half the MLB owners last week, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said the city had procured $928 million in funding for a stadium and surrounding development and wanted to keep the team.
The Athletics’ lease with the Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, and the team has yet to solidify plans for where it will play before the Las Vegas stadium is ready in 2028. Manfred said extending the lease in Oakland is an option, though the city — which owns half the stadium, while the Athletics own the other half — has said in order to do so that it would need to keep the A’s name and move to the front of the line for a potential expansion franchise.
“We are disappointed by the outcome of this vote,” Thao said in a statement. “But we do not see this as the end of the road. We all know there is a long way to go before shovels in the ground and that there are a number of unresolved issues surrounding this move. I have also made it clear to the commissioner that the A’s branding and name should stay in Oakland and we will continue to work to pursue expansion opportunities. Baseball has a home in Oakland even if the A’s ownership relocates.”
The lack of a home for three seasons is far from the only reservation about the Athletics’ move. Not only would they be leaving for a smaller media market, but the team would also remain a revenue-sharing recipient, a point of contention in recent years. The new stadium, located at the site of the old Tropicana hotel, is slated to be built on a 9-acre parcel, which would be one of the smallest in MLB. While the A’s released renderings of a Las Vegas stadium, they did not include a dome or retractable roof, which would be necessary to combat the city’s summer heat.
Nonetheless, the vote received unfettered support after the league’s relocation committee championed it. Manfred adopted the recommendation, the league’s executive council voted unanimously to greenlight it, and the remainder of owners joined Thursday.
Uncertainty regarding the Athletics’ future had hung over the league since 2001, when the team first sought to build a new stadium. An attempt in 2005 to move to nearby Fremont fell apart, and efforts to pursue a stadium in San Jose were blocked by the San Francisco Giants, whose territorial rights extend to the southern part of the Bay Area.
Potential stadium plans in Oakland stalled, with the team and league blaming politicians and vice versa. The most promising deal was for a massive reimagining of Howard Terminal in the Port of Oakland, a 55-acre parcel that would have developed 6 million square feet of commercial buildings, residential units and a 35,000-seat stadium. The $12 billion price tag, however, proved too large, and Las Vegas — which already had taken the Raiders from Oakland in 2020 — swooped in to do the same with the A’s.
Securing public funding wasn’t easy. The A’s initially sought $500 million in public money. On June 14, the Nevada Senate passed a $380 million bill after the A’s agreed to allow for the use of a suite at the stadium for community groups, pledged an annual $1.5 million donation to the community and offered resources to help mitigate homelessness in Las Vegas. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo signed the bill into law two days later.
The lack of a relocation fee, Manfred said, was a “really important” element of the deal.
“We felt that a relocation fee in this particular situation was inappropriate, where there was significant expenditures by John Fisher and his family to get the stadium built,” Manfred said. “It’s a billion-and-a-half-dollar project. That was really important. We also felt that, in terms of the public support that was available, the waving of relocation fee made that support stronger. We wanted to go into the market in a way that the people in the market felt like we were making an investment in them and looking to grow the game.”
A political action committee, Schools Over Stadiums, is pursuing a referendum for the public to vote on the stadium funding in November 2024. A judge recently rejected the referendum, saying the language in the petition submitted by Schools Over Stadiums was “legally deficient.” The PAC plans to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court, and if that effort fails, it could refile a petition. If successful, Schools Over Stadiums would need to collect 102,568 signatures — 25,647 from each of Nevada’s four congressional districts — by July to ensure the referendum is on the ballot.
In the meantime, the A’s still need to finalize plans on the construction of a 33,000-seat stadium in Las Vegas, which would be the smallest in MLB by nearly 2,000 seats and rely heavily on tourism to fill the ballpark. The lack of plans did not dissuade owners, nor did the objections of fan groups that lobbied them to reject the move.
On Tuesday night, two days before the vote, three A’s fans wearing T-shirts that read “SELL” sat near Fisher at the restaurant at the Live! By Loews hotel where the owners meetings were held. As Fisher stood up to leave a few minutes later, one fan said, loud enough for Fisher to hear: “Keep the A’s in Oakland. Do the right thing.”
Walking away, Fisher muttered under his breath: “I am doing the right thing.”
Brian Cashman appreciates that World Series titles are expected from the New York Yankees, not just hoped for.
New York hasn’t even reached the World Series since its 27th championship in 2009, the second-longest drought in franchise history. The only longer one came in the Yankees’ first 18 years, from 1903 to 1920.
“We have a great shot, but we only have a great shot if we play our best baseball,” the general manager said Thursday ahead of an AL Division Series against Kansas City. “I know that we have the capabilities, but at the same time I caution that we’ve had capabilities many times before and you have to match those capabilities with, obviously, great defense, great baserunning, tremendous offensive at-bats against extremely tough pitching and, obviously, the most important aspect is pitching to the best of your abilities.”
After missing the playoffs last year for the first time since 2016, the Yankees rebounded following the December acquisition of Juan Soto from San Diego. They led the AL in runs with 815 after finishing 25th in 2023 and topped the major leagues in home runs with 237.
“I do honestly believe that anybody that’s currently in the tournament has a legitimate chance to raise that trophy,” Cashman said. “I think we have the pieces that are here and we have the will to make it happen, and now we just got to go up against an opponent that’s very worthy.”
Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole (8-5) starts Saturday night’s opener for New York after recovering from elbow nerve irritation and edema that sidelined him from spring training until June 19.
Michael Wacha (13-8) starts for Royals. He has held Yankees star Aaron Judge to 1 for 18 with three walks and no homers in his career.
“I’m chalking this up to small sample and I’ll take Aaron Judge against just about anyone on any day,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said, “but we know Wacha is a tough customer. He’s always pitched us tough and we know we got our work cut out for us.”
New York beat Kansas City in the 1977 and ’78 AL Championship Series en route to World Series titles, and the Royals swept the Yankees in 1980 — leading George Steinbrenner to force out manager Dick Howser. The following summer, Howser took over as Royals manager and led Kansas City to its first World Series title in 1985.
New York won three of four at Kansas City in June, losing the series finale on Maikel Garcia‘s two-run double against Clay Holmes. The Yankees took two of three in the Bronx last month, losing the middle game when Seth Lugo and two relievers combined on a three-hit shutout for the Royals.
Kansas City swept Baltimore in a two-game Wild Card Series while the Yankees won the AL East and earned a first-round bye and a five-day layoff. The Royals are led by Bobby Witt Jr., likely to finish second to Judge in AL MVP voting, nine-time All-Star catcher Salvador Perez and a rotation that includes Wacha, Lugo and Game 2 starter Cole Ragans.
Reliever Lucas Erceg was acquired from Oakland at the July 30 trade deadline, and the 29-year-old right-hander had 11 saves in 13 chances for the Royals, striking out 31 and walking three in 25 innings. His fastball averages 98.6 mph.
“From early in the season ’til now, their bullpen has improved,” Boone said. “They’ve had a couple guys emerge down there and then obviously bringing in Erceg to anchor them has taken their bullpen to another level.”
Cashman said the Yankees are still deciding on their final roster moves heading into the ALDS, with right-hander Marcus Stroman’s status still up in the air.
“We haven’t made that final call yet,” he said. “Marcus threw in the sim [simulation] game yesterday, he threw two innings, so we’re trying to keep him with some volume and stretched out. I don’t expect him to be a starter in this series. As for what role we haven’t made that call yet.”
Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo remains doubtful for the Division Series after fracturing the fourth and fifth fingers of his right hand when he was hit by a pitch from Pittsburgh’s Ryan Borucki on Saturday.
“He’s full-bore treatment mode right now,” Cashman said, “A very tight window of healing to take place. … A lot less pain than you would expect and more strength to the squeeze than you would expect given what he’s gone through but he has not been doing baseball activity as of yet.”
Ben Rice and Oswaldo Cabrera are the primary alternatives at first.
DJ LeMahieu, who also plays first, has been sidelined since Sept. 3 because of a right hip impingement.
“He’s started to do things, Cashman said. “The time frame for him a little bit difficult.”
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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Kyle Bonagura, ESPN Staff Writer
Las Vegas Raiders coach Antonio Pierce was slapped with an eight-year show-cause order because of violations that occurred when he was an assistant coach at Arizona State, the NCAA announced Thursday.
Most of the violations were related to what the NCAA referred to as a “scheme” orchestrated by Pierce to circumvent restrictions in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Pierce facilitated impermissible recruiting contact with 35 prospects, including “tryouts, football facility tours and entertainment.” It was also determined he directed an assistant to engage in tampering with a player enrolled at another school and traveled out of state to observe and meet with prospects during a recruiting dead period.
“In arriving at an eight-year show-cause order for Pierce, the panel emphasized his role as the ringleader in orchestrating the recruiting violations,” according to the report from the NCAA.
In the event Pierce is hired by a NCAA school during the show-cause order — which runs until Oct. 2, 2032 — he would be suspended for the first football season and would be allowed no contact with any of the program’s coaches or players during that period.
During the investigation, Pierce provided “false or misleading information” and was unwilling to provide his financial records, according to the report. One ASU staff member told the NCAA that Pierce “did not fear the potential consequences for NCAA violations due to the financial security provided by his self-proclaimed wealth.”
“Pierce used his position of authority to pressure staff members into engaging in violations, often by instilling fear that they would lose their jobs if they did not follow his orders,” the report says.
The NCAA also issued a five-year show-cause order for former ASU football analyst Anthony Garnett, who participated in the violations. Garnett would face a one-season suspension if hired during the next five years.
In the 67-page report, there are several mentions of former booster Regina Jackson, the mother of former ASU and current Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels, who assisted with setting up impermissible campus visits and other violations. Daniels transferred from ASU to LSU after the 2021 season, won the Heisman Trophy in 2023 and was selected No. 2 in the 2024 NFL draft by the Commanders.
In April, the NCAA punished ASU with four years of probation, an undisclosed fine, vacated games in which ineligible players competed, reduced scholarships and recruiting restrictions.
Pierce was hired by ASU head coach Herm Edwards in December 2017 and was promoted to associate head coach/co-defensive coordinator in February 2020. Edwards, who now works for ESPN, was fired after the Sun Devils went 1-2 to start the 2022 season. He was found to have committed a “responsibility violation,” the NCAA announced in April.
Pierce resigned from ASU in 2022 and was hired as the Raiders linebackers coach. He was named the Raiders interim coach in October 2023 and was hired for the job permanently in January.
The Raiders declined comment Thursday.
ESPN’s Paul Gutierrez contributed to this report.
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos will return for the Eagles (4-1) and start this week at Virginia (3-1), sources told ESPN.
Castellanos missed BC’s game at Western Kentucky last week with an undisclosed injury that he had suffered in the win over Michigan State the prior week.
Castellanos has practiced this week and looked solid, which puts him in line to return his starting job. FIU transfer Grayson James led Boston College to a comeback win against WKU, as BC trailed 20-7 in the fourth quarter.
Castellanos is amid a breakout season for the Eagles, as he sparkled in the opening win at Florida State and has been one of the most improved players in the ACC. He’s No. 6 nationally in passing efficiency and has 10 touchdown passes and two interceptions.
Last year, Castellanos had 15 touchdown passes and 14 interceptions. He has completed 64.3% of his passes this season, an increase from 57.3% last year.
Boston College is scoring 29.8 points per game, up from 24.8 last season. It is No. 29 nationally in third-down conversion percentage.
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