Why Are the Athletics Moving to Las Vegas? The Full Story

Here is the longer version. After their final Oakland season in 2024, the A's set course for a climate-controlled ballpark on the former Tropicana site on the Las Vegas Strip, with interim seasons at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento from 2025 through 2027. As of October 29, 2026, construction is on schedule: crews completed the third and tallest steel roof truss arch on October 7, the last two arches are scheduled to be in place by the end of the year, and the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports a February 29, 2028 completion date. A project this large can still shift, so treat 2028 as the plan rather than a promise.

Why Did the A's Leave Oakland?

The short version is that the Athletics could not settle a new stadium. The team had played at the Oakland Coliseum since 1968, and by the 2010s that building was widely regarded as one of the oldest and least modern venues in Major League Baseball. In November 2018 the A's announced a waterfront site at Howard Terminal, near the Port of Oakland, for a new ballpark. That effort repeatedly stalled over financing, infrastructure costs, and approvals.

On May 11, 2021, MLB publicly instructed the A's to begin exploring relocation, saying the Coliseum site was "not a viable option for the future vision of baseball." Two months later, the Oakland City Council voted 6-1 to approve a non-binding Howard Terminal term sheet, but it was not the deal the team had proposed, and talks dragged on. In April 2023 the A's reached an agreement to buy land in Las Vegas, and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao announced that the city was ending negotiations. That was the practical end of the Oakland ballpark effort. For the full sequence of dates, see our A's franchise timeline.

This pattern is not new for the franchise. The Athletics have relocated before, moving from Philadelphia to Kansas City in 1955 and from Kansas City to Oakland in 1968. The move to Las Vegas makes the desert the team's fourth home city in a story that stretches back to 1901.

The Road to Las Vegas: A Timeline

These are the milestones that took the A's from Oakland to the Strip. Every date below is checked against the sources listed at the bottom of this page.

For a closer look at the ballpark side of this story, our A's Las Vegas stadium opening timeline lists every construction milestone and what to watch next.

What Was the Oakland Stadium Fight About?

At its core, the dispute was about who would build and pay for a new ballpark, and where. The Coliseum was shared for decades with an NFL team and was never a baseball-first venue. As the building aged, the A's argued they needed a modern park to compete financially, while proposed replacement sites ran into obstacles around cost, public funding, and local approval. Many longtime Oakland fans place responsibility for the failed outcome on ownership under John Fisher, and that frustration became a defining part of the team's final years in the city. Our explainer on John Fisher and the A's controversy covers that side of the story. The grief many Oakland fans feel about losing their team is real and worth naming honestly.

Did Major League Baseball Approve the Move?

rk on the former Tropicana site on the Las Vegas Strip, with interim seasons at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento from 2025 through 2027.

Yes. Relocating a Major League Baseball franchise requires approval from the league's owners, and on November 16, 2023, at the owners meetings in Arlington, Texas, they voted unanimously to approve the Athletics' move to Las Vegas. That vote is what turned the relocation from an idea into an official plan, and it is why the team was able to begin the transition rather than simply threaten a move as leverage. For a fuller walkthrough of how the relocation unfolded step by step, see our fan's guide to the A's move to Las Vegas.

Where Do the A's Play During the Move?

Because the new Las Vegas ballpark is not finished, the franchise needed a temporary home. In April 2024 the A's announced a deal to play at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, the Triple-A home of the Sacramento River Cats, from 2025 through 2027, with an option for 2028. The 2026 season, their second there, just ended at 64-98, fourth in the AL West. Our 2026 season recap breaks down what happened on the field and what it means for Las Vegas.

Las Vegas fans also got an early look. In June 2026 the A's played six regular-season home games at Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, the home of their Triple-A affiliate, and the 2027 schedule includes six more there. If you are wondering how the Aviators fit into the long-term picture, see what happens to the Las Vegas Aviators when the A's arrive.

What Are the Las Vegas Ballpark Plans?

The new stadium is being built on the Las Vegas Strip, on the site of the former Tropicana hotel and casino. Because of the extreme desert heat, the park is designed as an enclosed, climate-controlled venue rather than a traditional open-air ballpark. Here are the headline facts we could confirm.

Our Las Vegas ballpark guide tracks the design, funding, and construction progress as the picture becomes clearer.

Who Is Paying for the Las Vegas Ballpark?

Most of the money is private, with a capped public share. SB1, the law Gov. Joe Lombardo signed on June 15, 2023, makes up to $380 million in public funding available. According to A's senior advisor Sandy Dean, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal in September 2026, that total breaks down into $180 million in transferable state tax credits, $25 million from Clark County for infrastructure, and the rest from a county bond sale and revenue from a special tax district around the stadium site. That district began collecting tax revenue in July 2025.

The team has not yet drawn on the county funding. As of September 2026, the A's had paid for the nearly $700 million in work completed so far, and they plan to tap the county money around the middle of 2027, once a bond sale is completed. The law requires the team to spend the first $100 million, which it has done, and the last $50 million. On the private side, the A's are using $300 million in loans from Goldman Sachs and U.S. Bank, selling minority stakes in the team, and selling personal seat licenses on 5,533 of the stadium's fixed seats, with owner John Fisher covering the rest. If you are thinking about seats in the new park, our Las Vegas A's season tickets guide explains how the list works.

The public funding also faced a legal challenge. Schools Over Stadiums, a political action committee backed by the Nevada State Education Association, tried to put the funding law before voters as a referendum. A state district judge ruled against the petition in November 2023, and on May 13, 2024, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld that ruling, finding that the petition's 200-word description was misleading. The ruling kept the question off the 2024 ballot. Organizers said at the time they would look to the 2026 ballot. Separately, in September 2024 a Carson City district judge dismissed a teachers union-backed lawsuit arguing the law was unconstitutional, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

When Will the Las Vegas Ballpark Open?

The stated target is the 2028 season. As of late September 2026, the Review-Journal reported that construction remains on time for a February 29, 2028 completion date. In August 2026, crews set the second of the ballpark's steel roof truss arches, and team president Marc Badain said the project remained on schedule for the 2028 season. On October 7, 2026, the third and tallest arch was completed, and the Review-Journal reported that the final two arches are scheduled to go up by the end of the year: the fourth in the first two weeks of November, and the fifth, which will hold the outfield glass wall facing the Strip, between late November and early December. Our October 2026 construction update covers what is built so far. Large stadium projects commonly face schedule changes, so the honest way to describe 2028 is as the plan rather than a promise, and fans should treat any single reported opening date as provisional until the team confirms it.

The team is also starting to describe what game day will feel like. At the Vegas Tech Summit on October 22, 2026, Athletics senior vice president of technology Vik Bodalia said the club is "designing not to have any traditional concession stands," planning grab-and-go markets and paperless tickets instead, the Review-Journal reported. Vendors and details have not been announced. For what is known so far about getting there, parking and tickets, see our guide to planning a trip to an A's game in Las Vegas.

Are the Athletics Still the A's?

Yes. In the move the franchise dropped its city label and is now branded simply as the Athletics, but the A's nickname, the green and gold colors, and the elephant logo all carry forward. The club has applied to trademark "Las Vegas Athletics" and "Vegas Athletics," but The Athletic reported in January 2026 that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had denied those applications for a second time. New Las Vegas fans are not inheriting an expansion team, they are inheriting one of the oldest and most decorated franchises in baseball, a club with a long championship history that predates the move by more than a century.

The Bottom Line

The Athletics are moving to Las Vegas because a decades-old Oakland ballpark and a string of failed stadium plans left the franchise without a viable long-term home in the Bay Area, and the team chose to build a new future in the desert. The relocation was approved unanimously in November 2023, the Oakland era ended in 2024, and a domed ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip is under construction with a 2028 target. The details can still shift, but the direction is set, and for the first time in a long time the franchise is building something new rather than leaving something behind.

Sources

• CNBC (Associated Press), MLB tells Oakland Athletics to explore relocation if no new ballpark (May 11, 2021; MLB directive, Howard Terminal announcement in 2018)
• CBS Sports, A's stadium proposal moves forward with city council vote (July 2021; Oakland term sheet vote)
• The Mercury News, Oakland Athletics announce Las Vegas land deal (April 19, 2023; land agreement, end of Oakland talks)
• The Nevada Independent, A's pivot to new site for Vegas baseball stadium, lowering public funding request (May 2023; Tropicana site, 49-acre earlier deal)
• The Nevada Independent, Lombardo signs A's baseball stadium funding bill (June 15, 2023; SB1 signing, $380 million)
• Nevada Legislature, SB1, 35th (2023) Special Session (bill record)
• Baseball-Reference, Rays at Athletics box score, June 13, 2023 (Reverse Boycott game score and attendance)
• ESPN, MLB owners approve Athletics' planned move to Las Vegas (November 16, 2023)
• The Athletic, A's to play in Sacramento's Sutter Health Park beginning in 2025 (April 4, 2024)
• Associated Press, Nevada Supreme Court rejects appeal to put A's public funding on the ballot (May 13, 2024)
• The Nevada Independent, Nevada judge tosses teacher union lawsuit challenging A's Vegas stadium financing (September 6, 2024)
• Yahoo Sports, Athletics, fans say goodbye in final game at Oakland Coliseum (September 26, 2024)
• MLB.com, A's unveil renderings for ballpark in Las Vegas (March 5, 2024; architects, roof, capacity, acreage)
• CBS Sacramento, Athletics break ground on Las Vegas stadium (June 23, 2025)
• ESPN, Athletics say Las Vegas stadium foundation work complete (February 19, 2026; June 2026 Las Vegas games)
• The Athletic, A's denied 'Las Vegas Athletics' and 'Vegas Athletics' trademarks again (January 6, 2026)
• The Sacramento Bee via Yahoo Sports, A's announce 2027 schedule (July 2026; 2027 West Sacramento and Las Vegas games)
• CBS Sacramento (Associated Press), A's Las Vegas stadium takes shape as second steel truss arch rises (August 2026)
• Las Vegas Review-Journal, When will the A's tap into public funding for now $2.1B Las Vegas stadium construction? (September 29, 2026; cost, funding breakdown, completion date)
• Las Vegas Review-Journal, A's Las Vegas ballpark hits new heights with completion of 3rd roof truss arch (October 7, 2026)
• Las Vegas Review-Journal, When will the last two A's Las Vegas ballpark roof arches be in place? (October 2026; fourth and fifth arch schedule)
• Las Vegas Review-Journal, A's executive outlines high-tech vision for Las Vegas ballpark (October 2026; Vegas Tech Summit remarks)
• ESPN, MLB standings (2026 final record)

This article was last updated October 29, 2026. The LV Athletics is an independent, fan-run site and is not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the Athletics organization.