LAS VEGAS — With nearly two complete seasons remaining before relocating to their new climate-controlled ballpark at the southern portion of the Las Vegas Strip, the Athletics are already witnessing growing enthusiasm as Major League Baseball prepares to arrive in a city that was once considered forbidden territory for major professional sports.
The team, which has established a temporary base in West Sacramento following their final contest at the Oakland Coliseum after the 2024 season concluded, is currently playing a six-game homestand this week at their Triple-A affiliate’s venue in Las Vegas.
The Athletics are set to begin play in their new 33,000-capacity stadium built where the former Tropicana Hotel once stood, with the 2028 season as their target date.
Following a series victory of two games out of three against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Athletics will begin a three-game matchup Friday versus the Colorado Rockies at the Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin.
“We live right down the street from here, so we’re really excited about the A’s coming to town,” said Chris Duval, who moved to the area from Los Angeles about a year ago. “We’ve been baseball fans forever. We’ve moved all over the place, so it’s tough to get locked down on one team.”
Duval, who was wearing a white Athletics home jersey, said his wife grew up in California and always has been a Dodgers fan, while he grew up in New England as a self-described “Red Sox guy.”
“We’re just really excited to have them in town,” said Duval, who took in two of the three games against the Brewers with his family. “We probably will be season ticket holders.”
In an effort to cultivate fan loyalty and raise awareness throughout the community, the Athletics organized an extensive array of community activities during their homestand, along with multiple promotional giveaways for stadium attendees.
Activities featuring Athletics players, former players and team personnel included reading sessions at a neighborhood library; Wiffle ball competitions with a Boys and Girls Club summer youth program; preparing children’s meals at a community food bank; and stops at the Sunrise Children’s Hospital and the weekend Farmer’s Market in downtown Summerlin.
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay was asked about balancing the community outreach with winning baseball games.
“At the major league level, the wins and losses matter,” Kotsay said before Monday’s series opener. “Performance matters. Spring training performance doesn’t matter. When you’re here in a regular season, the less distractions that we can make for the players, I think the better off the performance can be.
“Obviously that’s challenging, because we want to do as much as we can here in the community to get out and to show that our engagement is going to be 100%, which I think we’re doing and are going to do as we get further into this relationship. It’s exciting for us.”
Brewers manager Pat Murphy said players were not all that different from fans when it comes to viewing Las Vegas as a travel destination.
“I think it’s an opportunity. Just embrace it, don’t put too much into it. You don’t make excuses,” Murphy said Monday. “I don’t really see the downside. The guys are excited. I mean, they like to come to Vegas.”
Linda Jochimsen, in her second season as a VIP staff host at the Triple-A ballpark, was somewhat surprised at the number of fans who traveled from Milwaukee.
“Some of them are really serious baseball fans, they go to spring training, they follow the team. They’re not just fans, they’re dedicated fans,” she said. “They said they got their tickets as soon as they saw they were going to be here. Months ago.”
Tom Risen lives near Eau Claire in northwest Wisconsin, which is much closer to Minneapolis than Milwaukee.
“Vegas was definite because we come to Vegas all the time, so it was a no-brainer,” Risen said. “Our rooms were set as soon as we heard they were going to be there.”
The Athletics represent the newest professional sports team to establish Las Vegas as their home base, joining other franchises that have all arrived within the past ten years. The Golden Knights of the NHL, presently competing in the Stanley Cup Final for the third time, began operations as an expansion team in 2017.
The Las Vegas Aces of the WNBA relocated from San Antonio in 2018, and the former Oakland Raiders of the NFL moved to Las Vegas in 2020 at Allegiant Stadium, located close to the upcoming baseball facility. The NBA Board of Governors recently voted to formally explore potential expansion to Las Vegas and Seattle.
Patrice Virgil, who works in hospitality at Gold Coast Hotel and Casino, grew up in Las Vegas.
Virgil said the current sports environment is quite a change from back when UNLV basketball — the Runnin’ Rebels with legendary coach Jerry Tarkanian — was the only game in town.
She said the influx of out-of-town fans is noticeable, even by Las Vegas tourism standards.
“They follow their teams,” Virgil said. “When the 49ers come to town, you know they’re here. Full-fledged. They have their jerseys on, their hats, their favorite T-shirts … We were an entertainment capital, now we’re a sports town.”
