grapplegraphics.com The process to relocate the Oakland Athletics, the team behind the “Moneyball myth,” has been finalized.
Major League Baseball unanimously approved a proposal to move the Athletics from Oakland, California, to Las Vegas, Nevada, at the 30-team owners’ meeting in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday.
Major League Baseball rules require a 75 percent vote of the owners’ meetings to move a team’s franchise. In the case of the Athletics, the vote was 30-0.
The Athletics are under contract through next year at their current home, Oakland’s LeCentral Coliseum. The team will move to Las Vegas in 2025 and begin play in the new ballpark.
“After more than a decade of working to resolve the (Oakland) stadium issue, the Athletics owners and I have come to a different conclusion,” said MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred. “This will be a very difficult day for Oakland fans, but there is nothing we can do to prevent the team from relocating.”
“We tried everything we could to find a solution in Oakland, but there was no way,” said Athletics President John Fisher. “We are very excited about this new opportunity in Las Vegas.”
The Athletics were founded in Philadelphia in 1901. They moved to Kansas City in 1955 and have been in Oakland since 1968. However, the team struggled with the deteriorating facilities of the Coliseum stadium, which had been in use for over 50 years.
The Athletics eventually decided to relocate. In April, they purchased about 198,296 square feet of land near the Las Vegas Strip, an area densely populated with hotels and casinos. The team will invest a total of $1.5 billion to build the new stadium.
The state of Nevada is also eager to welcome the Athletics to Las Vegas. It passed an ordinance authorizing $380 million for the Athletics’ new stadium.
The Athletics will call Las Vegas’ Triple-A ballpark home starting in 2025. In 2028, the team will begin its Las Vegas era in a new ballpark.토토사이트
The Athletics have been part of the “Moneyball Revolution” in Major League Baseball since Billy Beane, a former player, took over as general manager in 1998. The quintessential small-market team, the Athletics demonstrated what it means to be a “low-cost, high-efficiency” organization that consistently wins without major investments.
In eight seasons from 1999 to 2006, the team had a .537 winning percentage, five postseason appearances, 102 wins in 2001 and 103 wins in 2002. They won 20 straight games in 2002 and a district title in 2003.
Billy Beane’s book, “Moneyball,” about how he built the Athletics into a powerhouse, was a hit. In 2011, a movie starring Brad Pitt was made based on the book and is considered a classic among baseball fans.
However, the Athletics have not won a World Series title since 1989 due to their reluctance to make major investments. They won a district title in 2020, a shortened season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but missed the postseason for three straight years from 2021 to this year.
The Athletics finished in last place in the American League West this season with a 50-112 record and a .309 winning percentage. At their current strength, the team is expected to struggle to avoid last place next season.
No Korean big leaguer has ever played for the Athletics. Lee “Wild Horse” Sang-hoon and Kim Sung-min, who played for the SK Wyverns (now the SSG Landers), have played in the minor leagues but never made it to the big leagues in an Athletics uniform.