But Oakland ownership is still keeping moving to Las Vegas a possibility.
John Fisher, the owner of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics is ending the season the same way he began the 2022 baseball season. He is still pitting Oakland against Las Vegas for the right to house his business. Fisher would like to develop land by Howard Terminal on the Oakland San Francisco Bay waterfront which would include a baseball park, offices, retail space, maybe a hotel and entertainment area and residential buildings. He needs all sorts of California governmental support including getting money from Oakland elected officials and getting environmental approval as well as fighting off lawsuits from people who run the Oakland port. Fisher got a huge boost in his stadium-village pursuit when Alameda County Superior Court Judge Brad Seligman ruled against lawsuits, filed by the East Oakland Stadium Alliance, the Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority and a handful of port industry and labor organizations, that officials with the city of Oakland did not properly vet the project’s environmental repercussions. writing in his decision that the city did not violate the California Environmental Quality Act.
Fisher has been picking up victories in Oakland and perhaps the most important win of the season was when Oakland politicians said no to a referendum on building the stadium-village. Sports venue referendums a sure bet loser. Despite being on a winning streak in Oakland, Fisher has not closed off his Las Vegas alternative. Oakland Athletics officials have been scouting out places around Las Vegas for a stadium site but have not found a suitable site yet. Perhaps Athletics officials don’t really want a Las Vegas site and are just using Las Vegas for leverage in the stadium game. In Las Vegas, there is no plan to get money for the construction of a stadium at the moment. Fisher has played the stadium game perfectly so far.
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