The Oakland Athletics have signed a binding agreement to purchase land near the Las Vegas Strip, where they intend to construct a major league ballpark, team president Dave Kaval said Wednesday night.
The agreement is for a 49-acre site owned by Red Rock Resorts, the parent company of Station Casinos.
Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal a $1.5 billion, 35,000-seat stadium with a partially retractable roof would be built on the site, adding that other developments, including restaurants and an amphitheater, are being discussed.
The A's will work with Nevada and Clark County on a public-private partnership to fund the stadium. Kaval said the A's hope to break ground by next year and would hope to be moved into their new home by 2027.
"For a while we were on parallel paths [with Oakland], but we have turned our attention to Las Vegas to get a deal here for the A's and find a long-term home," Kaval told the Review-Journal. "Oakland has been a great home for us for over 50 years, but we really need this 20-year saga completed and we feel there's a path here in Southern Nevada to do that."
The A's had been looking for a new home for years to replace the outdated and rundown Oakland Coliseum, where the team has played since arriving from Kansas City for the 1968 season. They had sought to build a stadium in Fremont and San Jose before shifting their attention to the Oakland waterfront, then Las Vegas. The A's lease at the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season.
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred expressed his support for the purchase agreement and for the A's shifting their efforts toward a move to Las Vegas.
"We support the A's turning their focus on Las Vegas and look forward to them bringing finality to this process by the end of the year," Manfred told the Review-Journal.
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao criticized the announcement and said the city is "ceasing negotiations and moving forward" to other options.
"I am deeply disappointed that the A's have chosen not to negotiate with the City of Oakland as a true partner, in a way that respects the long relationship between the fans, the City and the team," Thao said in a statement. "Yet, it is clear to me that the A's have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game -- the fans and our residents deserve better."
According to the Review-Journal, the purchase agreement is for the land only, and the A's have an option to purchase an additional eight acres at a later date. The site is about a mile north of Allegiant Stadium, where the Las Vegas Raiders play, and about a mile west of T-Mobile Arena, where the Vegas Golden Knights play.
"It's really exciting to have a site," Kaval said. "We've spent almost two years doing our due diligence, working with community leaders, elected officials and everyone in town to really determine a location that could be a win for the A's as well as the community and public officials."
Las Vegas has been home to a Triple-A team since 1983, and currently, the club is the Athletics' affiliate.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.