A’s owner dismisses move to Vegas

Steve Guiremand

Friday, March 27, 1998 | 9:01 a.m.

The Oakland Athletics are in town to play a pair of exhibition games with the Arizona Diamondbacks as part of Big League Weekend at Cashman Field.

The big question is whether Rickey Henderson, Jason Giambi and company will be spending quite a bit more time in Las Vegas in the near future.

Published reports out of the Bay Area recently had the Athletics launching a feasibility study into the prospects of moving the team into another city, including San Jose, Sacramento and, yes, Las Vegas.

The Athletics played six regular-season games at Cashman Field in April of 1996 while the Oakland Coliseum was completing its renovation. The largest crowd to attend any of those games was 11,083, although three of the contests drew less than capacity (9,334) crowds.

Those aren't exactly the kind of numbers that have major league teams salivating. But with Las Vegas' population expected to surpass the 2 million mark in the next 15 years, could Oakland be looking ahead? Far ahead?

Athletics' president and general manager Sandy Alderson dismisses the idea of the A's moving to Las Vegas.

"This story has taken on a life of its own," Alderson said. "Unfortunately, it's been resurrected again recently."

For one thing, Oakland's owners, Steve Schott and Ken Hofman, have strong Bay Area ties. Schott grew up in Santa Clara and attended Santa Clara University where he now is a member of the University's Board of Trustees. Hofman, an Oakland native, attended nearby St. Mary's where he also is a member of the Board of Trustees.

"From our standpoint, the current ownership is not interested in moving the team from the Bay Area," Alderson said. "We have a firm lease at the Oakland Coliseum through 2004 that would prevent the team moving anywhere before then.

"To me, this whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. That's not to say we don't think Las Vegas can't be a major league city one day. That's not a judgment we're trying to make. But we're not in the position right now to make that kind of judgment. We're here to play in Oakland."

Alderson did say there is a provision in the Athletics' contract which could convert their lease with the Coliseum into a year-by-year deal.

"But that topic has not been approached," Alderson said.

"This story (moving out of Oakland) has gone away for the most part here. For the most part, it's been discounted."

So don't start lining up for your Athletics' season tickets here any time soon, baseball fans.