A’s victory signals new era for Las Vegas baseball
Mark Herbert
LAS VEGAS (CN) — It was nearly 60 degrees on a Saturday morning in downtown Summerlin as teenagers Jacob Valencia and Eric Gomez tossed a baseball back and forth in front of the main gate at Las Vegas Ballpark.
Just a block south of the baseball stadium's entrance lies Spruce Goose Street, named in honor of Howard Hughes. This homage extends to the name of the Oakland Athletics' Triple-A team, the Las Vegas Aviators.
This year, the stadium played host to Big League Weekend, an annual tradition here that offered up something special: It marked the first games in the city for the A's since they announced their upcoming move to Las Vegas.
Although neither Gomez nor Valencia cited the A’s as their favorite team — preferring the Angels and Dodgers, respectively — both expressed their support as they prepared for the team's second spring training game in Las Vegas.
“The A’s are going to win,” Gomez assured Courthouse News.
“And they’ll be our favorite team for now because they’re our own,” Valencia chimed in.
Indeed, the A’s clinched a 4-3 victory against the Milwaukee Brewers that day. However, Valencia's prediction that the A’s would become the home team for fans in the Neon City isn't a certainty for everyone.
Pat Moyer was in town for an outdoor furniture conference. Coincidentally, his visit overlapped with that of Brewers manager Pat Murphy, who was Moyer's baseball coach at Maryville College in the early 1980s.
Despite the A’s cap he wore, Moyer disclosed, “I have a Brewers hat in the bag.” He explained his choice was to honor Michael Kelly, a 31-year-old rookie pitcher for the A’s, with whom Moyer had previously run a batting facility in Maryville, Tennessee.
“Kelly is pitching today, so I'm rooting for both teams,” Moyer said. “Often, it’s about more than just the game. That's the beauty of baseball.”
The two MLB games attracted an average of 8,640 spectators, with the stadium's capacity at 10,000.
In contrast, the Aviators’ attendance averaged 6,838 per game in 2023, with a total of 506,047. Before the cancellation of the 2020 minor league baseball season, the team led Triple-A baseball in attendance at Las Vegas Ballpark with an average of 9,299 people per game in 2019.
Meanwhile, the Oakland Coliseum has seen a decline in attendance for the A’s since their playoff appearance in 2019. That year, the team averaged 20,626 attendees per game. After the pandemic year of 2020, when MLB teams played without fans, attendance fell to 9,849 in 2022 and slightly increased to 10,276 in 2023, marking the lowest figures in the American League for the last two years.
Last June, Oakland A’s fans in California held a “Reverse Boycott” protest against the team's management and plans to move to Las Vegas, drawing 27,759 attendees.
The A's have a lease to play at the Oakland Coliseum through the 2024 season, and they are set to move into their proposed new baseball stadium on the Strip in 2028. Where they will play in the meantime isn't clear.
The strained relationship between Oakland and A's owner John Fisher has extended to Las Vegas, with both cities facing uncertainties about the team’s potential relocation and challenges over the stadium's financing and construction timeline.
But the fans on Saturday were positive about their new team.
“The team's move to Las Vegas will be an exciting development for the city and its baseball enthusiasts,” Moyer commented. “The vibrant atmosphere and the crowd's enthusiasm were palpable last night. It’s clear they have a strong appetite for baseball here.”
In Las Vegas, the sentiment isn't so much “If you build it, he will come” from Field of Dreams, but rather a readiness to support baseball, regardless of the level of play.
“We always support the Aviators,” said Alexandria Cervantes, clad in an Athletics jersey. “And we’ll support our Major League team, too.”
Samuel Carilo, alongside Cervantes in an Athletics jersey adorned with a bold fake chain and “LV” centerpiece, shared that enthusiasm. “We love baseball, and I believe many people in Las Vegas and Nevada do too.”
By the end of Saturday afternoon, Moyer reunited with “Murph,” and Kelly, who had entered the game as a relief pitcher, delivered a scoreless fourth inning, striking out a batter to secure a hold in the win. Meanwhile, Valencia and Gomez hoped to get their baseball signed near the A’s dugout, where Carilo and Cervantes were also engaging with players, all smiles and laughter.
The first pitch on Friday marked 41 consecutive years of professional baseball in Las Vegas. Minor league baseball, which began in the early 1940s and found a permanent home in the city in 1983 with the Las Vegas Stars — renamed the 51s in 2001 and then the Aviators in 2019 — has a long-standing tradition here.
Given the turnout and the fans' reactions Friday night and Saturday afternoon, it seems Las Vegas is ready for more baseball.