A’s Hope for Stadium Deal Before Officials Leave Office

With each passing day, the timeline for the A’s to strike a deal to stay in Oakland gets tighter.

The team is hoping to secure a deal by the end of the year, before mayor Libby Schaaf, who has championed the A’s proposed $12 billion waterfront development, and two city council members who have supported the project leave office. 

• Those two council members, Loren Taylor and Sheng Thao, are among 10 candidates running to replace Schaaf.

• City Administrator Ed Reiskin said on Sept. 20 that negotiations between the city and team would have to conclude in roughly one week to allow for a binding council vote by the end of the year.
• The final council meeting of the year is Dec. 20.

On Friday, a state appeals court ruled against the A’s by determining that the state Department of Toxic Substances Control acted legally in classifying metals treated by metal shredding company Schnitzer Steel as non-hazardous. 

Schnitzer Steel operates near Howard Terminal, where the A’s hope to build a stadium, housing, park land, retail, restaurants, and a hotel.

Vegas Awaits

The time crunch in Oakland, which hinges in part on a $182.9 million grant the city applied for from the U.S. Department of Transportation, has raised hopes in Las Vegas that the team could move there.

The team has scouted a handful of locations, with recent attention focused on the 38-acre Las Vegas Festival Grounds, owned by casino magnate Phil Ruffin. Bally’s Tropicana site is also of interest to the team.