About a week ago, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed the bill to fund $380 million in taxpayer money toward the construction of a $1.5 billion stadium for the Oakland Athletics to move to Las Vegas.
It was an important step towards the relocation of a franchise for the first time since the Montreal Expos turned into the Washington Nationals in 2004.
Efforts from A’s fans to force owner John Fisher to sell the team or to stop the relocation of the team have been unsuccessful to this date.
On Friday, the franchise took another step closer to playing in Vegas sometime in the next four years, per Front Office Sports.
“The Oakland A’s have begun the formal relocation application process with MLB. The team will need 75% of owners to vote in favor of the move to Vegas for it to become official,” they tweeted.
The Oakland A's have begun the formal relocation application process with MLB.
The team will need 75% of owners to vote in favor of the move to Vegas for it to become official.
(h/t @reviewjournal) pic.twitter.com/Srs7LUz2kD
— Front Office Sports (@FOS) June 23, 2023
In other words, the A’s made their request to relocate official, and the last step in the process is the approval of the rest of the owners.
That step is expected to be a formality: owners opposing the move is not a particularly likely scenario for a number of reasons.
The A’s need 22 votes out of the remaining 29 owners.
That process is expected to be completed soon.
In the meantime, A’s fans all over California are still mourning the loss of a franchise they learned how to love through thick and thin.
Their owners rarely put together competitive squads in recent years, and all they have left are memories of better times.
NEXT: Former A's Pitcher Discusses Team's Move To Las Vegas
