Is Vegas a good bet for the Athletics?
The Athletics seem interested in entering a small, crowded market and building a ballpark near the Tropicana.
Also in this edition:
The Mets hire failed Angels executive as GM and make a big deal before the lockout
My “courageous trip” back to the ballpark.
Time for Trivia
HEART OF THE ORDER
Las Vegas: small market, big gamble
‘This town ain’t built on winning.’
Here is the best advice I ever got about Las Vegas. It came from a guy named Pat, who worked as a bellman and a limo driver at Ceasars Palace and at the old Hacienda.
He was a boyhood friend of my buddy Rob. And when we were in our 20s, Rob and I would go to Las Vegas and stay at Pat’s place. Every night when Rob and I went out to gamble, Pat would give us this little reminder: “Just remember boys, this town ain’t built on winning.”
It’s like friends don’t let friends drive drunk or no means no. It should go without saying, but it needs to be said. Again and again,
The town had a lot less glitz 40 years ago. The man-made volcano and the pirate ship, the replicas of the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, the giant pyramid, the giant sphynx, and the synchronized fountains weren’t there yet. But there were enough bright lights, bells, and whistles to keep fools from remembering that what paid the utility bill for those neon signs was visitors betting with the odds in favor of the house.
Betting IN Vegas is a losing proposition in the long run.
Now the Athletics seem interested in finding out if betting ON Las Vegas yields a different result.
In late November, CNBC broke a story that the Oakland baseball team, frustrated by years of trying to get a new stadium in the Bay Area, was taking a hard look at Las Vegas and was interested in three sites.
On Dec. 1, CNBC followed it up with a report that the ballclub has made an offer for land on site of the Tropicana Hotel.
A long way from done
There are still some things to work out for this deal to ever get done.
For one starters, there is a hotel and casino there — the venerable Tropicana, owned by Bally’s.
Last summer, Bally’s agreed to a deal to acquire the Tropicana for $150 million and to lease the site from Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. Bally’s doesn’t own the land. It leases it from, Gaming and Leisure Properties Inc. The lease runs for 50 years,
Then there is financing for the ballpark. The Athletics’ president, Dave Kaval, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the club wants to build a $1 billion facility. But who pays for that — just the club or, more likely, a public-private partnership — has to be worked out.
Now I an sure the Athletics must have some conversations with Bally’s and the real estate investment trust before settling on the Trop as the desired site for a ballpark. And the team has also some possible ways to finance the faiclity.
It’s just there are a lot of moving parts.
In the meantime, Oakland is still in the picture. The Athletics and Oakland officials are still negotiating a deal to build a ballpark on the water just off Jack London Square.
The stadium would be part of a $12 billion mixed-use project at the Port of Oakland’s Howard Terminal. The Athletics have been trying to get a new ballpark in the Bay Area since 2001. Oakland is having trouble getting the Howard Terminal project from the talking stage to the doing stage.
My guess is Las Vegas is a hedge against the Oakland deal never nearing fruition and as leverage to get the powers that be in Oakland and Alameda County to act.
Size matters
When comparing locations for an MLB team there’s a common area of confusion. There is a difference between the size of the metro area and the city where the team plays its home games.
For example, the city of Phoenix has a bigger population than the city of Philadelphia. But Philly is a bigger market. Much bigger.
Why? Because when you throw in all the surrounding suburbs, there are more people in the Philly metro area than there are in the Phoenix metro area.
Oakland is in a much larger market than Las Vegas, even though the city of Las Vegas has a larger population (641,903) than the city of Oakland (440,646).
A baseball team doesn’t just rely on one municipality for attendance or TV and radio audience. The club relies on the metro area — and sometimes on the population in nearby metro areas. So a more accurate measurement of locations for an MLB team is metropolitan statistical areas and consolidated metropolitan statistical areas compiled by the US Census Bureau.
Another way is through the TV markets -- or as the market research company Neilsen calls them -- designated media areas by households with a TV.
Tale of two cities . . . er markets
The Las Vegas DMA (833,000-plus TV households) is less than a third the size of the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose DMA (2.65 million TV households).
And a team in Oakland draws fans (and TV households) from another sizable DMA, the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto area (1.45 million TV households)).
The Athletics have to share Bay Area baseball fans with the Giants. And there are also the NBA Warriors NHL Sharks and NFL 49ers.
But in Las Vegas, the A’s would have to share the market with the NHL Golden Knights and the NFL Raiders.
Las Vegas would be the smallest DMA with three teams from the four major sports leagues.
Las Vegas has some factors in its favor.
It is growing rapidly. And the Athletics could draw fans from the many visitors that flock to the city. Las Vegas has 37,000 hotel rooms — more than any destination in the United States. So maybe some tourist or convention-goers would take a break from feeding the and video poker slot machines and take in a ballgame.
Las Vegas has a certain appeal as a destination for opposing fans that Oakland lacks. Maybe a few fans of say, the Yankees, will decide to make a road trip of a Yankees series against the Athletics and some quality time at the casinos.
Las Vegas shows some promise as a baseball town, which is why the Athletics are not the first team to flirt with the Las Vegas market. Late in the 2019 season, it was revealed the Diamondbacks held secret talks with Las Vegas and with nearby Henderson about relocating.
The Las Vegas market has been home to a Triple-A team since 1983 and usually averaged 4,500 to 5,500 per home game each season. In 2019 the team moved into a new ballpark, Las Vegas Field in Summerlin, and became the Athletics’ top affiliate. The team averaged 9,299 that season.
There was no minor league season in 2020. Last season, Las Vegas, now known as the Aviators, averaged 6,590 per game. But attendance was down for a lot of teams.
In Oakland, the Athletics drew 701,430, the first time (except for 2020 of course) since 1980 the team drew fewer than 1 million fans.
The TV situation
Another factor for the Athletics is they receive around $48 million a season from the regional sports network NBC Sports Bay Area as part of a deal that runs through 2029.
I am not sure how this would affect the contract. But I am certain the majority owner, NBC Universal (the Giants own a minority share), would not relish paying those rights fees for a team going into a smaller TV market. NBC Universal would want to renegotiate or try to get out of the contract.
Getting some other company to pony up $48 million a year, or anything close to that figure, to show Athletics’ games in Las Vegas might prove challenging in the current environment. Regional sports networks are struggling as TV providers balk at paying the high prices the channels charge.
Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns the bulk of the regional sports networks that hold local rights for MLB teams, is being propped up by junk bonds.
BONUS FRAMES
Mets bet big on Scherzer
Come to think of it, the Amazin’s seem to be wagering heavily everywhere they can.
Forbes ranks hedge fund manager Steve Cohen as the 48th wealthiest American.
But as the MLB lockout loomed, the Mets owner seemed to be working — with the help of his new general manager — to spend his way out of the top 50.
Shortly after my missive on the Mets’ difficulty hiring a general manager, the Mets hired Billy Eppler, who brings plenty of experience, a so-so track record, and a bit of baggage to Queens (more on Eppler below).
On Nov. 26, news broke that the Mets had made a deal or signed three free agents “on the backside on 30,” to quote an old country song, infielder Eduardo Escobar and first baseman Mark Canha and center fielder Starling Marte. These three were on a lot of teams’ wish lists.
Then right before the owners did the expected and locked out the players on Dec. 1, the Mets followed up with a blockbuster — and/or budget-buster — deal with pitcher Max Scherzer, who will be 38 in July, for $160 million over three seasons. The deal makes Scherzer the highest-paid player — in annual salary — in MLB history.
The other three were moderately priced. Canha, who will turn 34 next season, will get $26.5 million over two years. Escobar, an All-Star with Arizona last season who will turn 33 in January, signed for 20 million over two years. Marte, who led the majors in stolen in bases with 47 last season, will get $78 million over the next four seasons on a deal that will take him to his age 36 season.
Those deals will push the Mets payroll to $263 million next season. And the team is still shopping. The Mets are looking for a corner outfielder, actively pursuing Kyle Schwarber and Nick Castellanos. The Mets are thought to be in the running for Kris Bryant.
Eppler’s Curriculum vitae
Eppler has an extensive scouting background with the Yankees and served as assistant GM for the Bombers. He was the Angels’ GM from the 2016 season through the 2020 season when he was fired.
Mets fans hope this goes more like his time in the Bronx than his years in Anaheim. His years with the Yankees yielded a World Series title and regular playoff appearances. That’s kinda meh for the Yankees but would be considered a quite successful run at any other franchise.
With the Angels, Eppler presided over a steady decline after the franchise’s only period of sustained success.
He was hired shortly after the end of the 2015 season, which saw the Angels barely miss a wild card berth, finishing a game behind the Astros for the final spot. The season before, the Angels won 98 games and tied for the best record in the American League.
From 2002 to 2014 the Angels went to the playoffs seven times and won a World Series. Since 2015, the Angels haven’t sniffed the playoffs and have wasted the prime seasons of Mike Trout’s career.
Certainly, Eppler can’t be blamed for all the Halos’ failures. First of all, owner Arte Moreno seems to take an active role in signing players and in major deals.
And not all Eppler’s moves were bad. He traded for probably the best shortstop at the time, Andrelton Simmons, and for right-handed pitcher Dylan Bundy, who had a good season in 2020. Eppler managed to land Shohei Ohtani, lock up Trout with an extension, and, for better or for worse, make a major free-agent deal with Anthony Rendon.
Then there were acquisitions of Trevor Cahill and Matt Harvey in an effort to bolster a starting rotation that never seemed to get fixed and an expensive contract with Justin Upston, who disappointed.
More baggage
There are also two other blotches on Eppler’s resume, stains that he is not directly responsible for but is tainted by nonetheless:
The death of young pitcher Tyler Skaggs in a hotel room on a road trip from a mixture of drugs and alcohol. Authorities accused PR staffer Eric Kay of supplying the drugs.
And the hire of pitching coach Mickey Calloway, who proved a loose cannon as Mets manager. Calloway was fired after he was accused of sexually harassing several female sports journalists.
Well, at least he’s coming to an organization where they understand the pitfalls of hiring Mickey Calloway.
Another loose cannon
Besides the connection to Calloway, there are some other similarities between two organizations. The Mets play second banana to the Yankees in the largest market (although that hasn’t always been true). The Angels are a distant second to the Dodgers in the second-largest market.
And the more popular rivals are consistent winners.
Just as Moreno is a billionaire who is active in the front office, so is the Mets’ Cohen. But Cohen takes it to another level — he likes to tweet.
When former Mets pitcher Steven Matz signed with the Cardinals, spurning the Mets, Cohen bitterly called out the player’s agent, Rob Martin, with a nasty tweet about a lack of professionalism.
Nothing says professionalism like taking out your frustrations on social media.
A Cohen tweet from last summer about the economic value of draft picks is being cited in a suit by minor-leaguers against MLB.
Who is that masked fan
My 'courageous' journey back to the ballpark for the Arizona Fall League.
Baseball is about percentages. And that has kind of been my approach on this COVID-19 thing.
I know anything related to the pandemic is emotional, and I am not trying to debate anyone.
I don’t have absolute faith in masks or vaccines or social distancing or being outdoors. I just try to play the percentages.
I am certain of two things: I have asthma and I am over 60. So I am trying mightily to avoid becoming infected.
Two weeks after I got my booster shot — when it is at its most effective — I went to the ballpark, my first sporting event since March 2020.
I was wearing my mask. I want to have a mask is that is a little more substantial than the paper masks they sell at Walgreens. So I got the type 3M sells to first responders.
I am not sure how well it protects against airborne viruses, but it does do one thing. It keeps people from getting anywhere near me.
After I got inside the stadium at Salt River Fields, I went to get a sheet with the lineup and some game notes.
The two women working at the table asked about my mask.
“Is that a gas mask?”
I tried to explain it was a kind used by first responders.
“Can’t really make out what you are saying,” one said.
So I upped the volume, and, in my best James Earl Jones voice, said, “Luke, I AM your father.”
They laughed.
Trivia Time
What pitcher has the most career victories without ever winning the Cy Young Award? Hint: His first name starts with a D.
Answer in next edition:
Last edition
Name this player. He was a teammate of Babe Ruth’s with the Yankees. The player was best known for his home-run hitting prowess, but he never led the majors in round-trippers. He did lead MLB in triples and RBI.
Home Run Baker got his nickname after his homers won two World Series games in 1911. Baker, whose real first name was Frank, was a good home run hitter for his era. He led the American League in homers each season from 1911 to 1914; his high in that span was 12. But he was actually a more prolific triples hitter.
He finished his career with more triples (103) than homers (96). He led the majors in three-base hits in 1909 with 19. He led the majors in RBI in 1912 with 130.
After sitting out the 1915 season in a contract dispute, Baker’s contract was sold to the Yankees. He played with them from 1916-19. He sat out the 1920 season after his wife died of scarlet fever, but he returned to the Yankees and played with Ruth in 1921 and 1922.
I think the team could draw well in Las Vegas, a lot better than it does in Oakland (which has never been a big draw for baseball.) But broadcasting rights would not bring in much. There would be little interest in A's games outside of the Vegas media market, because of the D-Backs, Rockies, and the California teams. I would guess Reno and Carson City would carry the broadcasts, but otherwise you're talking about small radio stations in Elko and Winnemucca and Tonopah, possibly some parts of Utah, like St. George. A's would need to kick in some money toward the stadium, a la how the Giants did when they built their new stadium.
Len Gutman2 min ago
I used to go to a lot of A's games when I lived in the Bay Area. The fan base is great, and it not only expands into Sacramento and South, it expands into the entire East Bay and San Jose as well. The market can and should support an MLB team, but should the city of Oakland spend all that money when they have so many other pressing financial needs? I say no. If it is part of a rejuvenation of the Jack London Square area, and fans can still get there on BART. It will be hugely successful and everyone will make money. Fisher should pony up more for the stadium and get it done rather than holding the city hostage by threatening to move to Vegas. Thats right out of the Al Davis book and the fans don't deserve that.