"I think it’s a terrible idea"- Diamondbacks pitcher Paul Sewald feels A's relocation to Las Vegas will be detrimental for the franchise
Arizona Diamondbacks closer Paul Sewald feels the decision to relocate the Oakland Athletics ballclub to Las Vegas is not a good option. Sewald, who is from Las Vegas, had serious doubts about whether the baseball fans of the city would ultimately support the Athletics when the franchise moved there.
Sewald feels that the decision to bring the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas could backfire.
“I think it’s a terrible idea. The whole thing, I fear, is going to be an abject disaster,” Sewald told Bill Shaikin.
“We just don’t have enough bandwidth to invest in three, four, five professional teams. We just don’t have enough people. That’s OK. We don’t have to be a city that has all four major sports,” he said.
Sewald said that most of the public in Las Vegas supports the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“They are all Dodgers fans,” Sewald said. “90 percent of the people there are from California. That’s how my dad got there. That’s how I became a Dodger fan growing up. They’re not leaving the Dodgers fan base, just because you have a team.
“No one in Vegas is an A’s fan. Why are they going to change allegiances to a team that is not trying to win?”
Oakland Athletics has not ranked among the top 20 in payroll since 2007. The A's had the lowest payroll among all 30 MLB teams for each of the past two years and are currently on pace to finish their third straight season with more than 100 losses.
Despite being a major commercial hub with a population of just over 2.2 million, the Las Vegas Valley did not have any major league teams in any sport a decade ago. In 2017, the NHL awarded an expansion team to the city, the Vegas Golden Knights, which won the Stanley Cup in the 2022–23 season.
In 2018, the WNBA moved the San Antonio Stars franchise to Sin City, which then became the Las Vegas Aces. The Aces have won two championships in the WNBA. In 2020, the three-time Super Bowl winners, the Oakland Raiders, also moved to Las Vegas in search of a more lucrative fanbase.
Bryce Harper shares the same doubts as Paul Sewald on A's relocation to Vegas
Bryce Harper also echoed the thoughts of Paul Sewald regarding the decision of the Oakland Athletics to relocate. Like Sewald, the Philadelphia Phillies superstar was also born and raised in Las Vegas.
“It’s a tough thing to see the A’s go away from Oakland. They have so much tradition and history there: the green, the yellow, the white cleats, Eric Chavez and all those guys that played there, Barry Zito, Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson, the teams they had. I see it in Oakland. I don’t see it in Vegas,” Harper said via LA Times.
In 2025, the Oakland A's will leave the Los Angeles Coliseum and play at Sutter Health Park, a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento, until a stadium in Las Vegas is completed.