MLB commissioner Rob Manfred met with the mayor of Oakland to discuss possible stadium plans designed to keep the Athletics from relocating to Las Vegas.
Mayor Sheng Thao requested and was granted a meeting with Manfred before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game in Seattle, she told multiple media outlets.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Thao presented Manfred 30 bound copies of a report she wanted all MLB team owners to see, detailing negotiations between the city of Oakland and the A’s, including a detailed timeline. Thao wanted a complete outline on the failed Oakland negotiations to be shared before owners voted on whether to approve the Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas.
“I did feel it was important to meet with the commissioner in person, given the importance of this upcoming vote by the relocation committee,” Thao told the Chronicle. “This decision isn’t just about business. How they vote will have a lasting impact on a multi-generational fan base of working families who love this game of baseball and have a deep connection to the Oakland A’s. Before undertaking this very consequential vote, I wanted the commissioner and the MLB owners on the relocation committee, and all the owners, to have the true facts, so they can make an informed decision. I continue to fight until the shovel is actually in the dirt.”
The Athletic included links of the documents Thao presented to Manfred, including the summary of terms, infrastructure financing plan, preliminary development plan, design guidelines and tentative tract map.
“For me, it was very important that [Manfred], and not just him, but the [league’s relocation] committee and the owners had a copy of all that we are presenting, for transparency purposes,” Thao told The Athletic. “Through the press, we have heard that Manfred has stated there was no proposal. We wanted to dispel that notion. If people were misinformed, we wanted to make sure everybody had all the real-time information of how close we were to a ballpark.”
Thao said Manfred’s comments and other public sentiment chiding Oakland for not having a stadium proposal at hand were false.
She said the relocation proposal could be voted down by owners, and Oakland would be ready to move forward with plans to keep the team. Las Vegas would then likely be in play as an expansion team. Manfred said the league will begin discussing possible expansion from 30 teams to 32.
“In my mind, there’s a scenario where there’s no losers at all, there’s just winners all around, and it’s something we can look to and say we all worked together to actually achieve,” Thao told the Chronicle. “MLB has not moved a team in the last 50 years or so. It was important to me to fly to Seattle and show, look, we have a proposal, let’s take a deeper dive into this.”
Reuters contributed to this report.