By Larry Hicks | Special to The OBSERVER
What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas – but will the former Oakland A’s?
After 57 years, the team moved out of the Bay Area and set up shop in West Sacramento to play for the next three years before moving to “Sin City” and into a modern stadium.
But not so fast, friends.
A sports broadcaster and entertainment entrepreneur with strong ties to both Sacramento and Las Vegas says the A’s are anything but a sure bet to succeed in the Nevada desert.
“The Las Vegas community is lukewarm about the A’s relocating here,” says TC Martin, popular host of a daily radio show in Vegas and the radio play-by-play announcer for the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. “With the plethora of sports teams that we now have including the Raiders [NFL], Golden Knights [NHL] and Aces, there is a concern of saturation in the market.”
Las Vegas is also the home of the A’s triple-A team, the Aviators, and attendance has been sparse for those games throughout the years, Martin says.
The new Vegas stadium is being built on the old site of the iconic Tropicana Hotel, which intrigues some local fans. However, the city was divided on the tearing down of the Tropicana and building a 33,000-seat stadium at the busiest intersection on the Las Vegas Strip, Martin says.
Since announcing its plans to relocate a year ago, A’s ownership and management have expressed enthusiasm for the team’s layover in West Sacramento and its final destination in Vegas in 2028.
“We’re excited to be here for the next three years,” said team owner John Fisher during a press event at Sutter Health Park a year ago. “We’re looking forward to this being our home until we move on to the new stadium in Las Vegas in 2028.”
The A’s are showing love for both the Sacramento region and Vegas by wearing separate patches on the team jersey carrying their names. The Sacramento patch includes a stitched image of the Tower Bridge.
Still there is nagging skepticism – including whether ground has been broken at the old casino site – in some quarters that the team will ever play permanently in Vegas.
Even during the heyday of the early 1970s (three consecutive World Series titles) and late 1980s (one title and three consecutive pennants), the A’s didn’t regularly draw big crowds to the Oakland Coliseum despite a sports market that stretched from the Bay Bridge to the Sacramento valley.
The team averaged 6,243 fans per game in 2024 and 10,275 in 2023. The A’s have finished above .500 just three times in the past 10 seasons and haven’t had a winning record the past three years.
“With the lack of success the A’s have had, not many people are excited about the team coming here,” Martin says.
Martin was born and raised in Sacramento, and in addition to promoting concerts and other entertainment events, he coached high school basketball, baseball, and softball. He attended Folsom High School, Cosumnes River College, and Sacramento State. He formerly worked for Sacramento sports talk radio station KHTK 1140.
Martin is also the founder and executive director of the Sacramento Sports Hall of Fame, which celebrates the area’s greatest athletes. The annual event is “one of the most prestigious nights and celebrations in the city,” Martin boasts on the website for his “The TC Martin Show.” Though he now resides in Vegas, Martin is rooting for his hometown to become a Major League Baseball city.
“As a native Sacramentan, I would love to see the A’s be able to stay permanently in Sacramento. With our rich tradition of major leaguers, with a built-in fan base already, Sacramento is a logical choice and deserves an MLB team.”