Elephant Rumblings: Howard Terminal negotiation agreement expires

Happy Friday, Athletics Nation!

“Rooted in Oakland?” More like, “Eloping to Las Vegas,” it seems.

In April, with little to say about their Bay Area roots, the Oakland Athletics entered into a land purchase agreement on 49 acres in Las Vegas that could potentially be the site for the team’s new stadium. Feeling sucker punched, the City of Oakland’s leadership immediately pulled out of negotiations to clear the way for Plan A, a $1.2 billion waterfront ballpark development project at Howard Terminal.

Hopes of those negotiations restarting seem dimmer than ever now, as the exclusive negotiating agreement between the A’s and the port of Oakland for Howard Terminal expired at midnight last night. Sarah Ravani at the San Francisco Chronicle reported on the impending expiration yesterday.

Port commissioners met yesterday and announced they planned no further action on the agreement, while the A’s remained silent on the matter. It seems the team has essentially ghosted the city they have called home for over 50 years.

Since A’s president Dave Kaval announced the Vegas purchase agreement last month, much has been made of the apparent lack of a solid plan to complete the development, most notably due to a lack of public commitment to help fund the project’s estimated cost of $1.5 billion.

But the A’s have since developed potential alternatives, and all of them are in Las Vegas. You may hope for a reversal of this situation—the most promising scenario being that A’s owner John Fisher could be forced to sell due to his mismanagement of the team, which has been broadly condemned by baseball fans, journalists, and prominent figures alike.

I feel that the writing is on the wall. But I’d love to be wrong.

A’s Coverage:

• Toster: A’s shut out in 5th straight loss
• Willis: Athletics add Luis Medina, Zach Neal to active roster, option Rico Garcia
• Ashford: A’s will reportedly call up Zach Neal to start Thursday
• Ravani: A’s Howard Terminal stadium plan in question as Oakland port agreement set to expire ($)
• Kawahara: Bruce Bochy returns to Bay Area to face A’s with first-place Rangers ($)
• Shultz: Oakland A’s still comparing different Las Vegas ballpark sites, nothing is ‘off the table’

MLB News & Interest:

• McDonald: The Dodgers’ Youth Movement Is Showing Positive Results
• Feinsand: Which teams might be sellers at Trade Deadline?
• McDonald and Franco: AL Notes: Moncada, Lewis, Glasnow
• Adams: The Rangers’ Quietly Excellent Catcher
• Adams: Matt Chapman Is Mashing His Way To A Massive Payday
• Chen: Eovaldi pushes scoreless streak to 28 2/3 innings
• Adams: Tyler Mahle To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
• Today in Baseball History

Best of Twitter:

Blue honored upon A’s return to the Coli.

More from Pratt on the A’s growing momentum towards Vegas.

Roster moves.

Manfred sang a different tune back then.

Brown update.