It’s the All-Star break, so MLB commissioner must be saying things, likely about teams getting new stadiums. Look, there he goes now:
Major League Baseball intends to explore potential expansion to 32 teams “pretty soon” after the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics have resolved their stadium situations, commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s All-Star Game. Manfred added that the A’s have started their relocation paperwork, a necessary step in their attempt to move to Las Vegas, Nevada in the coming years.
“Started” their relocation paperwork? What does that mean, exactly?
“They have begun to submit information related to their relocation application,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “It’s not complete at this point.”
That could not be more vague — what has A’s owner John Fisher submitted? the name of the city he wants to relocate to? his social security number? whether he prefers a window or an aisle seat on his flight out of Oakland? — but it’s enough to get headlines reading “Oakland Athletics start the process of applying to MLB for a move to Las Vegas,” so, heckuva job, Robby. Got anything else, maybe on the other team whose stadium “situation” you want to “resolve” before opening up the billionaire bidding for expansion teams?
“It’s complicated. What I would say about the Rays is that they have stayed engaged with governmental entities throughout the bay area. I think that the conversations throughout the region have moved into a more concrete zone in terms of the conversations that are going on. I said I was hopeful that there was going to be real progress there in ’23 and I remain hopeful.”
“Conversations have moved into a more concrete zone in terms of the conversations that are going on.” If there’s one quote that should go down as Manfred’s epitaph, I propose that one, as it truly sums up everything about the man’s facility with the English language.
Back in Las Vegas itself, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority President and CEO Steve Hill said a referendum proposed by the state teachers’ union to roll back the A’s stadium subsidy vote “won’t go anywhere” because “we have a law that allows us to go enter into a contract in order to do that, and that’s what we plan to do.” The union responded with a statement saying that “educators do the impossible every single day.” Both of those are spin, obviously, but it is worth noting that a public ballot to undo a legislatively passed stadium deal would be a first in U.S. history, I believe; if there are any Nevada constitutional lawyers out there who can speak to whether this would be any different from, say, when a similar gambit was tried and failed in St. Louis, please chime in in the comments.
Kamala Harris has taken over Rob Manfred’s body.
That would be a major step down.
Maybe on a different level, but it’s the very first thing I thought of when I heard the
“Word Salad”. Manfred needs to stay in the moment because the moment is, of course, still the moment.
“…a public ballot to undo a legislatively passed stadium deal would be a first in U.S. history, I believe”.
I’m not sure this is what you are looking for, and I’m going mostly off memory here (as this was in the pre-Internet days) but: some years ago, the Austin City Council passed legislation to build a publically subsizided minor-leauge baseball stadium. The Council claimed that they did not need to hold a public vote on the deal, as it was “an emergency”.
My recollection is that there was a petition drive that forced a public vote on the subsidized stadium, and the voters overwhelmingly rejected the stadium subsidy.
Note: this was pre-Round Rock Express, and Round Rock is a separate municipality from Austin.
Ooh, good catch, that would totally qualify. First public ballot to undo a legislatively passed *major-league* stadium, then.
The Athletic had a nice piece this morning about the Oakland Mayor talking to Rob Manfred. The piece had links to the documents that she gave to Manfred. I think that she’s understandably tired of MLB throwing Oakland under the bus, claiming that they didn’t do much to retain the team. Good for her. It’s also good to see Ken Rosenthal stay on this story.
“Conversations have moved into a more concrete zone in terms of the conversations that are going on.” ……..
Did Manfred just drop a clue that the Rays are potentially moving to Portland?!
Concrete….Portland cement….What an obvious clue.
It was hiding in plain sight all along!
No the Rays already have a deal done in St Pete. The money and logistics are done. It’s a lock. Portland. Perhaps an expansion team in the year 2100.
If that’s a joke, I don’t get it. And if it’s serious, I really don’t get it.
If I remember correctly from a past story on what the moving application entails, Fisher has to document how the new location is better for the team economically.
How he’s going to gloss over the fact it’s a much smaller TV market and population base will be some interesting reading…..
The NYC Planning Commission has advanced another 10-year permit for MSG’s current site to the City Council:
https://www.fox5ny.com/news/madison-square-garden-secures-special-permit-sparking-debate-over-penn-stations-future
Found this on a wrestling site which noted it came after a regular episode of a WWE weekly TV event at the Garden, as if that meant something.
That is the most Manfrediest thingy ever. I just wish he had called them ‘governmentital entities’ instead. You know he wanted to.
As word salads go, this one was particularly meaningless.
Go Rob Go.
Seriously, just go.
For what it’s worth, the guy who helped the Marlins with their grift, thinks Oakland is still very much in it.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r60ZtLhuxZc?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent&w=640&h=360]
So the commissioner is fine with the Rays looking at all nearby possibilities but the Giants block the A’s from doing the same? If the commissioner supported a nearby stadium for the A’s then he would of taken away territorial rights from the Giants.
I’m not sure the commissioner has the power to do that unilaterally.
“But He is The Picard – nothing is beyond his power”