This morning I woke up before dawn to the cacophony of rumbling diesel engines and banging. When I looked outside a wave of relief – no, catharsis – washed over me because I saw this:
Greetings from the Oyo Hotel and Casino, just east of the A’s ballpark site on the Strip (formerly the Tropicana). I’m in Vegas for a family trip. Some flexibility allowed me to spend Monday night and Tuesday morning at Oyo, previously the Howard Johnson/San Remo/Hooters. If you’re not aware, Oyo is a multi-national hotel brand based in India. When I checked one of the signage displays behind the front desk briefly showed a promo for ballpark construction workers.
Anyway, my plans were to head out to the Athletics Ballpark Experience Center at uncommons in the southwest part of Las Vegas Valley. Unfortunately those plans were foiled by more important matters.
According to MLB.com’s Martin Gallegos, the press conference for the Soderstrom signing will be held at the Ballpark Experience Center, so they literally have bigger fish to fry. At least we’ll get to see video of Sodey in the virtual ballpark. I’ll be back later, when it’s fully open to the public. For now, I’ll settle for progress in the form of working construction crews on December 30, 2025. I spent twenty years on this website waiting seemingly in vain, plus ten more since the Raiders moved back to Oakland and destroyed the Coliseum. I can say with great certainty that I’ve been waiting my entire adult life for this moment as the A’s haven’t had a proper home since they left Shibe Park. I only wish the moment was in Oakland, San Jose, or Fremont instead. Alas.
I’ll spend the rest of the morning here before I meet with the fam at Treasure Island. I observed how fleeting this moment is.
My intent was for this post to be a year-in-review as you typically see after Christmas. Instead I’m going to have breakfast and coffee, enjoy this view and the noise for a few hours, then take the monorail to see my niece and nephew. I’ll do the wrap-up post later. I’ll have plenty of comments about the state of pro sports venue financing, the NBA in Vegas, and the future of pro sports in NorCal. It’ll be a doozy.
newballpark.org 
Bittersweet. Thanks for following it all these years. I knew Oakland wouldn’t work out a year early because of you.
Great stuff! Can’t wait to see a game there
Not sure about the NBA in Vegas. I know that it’s been rumored for awhile and the league seems intent on expanding there when they make their decision next year but I think 4 teams may be a bit much regardless of revenue created through visiting fans. The leagues need to remember the value that sports teams have to their respective communities and not just how much revenue they can create through visitors