A’s approved to move to Vegas
Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously Thursday to allow the Oakland Athletics to move to the Las Vegas Strip.
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1. A’s approved to move to Vegas
Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously Thursday to allow the Oakland Athletics to move to the Las Vegas Strip, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Steve Carp.
Philadelphia. Kansas City. Oakland. And now, Las Vegas.
Thursday, Major League Baseball gave the Athletics the green light to relocate from the East Bay to the Vegas Strip for the 2028 season. It may be even sooner if the A’s can find a suitable place to play while their $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat ballpark at the Tropicana Hotel site gets built.
The vote at the owners’ meeting in Arlington, Texas was unanimous, 30-0, thanks to commissioner Rob Manfred’s support for the move. This despite relocating to a smaller media market (40th compared to the Bay Area’s 10th according to Sports Business Journal) and a smaller population base (2.3 million in Clark County compared to 7.54 million in the greater Bay Area) and still no definitive plan for how the ballpark will look.
A’s owner John Fisher won’t have to pay a hefty relocation fee to abandon Oakland. The state of Nevada is giving him $380 million toward construction of the stadium on the Strip.
2. F1 will be more boondoggle than boon for Vegas
The much-anticipated arrival of the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix comes amid frustration over the inconveniences it created, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Steve Carp.
They’ve arrived.
The fast cars. The big-name drivers and race teams. The fans. Well, at least some of them.
Like it or not, for better or worse, the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is here. And for us residents, it’s going to mean a few days of inconveniences when it comes to getting around town while the fireworks go off and the race curs purr around a 3.8-mile layout that goes right down the famed Strip.
It’s a big event. No doubt about it. But will it be the financial gold mine everyone believed it would when it was agreed a couple of years ago to bring F1 back to Las Vegas for the first time since 1982? I had my doubts about this event from the outset and that the upheaval it has created in the community is not worth the hundreds of millions that have been spent to prepare the streets of Las Vegas for it.
3. Shohei Ohtani unanimously voted 2023 AL MVP
Shohei Ohtani was unanimously voted the American League MVP for the second time in three seasons, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Anthony Bautista.
For the first time in MLB history, Shohei Ohtani has been unanimously voted the Most Valuable Player of the American League, twice.
Ohtani, 29, earned his second MVP award since 2021 after attaining all 30 votes from the BBWAA voters. He also becomes the third foreign-born player to win the award multiple times joining Albert Pujols and Miguel Cabrera.
Ohtani received 30 first place votes followed by the Texas Rangers middle infield duo of Corey Seager and Marcus Semien finished second and third in succession, with 24 second-place votes and five second-place votes, respectively.
4. Kings win at home, defeating the Panthers, 2-1
The Kings won their second home game of the 2023-24 season by beating Florida, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Kamran Nia.
The Los Angeles Kings struggled at home entering their game against the Florida Panthers. They were 1-3-3 at home while being a perfect 7-0-0 on the road. Such a poor home record was likely bound to improve, and it did on Thursday. All it took was a short break.
Before Thursday, the Kings were most recently in action on Saturday, losing to the Philadelphia Flyers for their second straight home loss. However, after the game, they reset with four days without a game. During the time off, they worked on special teams. Jaret Anderson-Dolan also replaced Alex Laferriere in the Kings’ lineup on the third line.
Coming out of the four-day break, the Kings got on the board quickly and never looked back in a 2-1 win over the Panthers. 1:20 into the first period, Phillip Danault found Kevin Fiala, who scored on an odd-man rush, giving the Kings a 1-0 lead.
5. Golden Knights split first two games of road trip
The Golden Knights rebounded from a shutout loss in D.C. on Tuesday with a dramatic 6-5 comeback win in Montreal on Thursday, writes The Sporting Tribune’s Will Despart.
The Golden Knights began their six-game roadie with a shutout loss in Washington D.C. on Tuesday night. If there was one loss the VGK faithful was willing to forgive, it was surely that one. The Knights were probably still hungover on good vibes from their White House visit as Stanley Cup champions the day before.
Still, those are the types of games that turn into trouble in the standings when they start stringing along. And considering the Knights had actually dropped three out of four dating back nearly two weeks, a response was due from this group soon.
If there was ever a way to respond, the Knights did exactly that. Falling behind 2-0 after the first period, they tallied 6 goals in the final two periods to rally for a 6-5 victory in front of a raucous Montreal crowd that consistently sits atop NHL attendance rankings. This one was special for many Quebecois in attendance as well, given the Knights surplus of talent from the Canadian province.
6. Staley to continue calling defense: ‘We believe in the guys that we’re playing’
After 41 points were scored on his defense Brandon Staley will not shake things up, writes The Sporting Tribunes Fernando Ramirez.
There will be no shake-ups for the Chargers’ defense after giving up 41 points in a loss to the Detroit Lions last Sunday.
Head coach Brandon Staley was asked on Wednesday afternoon if he would continue calling the defense.
“Yes,” he answered.
When teams are struggling, sometimes head coaches give up play-calling duties or take them back, as seen in Carolina with Frank Reich taking back the offensive play-calling duties.
7. Odds and Ends presented by Circa Sports
Here are some odds at Circa Sports if you’re thinking about placing a wager today:
8. Ticket Time presented by Golden Gate
Here are the “get in” prices for tickets if you’re thinking about going to a game today:
7:00 p.m. – Panthers at Ducks – $28
9. On the Air presented by The D Las Vegas
Here are the game times and television channels for professional teams in the region today:
7:00 p.m. – Lakers at Blazers – Spectrum SportsNet
7:00 p.m. – Panthers at Ducks – Bally Sports SoCal
10. The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune
Listen to The Arash Markazi Show presented by The Sporting Tribune on The Mightier 1090 ESPN Radio in Southern California, 98.5 The Bet in Las Vegas and the Hawaii Sports Radio Network 95.1 FM and 760 AM in Hawaii. You can also listen to the show on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Stitcher. You can also watch every Friday on BLEAV on FuboTV.
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