SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Jan. 27, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — New billboards along the Wasatch Front have a message for the Oakland Athletics: Utah wants the A’s.
The billboards are part of Big League Utah‘s efforts to bring a Major League Baseball team to Utah.
“The Larry H. Miller Company is excited at the opportunity to potentially host the A’s while their Las Vegas stadium is built,” the company said on social media Friday with a photo of one of the billboards. “We are MLB ready!”
Big League Utah ultimately wants an MLB expansion team and has selected the 100-acre Rocky Mountain Power site near the Utah State Fairpark on Salt Lake City’s west side as the preferred location for a new ballpark.
The A’s are headed to Las Vegas when their stadium is complete in 2028, and they’re in the final year of their lease at the Oakland Coliseum.
A’s executives visited Salt Lake City last week and met with Big League Utah, the group led by Gail Miller, co-founder and owner of the Larry H. Miller Co.
The A’s are interested in potentially playing at the new stadium and future home of the Triple-A Salt Lake Bees in South Jordan’s Daybreak community when it opens in 2025.
Big League Utah sees hosting the A’s as an opportunity to prove the Salt Lake City market is ready for MLB.
Salt Lake City is among the potential temporary homes A’s executives visited last week. Other ballparks reportedly under consideration include:
- Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, home of Triple-A Sacramento River Cats
- Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators
- Oracle Park, home of the San Francisco Giants
- Greater Nevada Field, home of the Triple-A Reno Aces
If the A’s decide to make Utah their temporary home, the Bees likely would remain at Smith’s Ballpark until Oakland moves into its $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat Las Vegas ballpark in 2028.
Any temporary move would need to be approved by MLB and the MLB Players Association.
