Longshoremen and other union workers at the Port of Oakland are likely to be thrilled at the announcement April 19 that the Oakland Athletics Major League Baseball has agreed to buy land in Las Vegas for a new ballpark, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. 

The move comes after decades of efforts to revitalize the Oakland Coliseum site or find a suitable local alternative. Oakland approved a plan for massive redevelopment in 2015 that would have allowed a replacement for the 1966 Coliseum. The team’s billionaire owner John Fisher planned a ballpark and entertainment center complex that would have included 1.5 million square feet of office space, 3,000 luxury condos, 400 hotel rooms and 270,000 square feet of retail space. But investment didn’t follow, and now the city’s last remaining professional sports team — known as the Oakland A’s — seems set to leave.

“Of the 50 major U.S. ports, not one has a sports stadium in the middle of its bustling work zone,” said the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Local 10, Farless Dailey, in an op-ed in the Chronicle in March 2022. Dailey called the proposal a “scam,” adding, “A stadium can be built almost anywhere, but a port can only be built on tidelands.”

The Chronicle said soaring construction costs have hamstrung attempts to build ambitious Bay Area projects like A’s proposal, particularly since the pandemic weakened demand for offices and housing.