A’s Enjoy Taste of Vegas Loyalty as Sold-Out Homestand Silences Skeptics

LAS VEGAS — When a chorus of “Let’s go Brewers” erupted from the stands at Las Vegas Ballpark on Monday night, the visiting fans expected to drown out the home crowd, as they had done so often in Oakland. Instead, something extraordinary happened: The pro-Athletics faithful booed them back into silence.

“The fans booed them,” said A’s outfielder Lawrence Butler, his voice carrying a note of surprise. “We haven’t gotten that in all my big-league years. So that was pretty cool—just to have some fans behind us.”

For a franchise that has spent the last half-decade playing in front of a dwindling, often hostile or indifferent Oakland Coliseum, the sound of genuine home-field advantage was a revelation. And it came during a sold-out six-game homestand in Las Vegas—the first regular-season series the Athletics have played in the city since 1996.

A Glimpse of the Future—in the Desert

The A’s are scheduled to permanently relocate to Las Vegas in 2028, with a state-of-the-art, $2 billion domed stadium rising just off the Strip. But this week, they got a preview of what life on the other side of that move could look like. All six games—three against the Milwaukee Brewers and three against the Colorado Rockies—sold out the 10,000-seat Las Vegas Ballpark, home of their Triple-A affiliate. Actual paid attendance averaged around 8,500 per game, as MLB officials reserved sections for league and team allocations.

“It’s a sports city,” said catcher Shea Langeliers, who spent the 2022 season with the Las Vegas Aviators before being called up to Oakland. “People love their teams here. Obviously, the Golden Knights are doing something special right now … but it seems like it’s an exciting time.”

The homestand overlapped with Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Final, where the Vegas Golden Knights hosted the Carolina Hurricanes. Yet the A’s still drew 8,422 fans that night—a testament to the city’s appetite for big-league baseball.

From Oakland to Sacramento to Sin City

The Athletics’ journey to Las Vegas has been anything but smooth. After decades in Oakland, the franchise played three lame-duck seasons in the Coliseum while awaiting the completion of a new ballpark. When that plan collapsed, the team struck an interim deal to play from 2025 through 2027 at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, a minor-league facility with a capacity of roughly 14,000. That temporary home, while functional, has not exactly fostered a vibrant home atmosphere.

“Between the latter years in Oakland and the current ones in Sacramento, the A’s have had to make do with a less-than-ideal situation,” the original AP report noted. “Thus the sounds of fans cheering for opposing teams is not foreign to Athletics players.”

In that context, the Las Vegas homestand was more than a marketing exercise—it was a psychological reset. Players saw a future where they are the home team, not the visitors in their own ballpark.

Building Bonds Beyond the Diamond

The homestand wasn’t just about baseball. Players, alumni, and front-office executives fanned out across the city for community events: youth baseball clinics, hospital visits, and meet-and-greets. Nick Kurtz, last season’s unanimous American League Rookie of the Year, called the outreach “really important for us and cool to do.”

“We’ve played a couple of spring training games here,” Kurtz said. “I feel like we’ve kind of built that fan base already, so we give them a firsthand view of what we are.”

The A’s also gave players a private tour of the construction site for their future home. Manager Mark Kotsay described the experience as eye-opening.

“You can actually see the foundations of the locker room, amenities, the things that they're going to be privileged to have in the spaces that were created for them,” Kotsay said. “I think there was a lot of talk among players about anticipating getting there.”

A Scorching Welcome—and a Competitor for Attention

If there was any doubt about Las Vegas’s commitment to its soon-to-be MLB team, the weather tested it. Temperatures during the homestand hovered around—or topped—100 degrees, making these the hottest home games in franchise history. Yet fans packed the stands, many braving the desert sun without complaint.

The competition for entertainment dollars in Las Vegas is fierce. The Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup run coincided with the A’s homestand, and many fans driving to T-Mobile Arena passed the construction site of the A’s future ballpark. That proximity, said Langeliers, only strengthens the city’s sports identity.

“It doesn’t feel like that long ago, but 2022 has been a handful of years now,” he added. “I just remember having a lot of fun here. The group of guys that was here, the coaching staff, just the fans, the atmosphere was really cool.”

What This Means for MLB in Las Vegas

The Athletics’ sold-out homestand is more than a feel-good story—it’s a proof of concept. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred has long championed a Las Vegas franchise, and the A’s imminent arrival has been met with both optimism and skepticism. Questions about a 33,000-seat stadium being too small for a major market have been raised, but the enthusiastic turnout suggests a hungry fan base willing to embrace the team.

For the players, the shift in atmosphere is palpable. No longer do they have to endure “Let’s go [Opponent]” chants as the default soundtrack. Instead, they heard a roar of their own—one that could become the new normal when the domed stadium opens its doors in 2028.

The next step is maintaining that momentum through the Sacramento years, ensuring that the bond forged in the desert survives the interim. If this week was any indication, the Athletics’ future in Las Vegas is not just promising—it’s already sold-out.

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