A’s brass to make 2nd trip to Las Vegas next week

Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval plan to make a return trip to Las Vegas next week.

The A’s brass will be in Southern Nevada on June 21 and 22 for a more site-specific trip than their first visit last month, a source with knowledge of the plans told the Review-Journal.

In their first trip to the Las Vegas Valley, the A’s group met with officials from the cities of Las Vegas and Henderson, Clark County and various resort groups in what was described by Kaval as a fact-finding visit. Officials showed the team various sites where a potential baseball stadium could be built on that visit.

Next week’s trip will involve looking at specific sites and will include meetings with other officials and groups that team management didn’t get to during its previous trip, the source indicated.

The A’s are looking at where an estimated $1 billion ballpark could work in the valley and how it could be funded. Kaval said in May the team is looking to set up a public-private partnership to build a ballpark.

Major League Baseball officials gave the A’s the OK to explore relocation while their situation in Oakland plays out. The team is awaiting a July 20 vote on a possible $12 billion mixed-use project that would include a waterfront stadium. The team and MLB have deemed the aging RingCentral Coliseum as not being a viable facility for the future of the A’s.

Visits to other possible relocation markets were initially rumored, but as recently as June 4, Kaval said no other trips are planned with the focus being on “parallel paths” in Las Vegas and Oakland.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.