Twenty years and three proposals later, Oakland’s long-lasting battle of finding a new ballpark is over.

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning, President Dave Kaval announced the official termination of any plans to build a new ballpark along the Oakland waterfront and agreement to purchase land for one in Las Vegas. The Athletics’ plan, per Kaval, is to begin construction on the new stadium in early 2024 and complete the move prior to the 2027 season.

The relocation is a long time coming, with controversy surrounding the A’s management team’s willingness to compete - an ongoing issue for many years. Owner John Fisher, as well as both Kaval and GM David Forst, have drawn the ire of Oakland fans on more than one occasion; poor team performance, a lack of willingness to spend, and a broken Coliseum, to name a few.

For the past six years, a potential deal with the city to remain in Oakland loomed. In a response to the announcement, City of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement that “it is clear to me that the A's had no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas.”

Completely accurate or not, Thao’s perspective is shared amongst the majority of Oakland A’s fans. Owner John Fisher has drawn the ire of fans for being too cheap to create a sustainable, winning team - much less fund the redevelopment of new stadium with any large amount of his own money. Though specifics are not yet released, Las Vegas’ new ballpark is estimated to cost roughly 1.5 billion dollars and house 35,000 seats.

Currently, Las Vegas has a ballclub - the Las Vegas Aviators are Oakland’s AAA team and play out of Las Vegas Ballpark, located in Summerlin South just west of central Las Vegas. How, if at all, the Aviators are affected by this move remains to be seen.

Present day, Oakland sits at a league-worst 3-16 and have lost seven in a row. A 2-10 home record has torpedoed an already-small attendance average down even further, with the A’s posting the worst pitching staff in the league. The departures of All-Stars Matt Chapman, Matt Olsen, and Sean Murphy furthered fans’ hatred of Owner John Fisher, with the most notable signing this past offseason being Jesus Aguilar on a one-year deal.

Perhaps known in pop culture as being the ‘Moneyball team’, the once heralded Athletics have but a few years remaining before Oakland loses a third major sports team in the last five years - the Warriors (NBA) and Raiders (NFL) being the other two.

Oakland’s lease on the Coliseum is set to expire at the end of 2024.