Sports
Column: Why the A's 30-year commitment to Nevada has a 'Get Out of Vegas Free' card
The pitch to the Nevada legislature was simple: If you provide the Oakland Athletics with $380 million in public funding toward a new ballpark, the A’s will agree to move to Las Vegas and stay there for at least 30 years.
The A’s got the funding. However, the agreement intended to bind the A’s to Las Vegas provides the team with an unusual escape clause: If ever a tax is aimed at the A’s, the team can leave town without penalty.
“That is not a normal clause in these things,” said Martin J. Greenberg, the founder of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University Law School and an expert in so-called non-relocation agreements in Major League Baseball.
“The whole object of this is to keep the team at home.”
This is not on the A’s. The Las Vegas Stadium Authority approved such a provision in luring the Raiders and presented virtually identical contract language to the A’s.
“It is a targeted tax clause that says if they are taxed in a way that is different than the way other businesses are taxed, they have the option to leave,” said Erica Johnson, director of communications for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
This is not some remote hypothetical. If you go to a show in Las Vegas, you pay a 9% live entertainment tax. If you go to a game in Las Vegas — and the game is staged by a pro team based in Nevada — you do not pay that tax.
In 2021, an effort to remove that professional sports exemption was rejected. During legislative hearings on the A’s funding last summer, a state senator asked A’s President Dave Kaval whether the team would be willing to pay the tax, given that smaller Nevada businesses do. The Raiders and NHL Golden Knights do not.
Kaval dodged a yes or no answer, saying only that the legislation did not contemplate that. In the future, should a specific tax target the A’s, their players or opposing players, the A’s can move out of town.
The A’s propose a 33,000-seat ballpark in Las Vegas. If the A’s sell 26,000 tickets per game at last season’s average major league ticket price of $37, a 9% tax could generate $7 million for Nevada per year.
In a presentation led by Steve Hill — chairman of the stadium authority and president of the visitors authority — the Nevada legislature was told the A’s could generate an estimated $1.3 billion per year in economic impact. (Most economists consider this estimate wildly optimistic.)
I asked Johnson why the A’s would be provided with an opt-out clause that could jeopardize that economic impact. She did not comment. Hill was unavailable for comment.
“These non-relocation agreements are what I call political cover,” Greenberg said. “They basically are, at least from a politician’s standpoint, the quid pro quo for the gigantic amount of public dollars that are going into these stadiums.
“Basically, the politician can say, ‘Look, we’re investing all this money because the team is going to stay here, based upon a non-relocation agreement.’ ”
In 2022, the Anaheim City Council considered such a targeted tax — a 2% admission tax that would have applied only to Disneyland, Angel Stadium and the Honda Center, where the NHL Ducks play. The council ultimately voted against the tax, in part because the Angels’ lease requires the city to credit the amount generated by any such targeted tax at Angel Stadium against the team’s rental payments.
The leases of the Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners restrict the ability of the respective stadium authorities to impose any targeted taxes. The Miami Marlins’ lease restricts the city or county from imposing a targeted tax and empowers the team to sue if it believes a tax violates the agreement.
David Samson, the former Marlins president who negotiated that lease, said it is impossible to protect against any targeted tax that might be imposed at any level of government at any point in the future. What a lease can do, he said, is say what can happen in the event such a tax is imposed.
“Can be anything,” Samson said, “a rent abatement, some sort of extra flow of funds from general revenue, or it can be as far as, hey, this non-relocation agreement becomes null and void.”
I asked Johnson if any alternative language had been considered besides granting the A’s the ability to move. She did not comment.
For the record, neither Greenberg nor Samson believes Las Vegas would be at high risk of losing the A’s if a targeted tax were to be imposed. For one, although the A’s would have the option to relocate, they could choose not to do so, or negotiate a lease concession in exchange for not doing so.
If the team did wish to move, it would have to find a new home, secure funding for a new ballpark there, and win a vote among MLB owners — and the saga that led to Las Vegas took two decades for the A’s. Their move to Las Vegas would be only the second MLB relocation since 1972.
“It’s not easy, as we’ve seen, to move a team,” Samson said.
It’s also not easy to build a fan base in a new city. It might be a little bit easier if the “We’re here for 30 years!” pledge were not accompanied by an asterisk.
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The Kentucky Wildcats basketball team may still make the NCAA Tournament, but Dick Vitale thinks this iconic program should be much better than their 19-12 record this season considering their whopping $22 million roster.
The legendary ESPN college basketball analyst didn’t hold back his feelings about the Wildcats as they played Florida during Saturday’s prime SEC matchup. After the Gators hit some free throws to extend their first-half lead to 26-19, Vitale started to lay into the Wildcats.
Head coach Mark Pope of the Kentucky Wildcats in a game between the Florida Gators and the Kentucky Wildcats on March 7, 2026, at Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY. (Jeff Moreland/Icon Sportswire)
“I’m going to say this right here, I’ve done several Kentucky games, win or lose, $22 million this team [which has been reported] in terms of the NIL for their players,” he said, per Awful Announcing. “I think in $22 million, they could have put together a better roster than they did. I really do.”
The Wildcats ended up losing by a score of 84-77, and Vitale continued about Kentucky near the end of their 12th loss of the season.
“I’ll tell you one thing, you don’t want to walk out of here thinking you got a moral victory,” Vitale said, referencing a hard-fought game against the No. 5-ranked Florida team. “Moral victories don’t count at this level of basketball. And you hear some of the people, ‘We played them close. We played them tough.’
“The bottom line is you’re Kentucky. You’re Kentucky. And you’ve got to leave here with a win, especially at home. There are no moral victories. Come on. I don’t want to hear that.”
Collin Chandler and Jasper Johnson of the Kentucky Wildcats celebrate in the first half against the Ole Miss Rebels at Rupp Arena on Jan. 24, 2026 in Lexington, Kentucky. (Dylan Buell/Getty Images)
The Wildcats were once the top program in the country under former Coach John Calipari, who left for Arkansas after being unable to make a long March Madness run in recent seasons, including a shocking first round upset to the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the 2024 NCAA Tournament.
The Wildcats have been coached by Mark Pope since, and they made the Sweet 16 in last year’s tournament before losing to Tennessee.
Kentucky Jasper Johnson in action vs Michigan State at Madison Square Garden in New York, NY on Nov. 18, 2025. (Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated )
But this year, Kentucky is 10-8 in SEC play, and now face the No. 9 seed in the upcoming tournament this week. The winner of each conference earns a tournament berth, but the Wildcats know good seeding in the NCAA Tournament requires a strong run heading into Selection Sunday this upcoming weekend.
The Wildcats will start their SEC Tournament play on Wednesday against No. 16 LSU.
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The Chargers bolstered their efforts to protect quarterback Justin Herbert all while diversifying their offense by agreeing to a multiyear deal with veteran fullback Alec Ingold on Sunday, the team announced.
Ingold’s deal with the Chargers reportedly is for two years and $7.5 million.
Ingold will be no stranger to the Chargers’ plans on offense. He played the past four seasons in Miami under coach Mike McDaniel, the Chargers’ new offensive coordinator. Last year he caught eight passes for 52 yards and ran the ball twice in 17 games.
Ingold caught 47 passes for 372 yards and rushed for 34 yards in 20 carries in four seasons with the Dolphins. He also had two rushing touchdowns and a receiving touchdown.
Before his time in Miami, Ingold played three seasons with the Raiders.
The deal comes two days after the Chargers signed veteran center Tyler Biadasz to take over for the retiring Bradley Bozeman. They agreed to terms on a one-year deal with edge rusher Khalil Mack on Saturday.
With the free agency negotiation period set to begin Monday at 9 a.m. PDT, the Chargers remain in strong position to be significant players in the free-agent market. They rank among the top-five teams in salary cap space, per Overthecap.com.
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Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and his fiancée, Sarah Jane Ramos, reportedly broke up with their wedding around the corner.
Prescott and Ramos’ relationship had been “rocky” in the weeks leading up to the breakup and things exploded between the two at their joint bachelor and bachelorette parties, TMZ Sports reported on Saturday.
Dak Prescott and Sarah Jane Ramos attend the Farrah Fawcett Foundation Tex-Mex Fiesta on Oct. 30, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. (Omar Vega/Getty Images for Farrah Fawcett Foundation)
Ramos shared pictures of her trip with her friends on Instagram on Friday.
“I truly believe you can get through anything in life as long as you have really great friends. I love these girls so much,” Ramos captioned the collage of snaps.
Prescott was not pictured in any of the 16 photos and videos posted to her social media account.
Sarah Jane Ramos and Dak Prescott pose for a photo before Dak Prescott’s Faith Fight Finish Foundation Gala on May 17, 2024 in Dallas, Texas. (Richard Rodriguez/Getty Images for Faith Fight Finish Foundation)
Ramos also posted photos of her bridal shower back on Feb. 23. There were no photos of Prescott in the carousel either.
“The most intimate and beautiful bridal shower of my dreams,” she added on Instagram. “So grateful for my aunts who hosted it and my girlfriends and family that came to celebrate. I love you all so much and can’t wait to marry the love of my life with all of you by my side.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Prescott’s representative for comment.
Prescott posted a series of photos on his Instagram of Ramos and his family on July 20, 2025. There’s only a September advertisement posted on his account since.
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott and Sarah Jane Ramos pose on the NFL Honors Red Carpet before Super Bowl LX at Palace of Fine Arts on Feb. 5, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
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The NFL star and Ramos announced they were engaged on Oct. 18, 2024. The couple have two children together.
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