LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Major League Baseball season is over, but that didn't stop the Oakland A's from securing a win Monday.
The catch — the victory came in a Carson City courtroom, not on a baseball diamond.
District Court Judge James Todd Russell ruled in favor of a coalition — which includes the A's — that a petition to call for a referendum on the use of public money for a planned new ballpark on the Strip.
The coalition is going up against a political action committee called Schools Over Stadiums, which is calling for the referendum.
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Stadium supporters have long argued the point is moot because of the passage of Senate Bill 1 in Nevada. That's the bill that passed this year and allows for close to $400 million of public to be put toward a planned new $1.5 billion stadium.
The new ballpark — the A's want to open it for the 2028 baseball season — would go on the current site of the Tropicana Las Vegas resort at the corner of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard.
In a seven-page decision, Russell said the petition for the referendum is "legally deficient," saying the Schools over Stadiums group would need to better "explain" the measure to Nevada voters.
Alexander Marks, a spokesman for the group, tells Channel 13 the ruling is only a temporary setback.
"The decision was disappointing, but not uncommon," Marks says. "I like to say that educators overcome obstacles every day, especially in a state that's 48th in the nation in education funding."
The Schools Over StadiumsPAC was born out of the Nevada State Education Association, which has long lobbied for more spending on education in the state.
The group thinks taxpayer dollars could be better spent on students and schools, not stadiums for pro athletes and billionaire owners.
The A's — owned by billionaire John Fisher — want to leave Oakland and the team's aging ballpark there.
In a statement given to Channel 13, Bradley Schrager, a lawyer for the coalition that includes the A's, said "Nevada voters have the right to expect ballot measures to be conducted lawfully."
He said the measure put forth by Schools over Stadiums failed to meet that standard.
It's possible that the matter could eventually go to the Nevada Supreme Court.
MLB owners are slated to meet in Dallas later this month, where they are expected to vote on whether to allow the A's to move to Nevada, though it's widely expected they will green light the relocation.
The Schools over Stadiums petition and the owners' vote are two of the last remaining hurdles for the A's in their quest to move to Las Vegas.
Since the stadium wouldn't be ready until 2028, however, the team would need to find a place to play on a temporary basis after the 2024 season, which is when the team's lease at its current stadium in Oakland is set to expire.
During a Las Vegas Stadium Authority Board meeting last month, board chairman Steve Hill, who is also the president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said he's aware of the effort to push the possible referendum forward.
Still, Hill, one of the leading proponents for bringing the A's here, says there's a lot of excitement in Las Vegas about the possibility of the city getting Major League Baseball.
"We're excited Major League Baseball seems very interested in having the A's here in Las Vegas," Hill said.
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