LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas was buzzing for Major League Baseball on Monday night.
The Athletics kicked off their first-ever Las Vegas Series with a slugfest against the Milwaukee Brewers, a 15-14 loss in 12 innings that marked the first MLB game in Sin City since 1996. The contest was the first of six the team will play at suburban Las Vegas Ballpark, home of its Triple-A affiliate, this week in an effort to introduce the club to the community before its move to a $2 billion-plus stadium on The Strip in 2028.
Las Vegas welcomed the A’s in the only way it could. “Jersey Shore’s” DJ Pauly D and Backstreet Boy Nick Carter threw out ceremonial first pitches. Bruce Buffer announced the home starting lineup, with flames firing from portable torches positioned around the field after he howled each name. And fighter jets flew over as the final note of the national anthem rang. Not the typical environment for early-June baseball, especially for a sub-.500 team in the middling AL West.
The ballpark was sold out, with 8,519 fans in attendance. Many adorned the free A’s jerseys handed out as they entered, each with “Vegas” and “28” sewn across the nameplate and number spot, respectively. But not all rooted for the home team. Cheers for the Brewers’ Jake Bauers after his first-inning RBI single rang loud through the stands and grew louder when Milwaukee catcher William Contreras mashed a three-run home run to take a four-run lead in the 10th inning. Roars for the A’s seven home runs, including two in the bottom of the inning to tie it, overpowered support for the Brewers, but the road team’s fans remained loud and active throughout the night.
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— Athletics (@Athletics) June 9, 2026
Seats and concourses were littered with Brewers gear, as well as jerseys of other MLB franchises. The number of fans not sporting green and gold was representative of the challenge the A’s face as they move to Las Vegas: recruiting new ones and converting others to build an organic fanbase.
Locals Adam Roghbort and Braden Pleggenkuhle were elated to attend Monday night’s game. They thought many of their fellow Las Vegas locals were as well and will be again when the team makes the permanent move.
“People are dying for a baseball team,” Roghbort said. “I think people are just excited to have a Vegas team of anything. It’s representation on the national level.”
Roghbort’s statement tracks. The Vegas Golden Knights, now playing in the Stanley Cup Final, often pack T-Mobile Arena beyond capacity, and the Las Vegas Raiders have increased attendance every year since their move from Oakland in 2020.
However, Pleggenkuhle, raised in the area, donned a navy blue Brewers jersey and cap. Roghbort, a Vegas transplant, joined him at the game supporting the A’s but said he’s a diehard New York Yankees fan. Neither said they’d consider switching teams when the A’s arrive.
“Honestly, I’m just excited to root for the Brewers on The Strip eventually,” Pleggenkuhle said. “Everyone is just excited to kind of complete another sport in this town.”
The two friends didn’t seem alone in their sentiment. Plenty of fans showed up in the gear of the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants, two teams that have built strong local fanbases in the absence of a major league team due to their West Coast proximity and success.
Seattle-area transplant Brian Trock wore a Mariners jersey to the game and said he’ll do so again when his favorite team comes to Las Vegas. But he added that he feels the local passion for the arrival of an MLB team, more so than a potential NBA expansion franchise, despite the success of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces.
“Las Vegas Ballpark is gonna be sold out from here on out,” Trock said. “I’d like to see more than 20-25 games. Even if it’s not the Mariners and I see them once or twice, I’m still going to go to more games than just the Mariners. There’s a lot of people that put money down (on season tickets) and are going to continue to put money down.”
Trock added that, along with local excitement for a team, travelers will flock to the spectacle of seeing their favorite clubs playing in Las Vegas. That’s been true for the Raiders, helping fill a 65,000-seat stadium in one of the NFL’s smallest markets. But it’s also contributed to a lack of homefield advantage despite the franchise having some of the most raucous fans in the sport.
A’s fan and Oakland transplant Michael Woods said local fans have much to learn in creating a home environment. He fondly remembers the drum-pounding and Balfour Rage in Oakland Coliseum’s right field bleachers, and said that Las Vegas couldn’t match that electricity even with the pregame pyrotechnics.
“Las Vegas is getting the whole sports culture together,” Woods said. “They understand, but they just don’t get it completely yet.”
Woods said he’s seen a lot more local fan support recently than when the team began the relocation process in 2023, noting that much of it has been because of the active approach the team has taken lately in Las Vegas. The team’s business departments, located in Las Vegas, have run community engagement programs while the team plays in Sacramento, and the players will participate in several events while in town this week.
The team’s impending departure ruptured fan relationships during the final years in Oakland, and the temporary nature of its stay in California’s capital limits how much impact it will have in the community. But Woods feels the team is starting on the right foot in its new market.
“Being from Oakland, they’re doing a tenfold 180,” Woods said. “They’re getting it right this time. I don’t know what it was that they couldn’t do in Oakland … but they’re trying it again and trying to do it right.”
Woods also felt that having A’s fans, not just baseball fans, in the city might be difficult to start. But he said if the team works to be part of the community like the Golden Knights, who also made the Stanley Cup Final in their first season, a fanbase will naturally grow.
“When the winning comes, they’ll care,” Woods said. “It’s not gonna be hard to win them over as long as they win.”
The A’s, whose tumult in their final years in Oakland was matched by poor performances on the field, now have a young core they’ve committed to contractually, and appear willing to spend in free agency. Whether that leads to wins and, in turn, local fandom, won’t be known until 2028.
