The Oakland A’s relocation to Las Vegas has been approved. Plus: Mark Jackson will not be working Knicks games for MSG, plus the passing of NASCAR voice Ken Squier and longtime AP sports editor Terry Taylor.
MLB votes unanimously to approve A’s relocation to Las Vegas
Major League Baseball owners on Thursday voted unanimously to approve the Oakland A’s relocation to Las Vegas, marking what would be the first relocation in any of the “Big Four” sports leagues since the Raiders left Oakland for Las Vegas in 2020, and the first in Major League Baseball since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington and became the Nationals.
The move is pending a legal challenge to the $1.5 billion stadium Nevada plans to build with at least $380 million in public funds. The state already spent $750 million in public funds on the Raiders’ stadium. Should the stadium project go through, it would not be built until 2027 or 2028.
The A’s have one more year left on their lease at the Oakland Coliseum and it is not clear where the team will play between that point and the opening of a new stadium. If the relocation goes through as planned, the A’s will join the Warriors and Raiders in leaving Oakland. (ESPN.com 11.15)
Mark Jackson Knicks deal falls apart
Former ESPN NBA analyst Mark Jackson will no longer work Knicks game for MSG Network as originally planned after Knicks personnel objected to him traveling on the team plane, the New York Post reported Wednesday. Per the Post, Knicks management opposed letting Jackson travel with the team due to a decade-old conflict stemming from his time as coach of the Golden State Warriors. Jackson reportedly clashed with one of his Warriors assistants who is now holding that same role for the Knicks.
Jackson said on social media Wednesday night that he turned the job down because the conditions and timing were not ideal, which is not necessarily contrary to the Post report — traveling to and from games commercially would certainly qualify as not ideal. (NYP 11.15)
NASCAR voice Ken Squier passes away
Famed NASCAR voice Ken Squier died Thursday at age 88, just days after reports that he was in declining health. An influential figure in motorsports history, Squier served as the voice of NASCAR races on MRN and called sporadic events for ABC before joining CBS in 1973, where he would eventually persuade the network to air the first live, start-to-finish coverage of the Daytona 500 in 1979. Squier called that race — widely regarded as the turning point after which NASCAR took off in popularity — and remained the voice of NASCAR on CBS and TBS through 1997. (NASCAR.com 11.16)
Terry Taylor, first female AP sports editor, dies
Terry Taylor, the first woman to serve as Associated Press sports editor, died Wednesday at 71. She had been battling cancer over the past decade. Taylor joined the AP in 1977 and remained there almost continuously through her 2013 retirement, save for a brief stint with The New York Times from 1990-91. She served as sports editor, overseeing the department, for more than 20 years from 1992-13. (AP via ESPN.com 11.15)
