So, we are in Las Vegas this weekend, and since we’re still on the media-release email list for the (former Oakland) Athletics, we received info about a Vegas Watch Party for the A’s earlier this week, set for this afternoon at 4pm at a bar in Las Vegas, way off the Strip. We decided we should go, and we did. Contrary to some news reports, the locals here seem pretty excited about the city getting an established MLB team.

On the way there, our Lyft driver (Matthew) wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, especially when it came to sports: he erroneously explained the concept of an expansion draft to us, but we stayed silent. Yet he did pipe in with the fact that a lot of people who were excited about getting the (former Oakland) Raiders here are also thrilled to get a ballpark on the Strip, too, for baseball. He was really clear and lucid about that.

We arrived at the Watch Party promptly on time, and there were not that many people there for the start of the East Coast road game at Yankee Stadium. But as the first hour passed, we were surprised to see so much green-and-gold gear there. Even with the A’s losing 3-0 to their New York hosts, the crowd was active and engaged. Stomper was there, too, taking pictures with everyone and handing out free team tchotchkes.

Leaving after three innings or so, we had a second Lyft driver (Tyler) take us back to our hotel to prepare for our real nighttime plans, and he too extrapolated on how cool it was for the A’s to be coming to town. His perspective was more economic in the sense of bringing even more people to Las Vegas during the spring/summer months, which only helps the locals with spending and tourism income. He’s on board, too.

It seems, again, there is this weird narrative out there that the locals don’t want the A’s here, or that they wanted their own expansion team like they got with the NHL’s Golden Knights. But again, the Raiders have done just fine here; the WNBA’s Aces have done well, too, after coming from San Antonio—and originally Salt Lake City before that. The A’s fit right in here as a vagabond franchise needing a long-term home.

The population here is so transitory itself, especially with the young, according to Matthew. Few people who are born here end up staying; they leave for other states, and the population maintains itself with out-of-state people coming to Sin City. Again, the Aces (2018), the Raiders (2020), and the A’s (2028) fit the profile, and maybe the Golden Knights will end up leaving themselves. The future is so hard to read right now, obvi.

But for now, in this moment, a lot of locals seem quite excited and ready for MLB’s Athletics to come calling.