I am a PhD student in the English department at Old Dominion University (and a lifelong Athletics fan), and I am conducting research on stadium relocation. The idea from this project came out of being a long time Athletics fan and seeing how diverse the city of Oakland is compared to the city of Las Vegas got me wondering why a team would move. The more I looked into the debate the more I seemed to find about the importance of communities on professional sports. Ultimately, I decided to do my entire dissertation project on the issue.
Specifically, by using the Oakland Athletics’ move to Las Vegas as a case study, this research looks at the way relocation is discussed in professional sports and focuses on connections and disconnections between communities and teams/leagues/ownership. The project has been approved by the Institutional Review Board at Old Dominion University (project #2187870-1). I can provide any approval documentation upon request.