LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Athletics will play in Northern California for at least the next three seasons, but will also represent their future home in Las Vegas and brought four of their star players to drive home that point.
The team announced a three-year agreement Friday with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority as its official travel partner. Players will wear a patch with Las Vegas' official logo on their left sleeves beginning in the regular season.
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The Athletics logo is displayed on The Sphere, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
The Athletics logo is displayed on The Sphere, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Athletics players, from left, Lawrence Butler, Shea Langeliers, Mason Miller and Brent Rooker pose for a photo as their team's logo is displayed on The Sphere during a press conference, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort//Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Athletics player Brent Rooker points to a Las Vegas logo on his jersey during a press conference, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
“Every time one of our players gets up to bat now, you're going to see right in that camera shot ‘Las Vegas,’” A's owner John Fisher said. “For us, that's our future. Everybody, I think, is going to look at that and say, ‘We can't wait.”
After leaving Oakland at the end of the 2024 season. the A’s will play at least three seasons at a Triple-A ballpark in West Sacramento, California. They hope their Las Vegas stadium will open for the 2028 season.
Fisher said the agreement with the LVCVA will be more than just a sponsorship agreement. He said there will be other events before the move that will “remind everybody on a continual basis that Las Vegas is our home and we will be here shortly.”
The A's, who will play the Arizona Diamondbacks in spring training games Saturday and Sunday at the home of their Triple-A affiliate at Las Vegas Ballpark, brought a quartet of players to the announcement to show off the new patches.
That included outfielder Lawrence Butler, who just the day before agreed to a $65.5 million, seven-year contract. Also present was designated hitter Brent Rooker, who in January came to terms with a $60 million, five-year deal.
“I think for the first time we were able to sign some of our younger stars to longer-term contracts with the idea we want them to be on our team when we move to this incredible home,” Fisher said.
Two other key players also attended — catcher Shea Langeliers and right-hander Mason Miller. Langeliers hit 29 home runs and drove in 80 runs last season and Miller recorded 28 saves with a 2.49 ERA.
Players also attended Friday night's NHL game between the Vegas Golden Knights and Pittsburgh Penguins.
This came a day after the A's revealed updated renderings of the new stadium, which is scheduled to undergo a groundbreaking this spring provided the remaining legal agreements are finalized.
“As athletes, our focus is always on the present and putting together as good of a team as we can for the 2025 season,” Rooker said. “But at the same time, seeing all those renderings and all of this come together, knowing what our future looks like both on the field and where it's going to take place is super cool.”
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The Athletics logo is displayed on The Sphere, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
The Athletics logo is displayed on The Sphere, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Athletics players, from left, Lawrence Butler, Shea Langeliers, Mason Miller and Brent Rooker pose for a photo as their team's logo is displayed on The Sphere during a press conference, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort//Las Vegas Sun via AP)
Athletics player Brent Rooker points to a Las Vegas logo on his jersey during a press conference, Friday, March 7, 2025, in Las Vegas. (Wade Vandervort/Las Vegas Sun via AP)
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The jury trial for Nathan Chasing Horse, the former “Dances with Wolves” actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls, is expected to begin Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Prosecutors allege he used his reputation as a spiritual leader and healer to take advantage of his victims over two decades. Chasing Horse has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges, including sexual assault, sexual assault with a minor, first degree kidnapping of a minor and the use of a minor in producing pornography.
The case sent shock waves across Indian Country when he was arrested and indicted in early 2023. After many setbacks and delays, the case finally proceeded to trial after prosecutors added allegations that Chasing Horse filmed himself sexually abusing a girl younger than 14.
Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse proclaimed himself to be a Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies.
Prosecutors say Chasing Horse led a cult called The Circle, and his followers believed he could speak with spirits. His victims went to him for medical help, according to a court transcript from a grand jury hearing.
One victim was 14 years old when she approached him, hoping he would heal her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. Chasing Horse previously had treated the victim’s breathing issues and her mother’s spider bite, according to a court transcript. He allegedly told her the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity in exchange for her mother’s health. He allegedly sexually abused her and said her mother would die if she told anyone, according to the victim’s testimony to the grand jury.
The original indictment was dismissed in 2024 after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled prosecutors abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence without any expert testimony.
The high court, specifying that the dismissal had nothing to do with Chasing Horse's innocence or guilt, left open the possibility of charges being refiled. In October 2024, the charges were refiled with the new allegations that he recorded himself sexually abusing one of his accusers.
Prosecutors have said the recordings, made in 2010 or 2011, were found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.
Jury selection will begin Tuesday and is expected to take multiple days. The trial could last four weeks, and prosecutors plan to call 18 witnesses. A week before the trial, Chasing Horse attempted to fire his private defense attorney, saying his lawyer hadn't come to visit him. Judge Jessica Peterson removed Chasing Horse from the courtroom when he tried to interrupt her, and she denied his request.
The case is a reminder that violence also occurs within Native communities and is not just something committed by outsiders, said Crystal Lee, CEO and founder of the organization United Natives, which offers services to victims of sexual abuse.
Chasing Horse’s trial requires hard conversations about Native perpetrators, she said.
“How do we hold them accountable?” she said. “How do we start these tough conversations?”
Judge Jessica Peterson presides of the trial of Nathan Chasing Horse on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nathan Chasing Horse, right, sitting next to attorney Craig Mueller, holds a shoe as he appears for his trial on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nathan Chasing Horse appears for his trial on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nathan Chasing Horse appears before judge Jessica Peterson for his trial on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
Nathan Chasing Horse, right, talks to his attorney Craig Mueller during his trial on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)
