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The Oakland Athletics plan to move to Las Vegas in 2028. The Latino Media Network owns three radio stations in Las Vegas. One of those stations will add Spanish-language broadcasts of a Major League Baseball team this season.
The A’s? Guess again.
It’s the Dodgers, the favorite team in Las Vegas.
The network is expected to announce an agreement Tuesday under which the Dodgers’ Spanish broadcasts will remain on KTNQ (AM 1020) in Los Angeles and also be aired on LMN stations in Las Vegas and Fresno.
“We’re really excited to take Dodgers baseball to Latino fans in those new markets,” LMN founder Stephanie Valencia said.
“Baseball is the original Latino sport in so many ways, and the Dodgers are the original Latino team.”
The broadcasters remain Pepe Yniguez, Jose Mota and Fernando Valenzuela.
The Dodgers owe much of their popularity among local Latinos to Valenzuela, whose uniform number they retired last year, and whose “Fernandomania” phenomenon boosted the team’s fan base to nearly half-Latino.
That embrace remains strong, even 34 years after Valenzuela threw his final pitch for the Dodgers.
Among Latinos, the Dodgers are followed by 43% of local fans, ahead of the Lakers (27%), and Angels and Rams (25% each), according to a Scarborough Research study last year. The Chargers (17%) were the only other local pro team even half as popular as the Angels and Rams.
Valencia said LMN would consider airing the A’s on one of its stations in Las Vegas, if and when the A’s get there.
“The ink is not yet signed on the Vegas team,” she said. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
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