The Athletics’ move to Las Vegas isn’t official but there’s little doubt at this point that it will eventually come to fruition. One complicating detail is where the club will play from 2025 to 2027, since their lease at the Oakland Coliseum expires after 2024 and their new Vegas ballpark isn’t expected to be ready until 2028. In a recent conversation with Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, club president Dave Kaval mentioned that splitting Oracle Park with the Giants is one option, a possibility that John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle explored at greater length.
At this point, it’s not clear if such a plan is likely or even realistic, but it’s noteworthy that it is a path being considered. Some of the other options include staying in the Coliseum or playing out of Las Vegas Ballpark in the Summerlin South region of Las Vegas, the home of the Las Vegas Aviators, the Triple-A affiliate of the A’s.
“It really comes down to the league and the (players) union and their decision to what makes the most sense,” Kaval said to Akers. “We’re kind of deferring to them on that. We’re providing all the necessary information that they need. But in the end, we’re going to take direction from the league in the interim.”
Despite that deflection, there are reasons why the A’s might want to play their home games in San Francisco for a few years. As Shea points out, the A’s would continue to receive payouts from their regional sports network contract as long as they remain in the Bay Area. Their 25-year deal with NBC Sports California runs through 2033 and has an annual value close to $60MM. Moving the club out of the region, such as to the Aviators’ home ballpark, would mean leaving that money on the table.
Whether the Giants would be open to such an arrangement is another matter. Shea’s report indicates that the club wouldn’t be willing to have the A’s play more than 30-40 of their 81 home games at the facility, since taking on more than that would interfere with bookings for concerts, meetings, receptions and other activities when the Giants are on the road. There’s also the complication of adding a third clubhouse, as Shea reports the baseball operations staff wouldn’t want to constantly swap out all of the Giants’ gear for Athletics’ gear in the home clubhouse. But those complications aside, it would be a chance for the Giants to generate some extra revenue for a few years by charging the A’s rent. Shea adds that the Giants likely wouldn’t be keen on having Athletics’ tickets be cheaper than Giants’ games and thus undercut themselves on the market, meaning the pricing would have to be similar.
But the other options also have drawbacks. Staying in the Coliseum is complicated by the fact that the relationship between the A’s and Oakland has clearly become frosty in the wake of recent events. Moving to the Triple-A ballpark in Nevada also has complications, beyond losing the TV money. The ballpark has a capacity of just 10,000, limiting gate revenues, and doesn’t have a roof to help deal with the extreme heat of the summer.
Shea floats the possibility of playing in Summerlin to start the season before moving to San Francisco for the warmer months. That would allow them to tick all the boxes of sticking in the Bay Area and collecting the TV money, avoiding the peak Nevada heat and allowing the Giants to still rent out the venue for non-baseball events. However, that solution seems speculative and there’s nothing to indicate that’s a feasible option at the moment.
Earlier this week, owner John Fisher told Akers that the club has officially filed for relocation with MLB. They need 75% of ownership groups to sign off on the move, a vote that has not yet been scheduled, but it’s largely seen as a rubber stamp at this point. The club’s interim home is a significant unknown in the process, with the temporary relocation to San Francisco an intriguing possibility.
I don’t think it’s a problem for the A’s to play in a 10,000 seat stadium. They have run off their fan base and that’s enough seats to accommodate the opposing fans and high rollers who’ve been comped a ticket.
They drew 4K the other night
So um interleague play between the two. How would that work? They probably just wouldn’t schedule it but still. Thoughts?
Bill DeWitt got people in Kansas city Missouri to pay for Busch Stadium III bought the team for like 150 million now it’s worth 2.5 billion…. What a CON man! How come California won’t pay for Oakland to have a dope stadium? Like yo those are hard core die hard fans… Grandma has relatives from Oakland and one of them and I talked baseball the whole time she was here in 2001? Of course Oakland was really good? Then Derek Jeter happened and Giambi didn’t slide… that year…
Thoughts on Oakland playing in Oracle Park?
“$121 million from a naming rights deal and other sponsorships, a $170 million loan secured by the Giants, and $15 million in tax increment financing by the city’s redevelopment agency financed the stadium.”
How hard is that in Oakland? Then you got two jewels sitting on the bay?
Obviously the pricing would look more like 500m naming rights 750m between state and club with how much EVERYTHING costs these days? It’s like a dollar buys a nickels worth… Wonder what Bernie Sanders had to say on that back in the 1990’s when one man wanted to gamble millions of dollars in hedgefunds on the housing market? Buhler, Buhler, anyone, Walker Buhler?
California only cares about liberal votes.
Only clowns say things like this
Only a fool denies it
what’s the difference between liberal and progressive ?
I remember when liberal meant freedom of speech and equality of opportunity.
now these people are looney toons and supporting regrettable surgeries for minors and endless proxy wars
And how do you explain stadiums in Red states like Texas? Florida?
Why wouldn’t it be scheduled?
It needn’t be an issue. The Giants and Jets share a stadium as do the Rams and Chargers in the NFL, and they have games scheduled against each other.
You’re talking about 8-9 home games in the NFL
The Mets and Yankees shared Shea Stadium for 162 home games in 1974, when the Jets also played seven home games, and again in 1975, when the Jets and Giants also played 14 home games.
The field didn’t look so good, but they made it work.
It’s not unprecedented, and groundskeeping technology is more advanced today than 50 years ago.
Yeah Baron but I don’t see this happening. Having the A’s move in would be like having your low life brother-in-law who’s never had a job for more than a week move in with you. Then you’d have to spend money to get him evicted.
@SteveC: Buzz was talking about head-to-head games, not number of games.
Why is that complicated? Happens all the time in sports, they just alternate series as home team.
Not a major focus but wondering if MLB will end AAA in Vegas. Currently the A’s affiliate so assume they’ll move the team somewhere else.
It would be up to the team, not MLB.
And it’s happened in Anaheim/Los Angeles, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and other cities when MLB franchises were created or relocated.
Eew.
they should just stay at the Coliseum at least one more year
it’s cheap. and no one’s going to show up for the As no matter where they play
wonder if anybody will unlock the achievement of seeing them play at home in Philly, KC, Oakland, and Vegas. Gonna have to be a sprightly old codger.
Great take. Some MLBTR reader has to have seen the A’s in their first three cities and can add Vegas soon. With Vegas, I will have 3/4. Sadly, Philadelphia was before my time.
Oh I’m sure there’s more than a handful of readers here who will claim that. Now whether or not it’s TRUE is a whole other story
No they can’t. Giants ruled that out already. It doesn’t matter what serial liar Dave Kaval thinks.
Lol wouldn’t that be something?
So we don’t know anything. Thanks for the update.
Giants let the Yankees play at the Polo Grounds while the original Yankee Stadium was being built
A’s let Giant say SJ is part of their territory (when it was established for A’s) to keep Giants local.. Giants did not return the favor
Maybe take some advice from Elsa of Arendelle. It was a business decision. Haas agreed. Then MLB blocked San Jose’s efforts to build a stadium in 2013. They sued MLB and it went all the way to the Supreme Court and San Jose lost. Endless, pointless vilification of the Giants without taking into consideration the clear business implications is silly and unproductive. MLB and every other team owner will not set dangerous precedent of messing with territorial rights, especially because it isn’t just land and ticket sales – there are multibillion dollar regional media deals…forever. No one is going to give up all that money because feelings.
xtraflamy;
That’s all well and good……
But there have been numerous occasions where baseball franchises in an area allowed another franchise to play in their park for a year or two until their new park could be constructed.
Heck, they could play in Sacramento where the parks capacity is 14,000.
If I’m following, basically your position is the Giants can do whatever they want.
Ironic seeing as they jumped ship from NYC all those years ago but have zero sympathy for another team searching for greener pastures.
You remind me of how the Nationals encroached on Orioles turf and every dispute is somehow in the Nats favor.
I wasn’t addressing sharing the stadium temporarily – just the San Jose thing.
You’re right about sharing, and though it’s complicated, it might work. Though I can’t imagine it would endear a lot of A’s fans to have the Giants bail out the A’s after the A’s ownership dissed their own fans for so long and disrespected them and Oakland this year, just so that Fisher won’t lose his 60MM media $. The optics.
@njbirdsfan No. My position is that the A’s (and San Jose) can’t do whatever they want. Not the same thing. It needs to be approved by MLB and owners and they don’t agree. Neither do the courts.
When the Giants left NYC there were no MLB teams in the region. And no billion dollar multimedia deals. Apples and oranges.
It was a calculated business decision by Haas because he thought if the Giants moved to SJ that San Franciscans would rather go over the Bay Bridge than drive down 280 for an hour. Santa Clara voters didn’t approve the stadium funding at the polls, and the Giants owner gave up and sold the team (with the territorial rights as part of the package). You can’t expect a new ownership team to hand over rights to another new ownership team when it is part of what they bought. If anything MLB could have stepped in and helped rearranging the rights before the sale. But Haas didn’t need it because the A’s were doing well (2.9MM at the gate in 1990). This was before the surge of wealth from Silicon Valley and the boom in the region. So MLB didn’t step in for Haas, and so now it is part of the Giants’ equity.
I lived in the Bay Area in the early 80’s. The tech boom and surge in wealth was well underway in the early 80’s.
It didn’t belong to the A’s. That is a commonly repeated falsehood by A’s fans. It didn’t belong to either team. Seeing as that was the case, and the Giants being a shrewd business entity, the Giants seized the territory. The A’s failure to be a competent organization can’t be blamed on the Giants.
As a Bay Area resident, I am skeptical that many A’s fans would cross the Bridge to attend a game at Oracle, especially if the admission price needs to be at parity with the Giants’.
I also hope that Oakland doesn’t need the rent money so badly that it would allow the A’s to use the Coliseum as lame ducks.
Notwithstanding the summer heat, which the Aviators survive for months on end by playing at night, and the loss of the TV money, Summerlin looks like both the most feasible and equitable solution to the A’s dilemma. It’s definitely the one the A’s deserve.
From what I’ve read about A’s ownership, I find it hard to believe they would leave $60 million on the table. Nor do I believe the A’s could sign a new TV deal in LV for close to that amount.
Giants brass hates the A’s they’d just tell them to eat crap like when the A’s wanted to move to San Jose
Ya, no.
Don’t think it’s gonna happen.
And have Ohtani play for both teams!!!!
Haha it will be like when Bugs Bunny was both pitcher and catcher, only Ohtani will be both pitcher and batter.
A’s helped giants (I know different owner), with SJ to keep Giants in bay area. Giants could show some heart being they got rid of the team by not giving back SJ to A’s.
San Jos-A’s?
That isn’t true. Read into how that situation worked instead of repeating misinformation.
lmao
Too bad they demolished Candlestick a few years ago. A’s could compare which stadium is worse.
It appears that Fisher has gotten himself into a mess.
Maybe in a net?
They should convert Memorial Stadium, Berkeley in to a temporary ballpark. It’s not like Cal are gonna need it for football after this coming season.
From having lived a few blocks from that stadium for a year, I was going to comment on the serious lack of parking.
But then I remembered that it’s the A’s, so a few frat houses renting out spaces on their lawns should suffice.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but can the Raiders stadium in Vegas be configured for baseball? Even if it’s a somewhat awkward fit it would be better than the AAA stadium, especially in the summer.
Good question. That would be hilarious considering how Oakland was the last holdout in the shared stadium era.
A’s need that tv money! Where would they find money for that $40mil payroll. You can’t expect an owner to put their own money into a team.
I don’t see how the Aviators park having a 10,000 fan capacity could affect the A’s attendance. Any other team, sure
Kaval says that the big push would be to get facilities up to MLB standards, kind of like what the Jays had to do with Buffalo in 2020. But I think that TV money is the main sticking point for the A’s.
The A’s current stadium isn’t up to MLB standards.
Half the home games in Summerlin, half in Montreal. Simple. Other AL West teams be damned.
Put them and their 35 fans at Alameda High School. The bleachers there hold up to 60 people. Let Timmy from the DECA Club handle concessions. Have Kenzie video with her phone and then text the games to the 12 fans who want to see it. Call it good. You’re welcome.
Giants should bring up their New York City roots and tell the A’s to “fuhgetaboutit”
Ok, so how about have them play like 40 games at Oracle and then make them be like an MLB Harlem Globetrotters. They can do MLB’s bidding with globalizing the game where the A’s are the home team for sets of games in Japan, Mexico, Australia, South Korea, England, Puerto Rico, etc!
I’m guessing they’ll continue playing at the colosseum. all major cities need the extra income that renting out the colosseum would provide. it’s the simplest, easiest solution.
Giants getting Paid. Sure why not.
Why not the A’s just play two series when they visit a team and one series is home and one is away. Give free A’s hat to fans so it looks like they’re home fans for the A’s.
The A’s are the Chargers of the MLB
Why is that Akers shill quoting Dave Kaval instead of Larry Baer who said in an interview with Susan Slusser that the A’s would not be able to share Oracle Park while they were waiting for their stadium to be built in Las Vegas?
Yea this whole Vegas thing sounds like a mess. Just forcibly remove Fisher and keep the A’s in Oakland.
Why would the Giants do this? Sure, they’d get some rent. But a bigger priority is getting that market to themselves and hoping some orphaned A’s fans switch over after the Giants sign Ohtani.
They shouldn’t help the A’s. That clown Kavel hasn’t been a good neighbor. But let’s not kid ourselves about signing Ohtani. They will finish second in the bidding, like always.
Plenty of room for the A’s in the Peanuts, Garlic Fries, and bat boy departments.
This article left out one additional possibility. From ‘25 – ‘27 the A’s could play all their games on the road. Hardly anyone in Oakland attends games anyway. This is not an optimal possibility for a lot of reasons, but if nothing else can be worked out it’s the only way they can keep playing for that three year period.
I’m surprised the Giants would even consider this given that they have blocked every effort by the A’s at exploring stadium sites on the south side of the Bay.
MLB committee should consider denying the move. The A’s are counting on too many moving parts and MLB footing too much of the bill. MLB is waiving the $500 Million relocation fee. 29 owners probably won’t like they seen getting a cut. The A’s are supposedly willing to eat hundreds of millions in losses before a ballpark is even built. If they can afford those losses – why can’t they afford the deal already in place in Oakland?
Montreal here we come for three yrs then plan an epand team a couple yrs from then have the other one in Nashville by 2030 it could work expansion here we come