The Athletics will leave Oakland after this season and play at a minor league park near Sacramento until their planned new stadium in Las Vegas is built. The A's announced the decision to play at the home of the Sacramento River Cats from 2025 through 2027 with an option for 2028 on Thursday after rejecting a five-year extension on the lease of Oakland Coliseum. Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé, who also owns the minor league River Cats, joined A's owner John Fisher and local officials to announce the news at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, the AP reports.
The stadium is right across from the historic yellow Tower Bridge that connects the city with downtown Sacramento and is about a mile from the state Capitol and the NBA arena where the Sacramento Kings play. The stadium has 10,624 fixed seats and can currently hold 14,014 fans with lawn seating and standing room. Ranadivé hopes the move is a step toward the Sacramento region eventually hosting a permanent MLB team. Fisher said West Sacramento was among several locations, including the Oakland Coliseum, considered for the team's temporary home. Staying nearby may allow the team to keep more of its local broadcasting revenue, per CBS Sports.
Mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement that Oakland "offered a deal that was fair to the A's and was fiscally responsible for our city." Thao said the city will now work on acquiring the A's rights to the Coliseum site and focus on redevelopment efforts in the area. ESPN's Buster Olney posted Thursday on X that the team and Oakland seemed to have been about $35 million apart over three years — "about the same that the Angels are paying reliever Robert Stephenson." The stadium will likely need additional work to upgrade clubhouses and other facilities in order to host a major league team.
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The decision to move to Las Vegas angered fans in Oakland, and attendance came in at an American League low of 832,352 last season. The A's drew 13,522 fans on opening night this year, with a few thousand others protesting Fisher in the parking lot, and failed to reach 7,000 fans in any of the next six games, per the AP. Las Vegas will be the franchise's fifth home city. The team will be known simply as the Athletics, or A's, without a city designation during its stay in Sacramento. (More Oakland Athletics stories.)
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