Tuesday’s meeting between the A’s and Oakland officials is shaping up to be a key moment in deciding whether the team will stay at the Coliseum beyond 2024.
City officials plan to offer a five-year extension of the team’s lease, worth $97 million, with an option to opt out after three years, according to documents obtained by ESPN and ABC7. Even if the team leaves after three years, the city’s proposal would require the A’s to pay the full amount.
That creates a significant gap between what the city is asking for and what the A’s have offered — a two-year contract worth $17 million, according to the ESPN report, which says the current lease is worth at $1.5 million per year. If they stay for five years, the annual cost would be $19.4 million; if they opt out, it would be $32.3 million.
A major incentive for the A’s to stay in Oakland is the $67 million in annual revenue from the team’s deal to broadcast games on NBC Sports California. If the team were to move to Sacramento, one of two cities it has targeted outside of Oakland and Las Vegas, it could potentially continue showing games on that channel for at least part of this deal.
This week’s meeting will be the third in a series of discussions since the parties began extension negotiations in February.
Waiving after three years would match the A’s target date of opening their proposed stadium on the Las Vegas Strip in time for the 2028 season, although the Tropicana is still at that site. The casino is set to close Tuesday as organizers begin preparing to demolish it, but the team could still be delayed by legal challenges over $380 million in public funding for the stadium, which would be MLB’s smallest .
Oakland is also demanding that the A’s sell their 50 percent share of the Coliseum as part of the deal. Additionally, the city plans to ask MLB to commit to an exclusive one-year window to negotiate an expansion team if and when the league adds franchises or votes to leave the A’s brand in Oakland. A third alternative, according to ESPN, would be to facilitate the sale of the team to a local buyer, but Fisher has repeatedly said he has no plans to sell the A’s, despite protests from fans.
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