Oracle park in neighboring San Francisco could host some of the A's home games while their Las Vegas ballpark completes constructionGetty Images
The Giants are “possibly amendable to hosting a portion of the A’s home schedule” between the time their lease expires at the Oakland Coliseum and when their Las Vegas ballpark opens, according to John Shea of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Sources said that the Giants would be open to hosting “as many as 40” games. But they “would not be interested in any more games than that” because they “use their facility for many revenue-generating events throughout the MLB season” through Giants Enterprises. Shea noted one “major benefit to the A’s staying local” for the three years in between is that they “would keep receiving significant revenue from their regional-sports-network contract, which would remain intact so long as they remain in the Bay Area media market.” The team “would not receive their Bay Area RSN money once they relocate to Las Vegas.” However, that contract “would be extended for games played in Sacramento” which is a “neutral site and current home of the Giants’ top farm team.” The A's Coliseum lease expires after the '24 season, and a new ballpark in Vegas would open no sooner than '28 (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/25).
COMPLICATING MATTERS: In S.F., Scott Ostler wrote the A’s situation “gets more complicated every day,” and the Oakland “needs to remove itself from its relationship with [A’s Owner John] Fisher ASAP.” Ostler wrote if the A’s “ask Oakland and Alameda County for a lease extension,” the answer should be “’No.’ Or, ‘Maybe, with conditions.’” Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao’s Chief of Staff Leigh Hanson said that some demands could include a “provision that the A’s leave their name rooted in Oakland when they go.” Or, even bigger, the city “could extract a guarantee of being awarded a new team when baseball expands, as it expects to do fairly soon” (S.F. CHRONICLE, 8/25).
