The Oakland Athletics are touring ballparks this week from Sacramento to Salt Lake City in search of a temporary home.
The A’s contract with the Oakland Coliseum expires at the end of the 2024 season, and its new stadium in Las Vegas isn’t set to open until 2028.
In the meantime, team executives toured Sutter Health Park on Thursday, the home of the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate Sacramento River Cats. Officials will also check out Smith’s Ballpark, home of the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-A affiliate Salt Lake Bees, as reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Also under consideration is Greater Nevada Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ Triple-A affiliate Reno Aces.
Team president Dave Kaval had previously said likely options would be to share Oracle Park with the Giants, head to the Las Vegas Ballpark of the A’s Triple-A affiliate Aviators, or extend the lease at the Coliseum. All of those scenarios are still possible, the Review-Journal reported. Staying in the Bay Area would allow the A’s to keep their local media rights deal with NBC Sports California.
A possible reason the team is expanding the search to other minor league parks is the downside associated with each of their original options: The Las Vegas ballpark is outdoors in the desert heat, sharing with the Giants could get complicated, and the team is eager to get out of Oakland.
The A’s will need approval from the MLB and the MLB Players Association before settling on their next move.
MLB owners unanimously approved the team’s move to Las Vegas in November after years of failed attempts to build a new ballpark in the area, worsened by recent low attendance and back-to-back last-place finishes in the AL West.
