It’s official, as of Thursday: The A’s will be relocating from their longtime home in Oakland to Las Vegas after the move was unanimously approved by MLB owners.
It’s awful news for fans in the Bay Area, who tried so hard through protests, chants and reverse boycotts to force owners to sell the team, and it also brings up a lot of questions: When will the A’s actually play in Vegas?
The answer is: If the new stadium in Las Vegas is done by 2028, the A’s will play there then.
But after the Oakland Coliseum lease expires in 2024? They’ll be homeless. Let’s run through where they could play in those few seasons:
1
Oakland Coliseum
I know. It’s where they currently play, where rightfully disgusted A’s fans will probably not go to games much, and where the lease expires after 2024.
But they could sign a lease for a few years before the full move to Vegas.
2
Oracle Park
Hey, they’d still be in the Bay Area! But would the Giants really want to share their stadium with another team? The scheduling issues would be a headache, but as SFist noted, it could happen:
Possibility Number Two would be SF’s Oracle Park, which is of course major-league ready, but would require some careful scheduling to keep the Giants and the A’s at away games when the other was at home — and it would likely require the construction of a new clubhouse in the stadium, because the Giants wouldn’t want to share theirs.
3
Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, Nevada
It’s a Triple-A facility for the A’s, but it only holds 10,000 fans. Owner John Fisher floated it as a possibility, via the Review Journal:
I think it’s a fantastic ballpark, and I don’t know the answer to the question of what improvements would need to be made for that ballpark to make it Major League Baseball ready. That’s all going to be under discussion and under the control of MLB itself.
4
Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona
It’s the A’s spring training facility. I’m highly doubtful it’ll happen, no one’s reported it, but I’m wondering if it’s an option.
