Where will the Oakland A's play after their lease with Oakland Coliseum ends after 2024?
The Oakland Athletics won't be the Oakland Athletics for much longer. After a short stint where fans were unsure of the A's future in Vegas, team president Dave Kaval's plan to move to Sin City is back in place.
The team's new stadium should be ready for the A's in 2028. That leaves four seasons left for the Athletics before they can leave town. However, their departure from Oakland might be more complicated than that.
See, the A's lease with Oakland Coliseum ends following the 2024 MLB season. While most fans have been waiting for this day for years, the A's unfortunately don't have anywhere to go afterwards. Between 2025 and 2027, not even the A's know where they will play.
Where will the A's play beyond the 2024 season?
The A's have seemingly narrowed their play areas for 2025-2027 down to three options. The team could play in Oakland Coliseum on an extended lease. The other possibilities, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale, are to share home games with the San Francisco Giants at Oracle Park, or play at Las Vegas Ballpark, home of the A's triple-A affiliate. Which of these will the A's do? No idea.
The constant uncertainty surrounding the A's has become rather tiresome for fans, but hopefully, the timeline surrounding the A's will clear up sooner rather than later.
On Feb. 8, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters that the A's need to know where they will be playing in 2025 by the summer, meaning the middle of the 2024 season so that MLB can create a schedule for next season. That sounds harsh, as if Manfred is demanding the A's do something before there are consequences. However, that's not the case. Manfred also said, "I’m comfortable with where they are in the process," when referring to the A's-Vegas situation. "They have options, and you know, I think they’re doing a good job of exploring them and making sure we find the best possible opportunity."
Timeline for the A's move
With uncertainty still in the equation, this is a timeline of the franchise's possible locations.
2024: Oakland Coliseum
2025-27: Either Oakland Coliseum (on an extended lease), Oracle Park, or Las Vegas Ballpark (home of A's triple-A affiliate)
2028: New Las Vegas stadium
How are fans taking the move?
Not well. The fans in Oakland continue to express their discontent with the decision to move the team to Vegas. On Saturday, Feb. 24, A's fans held their own fanfest (nicknamed "Fans Fest" as the team itself had nothing to do with the celebration), not only as a means to support their home team, but as a giant statement to the team's ownership.
All across the fanfest were signs asking A's owner John Fisher to sell the team to someone who would treat the team and the city of Oakland with more respect. The fanfest drew a massive crowd, with even the mayor of Oakland, Sheng Thao, showing up. During the festival, Thao made it clear that she wants the team to stay in Oakland.
Thao remained a realist though, accepting that the A's were going to Vegas no matter how much the fans and herself begged and pleaded. Of course, she made sure to throw shade at Fisher while she made her notion. "Good luck in Las Vegas,” she said. “I know John Fisher is going to do John Fisher things."
Fans are already preparing a boycott of the team's home opener, March 28, against the Cleveland Guardians, where fans fill up the team's parking lot with tailgates, but never go inside. Any money from those fans that would have been spent on tickets will reportedly go to Nevada's Schools over Stadiums Group, which is trying to prevent public funds from being spent on the stadium project.
In anticipation of thin crowds, the A's are offering a buy one, get one free ticket sale for that game.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oakland A's face stadium issue with lease ending after 2024
