The city of Oakland is expected to offer the Athletics a five-year lease extension this week, according to Tim Keown of ESPN. Oakland's proposal will reportedly include an opt-out clause after three seasons and requires the team to pay $97 million as part of an extension fee.
The A's are, of course, in the process of an attempted relocation to Las Vegas, Nevada. Construction has not yet begun on the A's new stadium, although the Tropicana Casino and Resort on the stadium site is expected to be demolished soon. From there, the new ballpark would not be ready until the 2028 season at earliest. The A's lease at the Oakland Coliseum is set to expire after the 2024 campaign, leaving them without a home for at least the next three seasons -- something that the lease extension would remedy.
Here's more, courtesy of Keown's report:
The city is proposing the five-year lease with the opt-out after three to safeguard itself in case there are construction delays in Las Vegas or the deal falls through. According to the offer sheet obtained by ESPN and KGO-TV, the city has dropped previous requirements that called for MLB to keep the A's name and colors in Oakland, as well as a demand that MLB guarantee the city a future expansion team.
The A's have reportedly considered several other interim homes, including Sacramento, Calif., and Salt Lake City, Utah. The motivation behind staying in Oakland, or taking a layover in Sacramento, would be to retain their rights to their local broadcasting money.
Should the A's complete their relocation, they would be just the second team in recent Major League Baseball history to move across state lines. The last time was prior to the 2005 season, when the Montreal Expos moved to D.C. and became the Washington Nationals.
