Well this would be odd. It looks like the A's management have come up with a shortlist of possibilities for what happens when their lease runs out at the Oakland Coliseum in 2024, and one of them is temporarily moving to San Francisco.
Yes, it wouldn't exactly be unprecedented in Major League Baseball, but it would be sorta awkward and logistically difficult if the Oakland A's became the San Francisco A's for two or three seasons. That is a distinct possibility, as Bay Area News Group reports, following some statements made by A's ream president David Kaval.
Kaval gave an interview to the Nevada Independent, published Wednesday, in which he answers the question of what the team is thinking of doing for the three or more seasons when they're scheduled to be homeless, before their new Las Vegas ballpark is completed sometime around 2028.
One possibility is Las Vegas Ballpark, the small stadium in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin that is home the A's Triple-A affiliate team. A big problem there is that it only seats 10,000, and a lot work may have to occur there to make it suitable for the big league.
"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," said team owner John Fisher, speaking to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
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.
As Bay Area News Group notes, two major league teams haven't shared a ballpark since the 1970s, when the New York Yankees share the Mets’ Shea Stadium for a couple of seasons while Yankees Stadium was being renovated.
Then there's the third possibility, which is perhaps the likeliest — and that is that the A's just suck it up and extend their lease at the Oakland Coliseum through 2028.
The somewhat decrepit, 55-year-old stadium is the primary reason the team is fleeing Oakland — that and their claim that the city didn't do enough to get the deal done for a stadium near Jack London Square, a project that occupied years in design, political machinations, and negotiation.
As it stands, the team's lease is up at the end of the 2024 season, and they need to figure out whether they will remain the Oakland A's in 2025, 2026, and 2027, or whether they get a head start as the Las Vegas A's before their stadium on the Strip is purportedly going to be complete in 2028.
If they stay in Oakland, or in SF for that matter, it would mean four more years — at least — of local fans expressing their sour grapes about this move, and wearing those "sell" t-shirts to games.
Does anyone in Las Vegas even care about the A's? Just asking.
Previously: A’s Fans Ask Giants Fans to Join in Their ‘Sell the Team’ Protests At This Week’s Bay Bridge Series Games
Top photo: The Oakland Athletics dugout reacts after Brent Rooker #25 of the Oakland Athletics hit a two-run home run in the ninth inning to beat the Kansas City Royals 6-4 at RingCentral Coliseum on August 21, 2023 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
