A’s quest for temporary home ongoing

The Oakland Athletics are making site visits this week as they try to figure out where the team will play once their Oakland Coliseum lease is up after the 2024 MLB season.

Members of the A’s executive team, including owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval, toured Sutter Health Park on Thursday in Sacramento, California, a person with knowledge of the trip told the Review-journal. The park is the home of the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-a affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.

The A’s will continue their due diligence later this week, the source said. They’re scheduled to visit Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City, home of the Los Angeles Angels’ Triple-a affiliate, the Salt Lake Bees.

Other potential temporary sites for the A’s include the Coliseum, the Aviators’ Las Vegas Ballpark, the Giants’ Oracle Park and the Reno Aces’ Greater Nevada Field. All options are still on the table, according to the source.

MLB and the MLB Players Association will both have to approve the A’s interim home before the location can be finalized.

The team needs to figure out its preferred destination well before July, when the league releases the schedule for the following season.

The A’s plan to move into their planned $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat

Las Vegas ballpark in 2028, which is scheduled to be built on 9 acres of the 35-acre Tropicana hotel site. The Nevada Legislature last summer passed Senate Bill 1, which was then signed into law by Gov. Joe Lombardo, which earmarks up to $380 million in public funds for the Las Vegas MLB stadium.

The A’s are in the process of finalizing various agreements with the Las Vegas Stadium Authority, which are required to make the public funds available to them. The Tropicana would also first need to be imploded before construction on the ballpark can begin. The A’s hope to starting building in early 2025.