The latest on where the Oakland Athletics will play as they prepare to move to Las Vegas

Even after securing their move to Las Vegas, the team faces an uncertain future, including, crucially, where they will play next season.

since Major League Baseball By sharing a tentative schedule for the upcoming season with teams at the beginning of each year, the Oakland Athletics were supposed to know in late December where they would play in 2025 and beyond before moving on. Las vigas In 2028. This did not happen. The mid-January deadline has passed. Very soon the next deadline will also pass at the end of January.

even after Athletics If they get a deal to leave Oakland permanently, the franchise's short-term future will remain in limbo. It's not just about low salaries MLB Or the lack of a significant improvement on the roster from the team that went 50-112 last year. It's as basic as not owning a home after your lease expires. Auckland Coliseum After this season.

Here's what you need to know about the current state of the first team's stadium plans, according to several people involved in the process of finding a home for the team.

What delays the decision?

It's pretty simple: local TV money. A contract with Comcast Broadcasting its games on NBC Sports Bay Area would require the team to generate about $70 million next year, sources said. But if the A's aren't in Oakland, the Regional sports network You are no longer required to pay rights fees. The delicate balance between maximizing TV dollars and securing a temporary home is complicated by the stringent nature of the Comcast deal. Even move to play in the park Triple-A in Sacramentoabout 85 miles northeast of Oakland, will not be covered by A's current contract.

A move to Las Vegas would actually take the A's from the 10th-largest TV market to 40th. Obviously, TV money was a secondary consideration to a permanent move. But a temporary deal, even if the A's negotiate a new deal with Comcast or another regional sports network, could be for a fraction of what they'll get now. In fact, the same conundrum – and Comcast's influence – is holding up a solution.

What are the most likely options?

The two cities that top the list, according to the sources: Sacramento, the headquarters of the subsidiary Triple From the San Francisco Giants and Salt Lake City, who want to use the A's as a proof of concept that an expansion franchise is justified in the future.

Both cities have NBA franchises that regularly sell out their home games. Sacramento ranks 20th in the television market, while Salt Lake City ranks 27th. Sacramento offers an easier short-term solution ( Mayor Darrell Steinberg He told the San Francisco Chronicle he was “thrilled by the prospect,” while Salt Lake City is the long-term option for MLB.

he Sutter's Health Park in Sacramento It seats over 10,000 people, and with standing room and lawn seating tickets, can accommodate up to 14,000 people. The Salt Lake ownership group, which previously controlled the Utah Jazz, is building a new Triple-A stadium by 2025 in South Jordan, Utah, with a capacity of 11,000.

While Sacramento had previously shown no aspirations to bring MLB to the city, Salt Lake City was over-the-top in its desire. After A's officials recently toured the city to evaluate its feasibility, the Greater Utah League, the group at the heart of Salt Lake City's efforts, erected seven signs around the city that read: “Utah Wants A's.”

If the A's land in Sacramento, they could renegotiate their deal with NBC Sports Bay Area, which broadcasts Kings games. If they move to Salt Lake City, the team could get a new deal, sources said, although since that TV spot currently belongs to the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies, it would add an extra layer to negotiations.

Can they stay in Auckland?

Possibly, although unlikely. The A's own 50% of the Coliseum, and the city of Oakland, still reeling from the A's departure, owns the other half. The team and the city have not spoken in 10 months, so if a conversation occurs about extending the lease for another three years, it will be at the request of the first team, sources said.

The situation will truly be a true test of how much A's owner John Fisher is willing to do for money. Staying in Auckland means confronting and negotiating with politicians who find his actions abhorrent. That means inviting constant chants to sell the team, something that could happen in Sacramento and certainly won't happen in Salt Lake City. That means new lawsuits being filed almost daily for an action that many powerful people in sports still consider short-sighted and wrong.

At some point, cutting the umbilical cord makes sense. The expiration of the stadium's lease seems to be the right time.

Why don't they move to Las Vegas?

Use the garden Triple-A in Summerlinabout ten miles from the A's stadium in the former Tropicana Hotel on Las Vegas Boulevard, is an option, though it wouldn't exactly represent the touch the A's are looking for in their move to Las Vegas.

There is precedent. The Washington Nationals spent their first three seasons at RFK Stadium during construction of Nationals Park. But showing up in a new city at a minor league park with a miserable team isn't high on the Division I priority list and makes Las Vegas, at least for now, a long shot for 2025-2027.

Will they make it to Las Vegas in 2028?

Getting a deal for the stadium in the first place takes a lot of work and stress. Building the stadium by 2028 depends on sticking to the schedule, something the first team has not proven itself at. With $380 million in public funds set aside to help finance the $1.5 billion stadium project, a group called Schools Over Stadiums is pushing for a referendum to put the use of tax dollars to a vote. If there are no shovels in the ground by early 2025, there are questions about whether the A-Team will truly be ready to debut on the Strip by 2028, the sources said.

What will the A's be like when they go to Las Vegas?

In their proposal to the MLB transfer community, the A's suggested that upon arriving in Las Vegas, they could have a payroll in the range of $170 million, as reported. The athlete for the first time. This is from an organization whose largest opening day payroll was $92.2 million in 2019.

Is it possible that with declining television revenue and a limited stadium-sized gate, the team could nearly double its top salary and more than triple its current salary over the next three seasons? sure. It is possible? Not clear. As much as the A's save money by not financing projects to evaluate where they will spend their future, the idea that the team will spend the next three years in a temporary location, without a major league-caliber television deal, with limited ticket revenue by 2018, requires the size of the stadium and the start-up. Somehow taking mid-level salaries is a leap of faith that even the most ardent fans wouldn't accept.