By: Ava Marzolf
November 4, 2024
Photo Credit: The Nevada Independent
The wrap up of the 2024 MLB season came with an emotional farewell for fans of the last standing major professional sports franchise in Oakland, California. On Thursday, September 26th, the Oakland A’s played their last game in the Oakland Coliseum, home to the organization since 1968.
The inability of the A’s to negotiate with city officials a lease extension on the Coliseum can be attributed to the organization’s insufficient funds, offering only $17 million compared to the $97 million the city asked for. As the franchise developed relocation plans to Las Vegas by 2028, arrangements were made to give the team a temporary new home. For the 2025-2027 seasons, the A’s will play at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento, currently belonging to the Triple-A’s Sacramento River Cats.
This transition has already called for involvement from the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) regarding uncertainties over playing conditions. Between the A’s and River Cats, 156 home games will be crammed into the same stadium in one season. Under these circumstances, plans were initially made to install artificial turf into Sutter Health Park to combat challenges that overuse of natural grass would impose on sufficient field maintenance.
Concerns over this playing surface were instantly brought to the league’s attention by the MLBPA. Scott Boras, a sports agent representing various MLB players, emphasizes a key distinction that makes artificial turf at the outdoor Sutter Health Park a pressing issue for players. He stresses that due to the nature of artificial turf absorbing significantly more heat than natural grass, all MLB fields that do contain turf are indoor stadiums. Especially given the effects of heat in the Sacramento climate, he emphasizes “That hot sun without a dome stadium, my god, it gets hotter than 130 degrees.”
An additional concern expressed by the MLBPA was the greater proneness to injury on turf fields. Bridging this matter with the outdoor stadium structure, weather might raise further questions and concerns from players. Considering MLB games generally aren’t stopped for light/moderate rain, players likely won’t be willing to play on slippery turf where the risk for injury may be more troublesome.
Venue limitations were another issue addressed as millions of dollars in upgrades are required to accommodate Major League caliber stadium operations. Press box and video board renovations are a necessity for broadcasting purposes. Both the A’s and the MLB will split the cost of these upgrades.
As a consequence of these uncertainties and limitations, the move to Sacramento began to be reevaluated. An article from CBS News highlights Susan Slusser, a senior baseball reporter from the Bay Area, in her stance proclaiming: "I don't think anybody really knows how this is gonna work in Sacramento. Everyone is aware there will be an awful lot of bumps. We will see how many bumps Major League Baseball is willing to put up with."
However, as of October 21st, negotiations between the MLB and the MLBPA reached an agreement to maintain the natural grass. The timely reversal of the turf field proposition speaks to the power that the MLBPA, or player unions in general, hold in collective bargaining processes.
On the other hand, the stakes of maintaining this deal are higher for shareholders in Sacramento who see hosting the A’s as a vital opportunity to advocate for the city’s ability to support its own MLB team. Vivek Ranadivé, owner of the River Cats and the Sacramento Kings, hopes to open the conversation for bringing a team to the city by showcasing potential success of the A’s in this new market for professional baseball.
Shifting gears to Vegas, on October 31st, nearly a year after MLB ownership approved of the A’s relocation, the organization announced its financing plan for the new $1.5 billion stadium on the Las Vegas Strip. $1 billion of this expense will be covered by the family of A’s owner John Fisher, $300 million in private equity loans from the U.S. Bank and Goldman Sachs, and the remainder will be contributed by public funding. Further details of this plan will be formally presented on December 5th and construction is aimed to begin during the spring of 2025.
As far as the Coliseum stands, the A’s and the city of Oakland each have a 50% ownership stake in the stadium that will be sold to the African American Sports and Entertainment Group (AASEG) for $125 million. This private venue development group will work to revitalize the surrounding area into a prosperous sport and entertainment district consisting of brand new hotels, restaurants, retail spaces, etc, as the stadium continues to be used for athletic competition and entertainment purposes. In the bigger picture, their investment in the Coliseum follows the growing trend of private equity firms leveraging the value of sports venues to stimulate local economic growth and franchise value through mixed use development.
Although the future of relocation begins to look more promising for the A’s, the final loss of major professional sports culture in the city has left behind a once passionate and loyal fan base. For Oakland residents, an article by NBC Bay Area notes that local taxpayers are “still paying off millions of dollars in bonds from prior efforts to expand and renovate the Coliseum.” Such circumstances reveal the vast extent to which the past incompetency and frugality of the organization has left a financial burden on the fan base.
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