ESPN: Athletics to Get New Oakland Coliseum Contract Offer Ahead of Las Vegas Move
An offer to stay in the Oakland Coliseum until the Oakland Athletics’ projected 2028 transfer to the Las Vegas Strip will be offered. The Oakland Athletics still need a place to play.
Based on documents obtained by ESPN’s Tim Keown, the city of Oakland will make an offer to the A’s to extend their lease at Oakland Coliseum for five years, with an opt-out after three years. The team would also have to pay a $97 million extension fee as part of the agreement.
It is anticipated that both parties will meet on Tuesday.
After this season, the A’s current lease at the Coliseum expires.
The city of Oakland is presenting the A’s with a five-year deal “to safeguard itself in case there are construction delays in Las Vegas or the deal falls through,” per Keown.
The $97 million extension fee is “non-negotiable,” according to Oakland chief of staff Leigh Hanson, and it will still be owed even if the team opts out of the contract after three years.
Oakland is also going to ask that the A’s take over the cost of switching the playing field at the stadium from baseball to soccer for Oakland Roots SC of the United Soccer League, per Keown.
Further, the city is asking the A’s to sell their 50 percent ownership stake in the Coliseum complex to a local development company to move forward with the redevelopment of the location. That has been agreed to but not finalized, according to Keown.
Of what is being asked of the team, the extension fee “figures to be the biggest point of contention in the upcoming negotiations,” according to Keown.
The A’s currently pay $1.5 million in rent to play at the Coliseum, per Keown, and they offered the city a two-year deal with payments of $7 million and $10 million over the course of the contract.
