The Oakland A’s ‘ future took another step forward on Thursday when the team announced plans to play in Sacramento for three seasons starting next year with an option to stay there until the 2028 season if their new stadium in Las Vegas is n’t ready.
The A’s considered temporary choices in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Oakland, where their license at the Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 time. In the end, the group arrived in the state investment with a solid recruiting ball from Sacramento Kings operator Vivek Ranadivé, who also owns the Triple-A membership Sacramento River Cats, the A’s newest roommates.
Also, the A’s took into consideration their present regional TV deal with NBC Sports California, and if leaving the Bay Area, the shift to Sacramento probably represented the best option for maintaining TV income. According to two people with knowledge of the negotiations who were not authorized to speak formally, the A’s and NBCUniversal reworked their RSN contract prior to the news of the Sacramento facility.

The activities will continue to be broadcast on NBC Sports California, and the A’s are expected to still be able to recover a sizable percentage of their native rights charge, which was$ 67 million last season. The A’s have been in Sacramento for at least three months. The Kings even reside at NBC Sports California.
The A’s and MLB are operating on the idea that the move to Las Vegas is a done deal, but there has been some anxiety about how the club’s next four times will turn out. The team made an MLB-low$ 241 million in revenue last year, which is more than$ 30 million behind any other MLB team, which illustrates why trading a stadium with a capacity of 63, 000 seats for one with just over 10, 000 seats might not be that difficult financially because it will be a logistical strain and cause people to lose their jobs.
The A’s booked just over$ 100 million in gross central revenue from MLB last year through sponsorships, media rights deals, and merchandise that were equally common. The online amount is lower because MLB covers player benefits and administers the league office; Sportico uses league net proceeds to calculate franchise values. Based on the standard elevators in national press deals, the team is in line for a bigger check from the group in 2024, as well as a favorable environment for leaguewide funding and product sales.
Local revenue was$ 102 million last year with$ 67 million from their local TV contract and just$ 35 million from their stadium via gate receipts, premium seating, sponsorships, concessions, merchandise and parking. For comparison, the New York Yankees generate more than$ 500 million in local revenue, excluding their media deals.
The team ranked last in attendance for a second straight year with an average of 10, 276 fans per game, and that$ 35 million in stadium revenue was only 15 % of the A’s total last year. This year is shaping up to be even worse with attendance tracking at historic lows. The A’s drew 13, 522 for their 2024 home opener and then did n’t get more than 7, 000 fans at any of the rest of their seven- game homestand to open the season, attendance bottomed out at 3, 837. In their final season in 2004, the Montreal Expos averaged 9, 369 fans.

According to the collective bargaining agreement’s tenets of 2022, the A’s will also receive a larger revenue sharing check. A dozen of the big market teams are barred from receiving any revenue-sharing proceeds due to the roughly$ 500 million transfer from the financially strong clubs to the smaller market ones. The most recent CBA made a notable exception for the A’s, but with a significant caveat. They needed a “binding agreement” in Oakland or another city to build a new stadium by Jan. 15 of this year. The A’s were able to continue receiving their revenue sharing checks because of the agreement to relocate to Las Vegas.
The A’s got a 25 % share of their full allotment during the 2023 season. Last year, the A’s received 50 %, which worked out to$ 27 million —a full share would have been$ 54 million. They are eligible for a 75 % share this year, which will likely cost the club about$ 45 million. The most recent year weighed twice as much as the two previous ones, which is the revenue-sharing formula based on three years of data. The A’s are slipping further and further behind the other 29 teams as MLB revenue increased by 9 % last year. Therefore, when the team is eligible for 100 %, a full share of revenue sharing should reach$ 60 million next year. The current CBA expires after the 2026 season.
The A’s lacked the resources to keep as much of their local TV income as possible. By remaining in Oakland, they had the best chance of preserving their agreement with NBC Sports California. The Oakland city wanted the A’s to pay an additional$ 20 million per year to play at the Coliseum, an increase from their current$ 1.25 million rent. Additionally, the city requested that MLB give the expansion team, which was a non-starter overall, an exclusive one-year window to find an owner. The A’s will pay no rent to play at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, but they will contribute money to ballpark improvements, including adding more seats.
The A’s could also play at Oracle Park in San Francisco to keep their current TV rights, but that option fell flat.
Sacramento is a smaller market with 1.5 million TV households versus 2.6 million for the Bay Area, per Nielsen, but it is much larger than Salt Lake City ( 1.15 million ) or Las Vegas (870, 000 ). If the A’s decided to relocate there, they would also need to find a new local media rights partner in both of those markets. The A’s also want to compete in Vegas using the momentum of their new stadium rather than relocate to the new location after spending several years there.
Without an MLB team, Ranadivé has stated that he wants to expand his sports holdings beyond the Kings and River Cats, and that Sacramento is the biggest market there. Ranadivé will be encouraged to help the A’s succeed in their time at Sutter Health Park by allowing the A’s tenure there to serve as a test for a potential future MLB expansion.
” I’ve been in touch with the commissioner, and I’ve gotten to know him”, Ranadivé told reporters on Thursday. Additionally, they will be forming a new team. They desire that it be on the West Coast. They’d love for it to be in California. And I believe that this serves as a good example of our efforts. If we can prove that there’s a market here, that we can make the team successful, I think we’re in pole position to get the new franchise, specifically”.
Rob Manfred stated in February that he wanted to add two more teams by the time he retires in 2029. One city in the west and one in the east are expected to have clubs. ” Those teams wo n’t be playing by the time I’m done but I would like the process along and ( cities ) selected”, Manfred said at the owners meeting.
A spokesperson for MLB confirmed that no formal expansion process has begun.