A’s officially leaving Oakland after 2024, will play in Sacramento through 2027 until Vegas stadium is ready

The Athletics, as part of their efforts to relocate to Las Vegas in time for the 2028 season, will play their home games for the 2025-27 seasons at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, California, the team announced on Thursday. The deal includes an option for a fourth season.

The A’s lease with the City of Oakland is set to expire at the end of this season, yet the A’s rejected a five-year extension on the lease of Oakland Coliseum. That, plus an apparent desire to retain as much of their local broadcasting revenue as possible (a factor that my have dissuaded them from temporarily relocating to Salt Lake City or other out-of-state possibilities), led the A’s to the capital city of California. 

The A’s do not intend to change their name to reflect their Sacramento residency. Instead, they’ll be known simply by their nickname, according to The Athletic’s Evan Drellich.

Team officials met with the City of Sacramento Wednesday, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, a day after saying they were “far apart on the terms needed to agree on an extension” to stay in Oakland. 

“We explored several locations for a temporary home, including the Oakland Coliseum,” franchise owner John Fisher said in statement. “Even with the long-standing relationship and good intentions on all sides in the negotiations with Oakland, the conditions to achieve an agreement seemed out of reach. We understand the disappointment this news brings to our fans, as this season marks our final one in Oakland. Throughout this season, we will honor and celebrate our time in Oakland, and will share additional details soon.”

Sutter Health Park opened in 2000 and seats around 14,000 including outfield lawn open seating. That’s significantly less than the average MLB stadium, including the Coliseum, which holds 63,000. That said, the A’s are averaging fewer than 6,500 people in the stands through six home games so far this season — the result of a years-long neglect by ownership and management to field a worthy product, and to find a way to keep the once-proud franchise in Oakland.

It appears Sutter Health Park plans to host both the A’s and the Sacramento River Cats (the San Francisco Giants’ Triple-A affiliate) in those three seasons, as the press release states fans “also still get to enjoy the beloved tradition of Minor League Baseball and the Sacramento River Cats.” This means the ballpark would host 156 games (81 MLB games and 75 MiLB games) between late March and early October.

Construction has not yet begun on the A’s future Las Vegas home. The Nevada Supreme Court will hear an argument from the political action committee Schools Over Stadiums on April 9 that could impact those plans. 

Casey Pratt of ABC 7 Bay Area also reported that the A’s plan to use staff that’s already in place for other professional sports teams in Sacramento, including the NBA’s Kings and the River Cats. According to Pratt, that would mean layoffs for existing A’s employees.