A’s will temporarily relocate to Sacramento
Written by Bailey O'Carroll and Aja Sheldon
OAKLAND, Calif. (FOX-35)- The Athletics have finalized a deal to temporarily relocate the team to Sacramento before the planned move to Las Vegas in 2028, saying goodbye to Oakland.
Sacramento sportscaster Dave Weiglein, also known as "Carmichael Dave," on Sactown Sports first reported that the A's new interim home is Sutter Health Park.
The ballpark is where the San Francisco Giants minor league team, the River Cats, currently play.
The Athletics and the Sacramento Kings, which is the majority owner of the River Cats, confirmed the news on Thursday morning.
The A's and the River Cats will share Sutter Health Park for the next three seasons until the A's stadium on the Tropicana hotel site in Las Vegas is finished.
The temporary relocation comes after the A's met with Oakland officials to discuss a lease extension at the Coliseum. The city presented the team with a five-year contract in which the A's would have had to shell out $97 million to stay at the stadium, with the option to opt-out after three years to begin playing at the team's Las Vegas stadium.
The team would have had to pay the full $97 million whether they departed Oakland before the five-years.
The Tropicana hotel site where the A's will play, shut its doors for good on Tuesday. Plans for the new ballpark are still up in the air, however the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that construction could start as early as April of next year.
In the meantime, Sutter Health Park, where the Athletics will play temporarily, holds 14,000 fans, significantly smaller than the 63,000 seats the Coliseum holds. Though, the team's average attendance last season was just over 10,000.
