Oakland A’s meet MLB deadline to keep revenue sharing

The Oakland Athletics are not in danger of being removed from MLB’s revenue sharing system.

The A’s binding agreement with Tropicana owner Bally’s Corp. to construct a new ballpark on the Strip met a mandate to keep the team in the league’s revenue sharing program set by the latest MLB collective bargaining agreement, people with knowledge of the situation confirmed to the Review-Journal.

The A’s had until Jan. 15 to get a binding agreement for a new stadium deal in place, or the league planned to remove the team from its revenue sharing system. The deal with Bally’s Corp. met the mandate set by the league.

Since May, the A’s have made significant progress on its Las Vegas ballpark efforts. That includes entering into the agreement with Bally’s Corp. in May to build a 33,000-seat ballpark on 9 acres of the Tropicana hotel site.

Then, in June, Gov. Joe Lombardo signed Senate Bill 1 into law, which earmarks up to $380 million in public funding for the A’s planned $1.5 billion Las Vegas stadium. In August, the A’s hired Mortenson-McCarthy as its stadium construction manager.

Finally, in November, the team received unanimous approval by MLB owners to relocate to Las Vegas.

In MLB’s revenue sharing system, all 30 franchises contribute 48 percent of their net local revenue into a pool that is distributed to each team.

The calculation the MLB uses each year is based on the last three years of net local revenue, or 50 percent of one year prior and 25 percent of second and third years prior.

With the pool distributed evenly among the 30 clubs, some teams become “payors,” or clubs that contribute more than the 1/30th share they receive. Others become “payees,” or clubs that receive more than they contribute.

The latest collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the MLB Players Association began in 2022. With that, the A’s were again made eligible t0 receive revenue sharing, after being phased out during the previous CBA, ramping up in 25 percent intervals starting in 2022.

The A’s received 25 percent of the revenue share in 2022 and 50 percent last year. The one caveat was that they had to have a binding agreement by Jan. 15 or they would be disqualified from revenue sharing. With the mandate met, the A’s are set to receive 75 percent of their league share this year and 100 percent of their revenue share in 2025.

The next meeting of the Las Vegas Stadium Authority is planned for Jan. 18, at which time work will continue toward finalizing agreements between the two sides tied to the construction of the ballpark. SB1 requires the agreements to be struck to make the $380 million in public funds available.

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.