A’s Sacramento stay will include a bit of Las Vegas flair
The Athletics’ move to Las Vegas may be three years away, but the Major League Baseball club will represent the city on its players’ and staff’s jerseys starting this season.
The A’s inked a multiyear jersey patch sponsorship deal with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, which will see the tourism agency’s “Las Vegas” logo featured on jerseys during games for the three years the team will play in Sacramento, California. The logo will be on the sleeve of the dominant arm of each player on all home, road and alternate jerseys during the regular season and postseason.
The value of the sponsorship deal was not disclosed.
After playing their final year in Oakland in 2024, the A’s will play their home games at the Triple-A Sutter Health Park for the 2025-2027 seasons. The A’s plan to begin playing in their $1.75 billion, 33,000-seat Las Vegas Strip stadium in 2028. Plans call for work to begin on the project sometime between next month and June, with a 31- to 33-month work schedule.
“For the Athletics, this partnership is more than just a jersey patch — it’s the beginning of the transition to our new home,” A’s owner John Fisher said. “This is a chance to wear our hearts on our sleeves for the next three years before bringing the vibrant spirit of our new home front and center across our uniform.”
Keeping the work in-house, the A’s chose to forgo using a third-party firm to net the jersey sponsorship. Catherine Aker, the A’s vice president of marketing and communications, and Steve Fanelli, vice president of sales and business operations, put the deal together with the LVCVA.
As part of the deal, the LVCVA was named the Official Travel Destination Partner of the A’s. Outside of the jersey patch, the deal will also see the A’s collaborate with the LVCVA on marketing initiatives aimed at bringing the Las Vegas experience to baseball fans both at the ballpark and online. The initiatives will include exclusive content, promotions and events to provide a sneak peek at what the MLB experience will be like in Las Vegas.
“Las Vegas will be in the spotlight during every A’s game over the next three years,” said Steve Hill, CEO and president of the LVCVA. “Whether the team is on the field in Sacramento, Boston or anywhere in between, this patch serves as a constant reminder that Major League Baseball is coming to Las Vegas and reinforces Las Vegas as a world-class sports destination.”
One of the players who will be wearing the Las Vegas patch during each game, slugger Brent Rooker, said he’s excited about the partnership involving his future home city. Rooker signed a five-year, $60 million contract extension in January, putting him on contract through the planned 2028 arrival of the A’s in Las Vegas.
“Us, as the players, are excited about it,” Rooker said. “It represents a special opportunity for us to establish what’s coming in the future. We know for sure what’s happening. We know what the plan looks like and what the road map is and we can’t wait.”
Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said the naysayers who doubt that the A’s will ever make it to Southern Nevada should take the Las Vegas patch deal as a sign of things to come.
“They’re going to be a fabric of this community, and putting something on their sleeve marks the territory. They’re really our team now,” Gibson said Friday following the news conference. “We’re not waiting until 2028 for them to become our team, they’re our team now.”
With Las Vegas having an array of sports and entertainment options already in place, Gibson called Major League Baseball one of the couple of missing pieces in Southern Nevada.
“Baseball has been America’s sport, and we needed Las Vegas to become a host city,” Gibson said. “We needed a partner, and the Fisher family has come through every step of the way.”
With new renderings released, a season ticket deposit list launched and the Las Vegas patch being added to team jerseys, Fisher is looking toward the finish line that is 2028.
“To be here and to see the A’s logo, the A’s baseball on the Sphere and to do this amazing little thing with the LVCVA … I think you can say, ‘OK, this is real,’ ” Fisher said. “When we get our shovels in the ground and people start to actually see the stadium going up on the Strip, it’s going to be more real.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
