Oakland set to offer $97M Coliseum lease extension to A’s

The A’s are scheduled to meet with Oakland officials regarding the potential for the team to remain in the city past this season, while the Tropicana closes its doors after almost 67 years to make way for the A’s planned 33,000-seat stadium.

Tuesday’s meeting between the A’s and Oakland officials is shaping up to be a key moment in deciding whether the team, which plans to build a new $1.5 billion stadium at the Tropicana site, will stay at the Coliseum beyond 2024.

City officials plan to propose a five-year, $97 million extension of the team’s lease with an opt-out after three years, according to documents obtained by ESPN and ABC7. Even if the team leaves after three years, the city’s proposal would require the A’s to pay the full amount.

That creates a significant gulf between what the city is asking and what the A’s have offered — a two-year deal worth $17 million, according to ESPN’s report, which stated that the current lease is $1.5 million per year. If they stay the full five years, the annual cost would be $19.4 million; if they opt out, it would be $32.3 million.

A major incentive for the A’s to stay in Oakland is the reported $67 million in annual revenue from the team’s deal to broadcast games on NBC Sports California. If the team were to leave for Sacramento, one of two cities it has targeted outside of Oakland and Las Vegas, it could potentially continue broadcasting games on that channel for at least a portion of that deal.

The A’s have also met with officials in Salt Lake City about the team potentially playing at an under-construction minor league ballpark that would be ready for the 2025 season.

No matter where the team ends up in the interim years, the A’s plan to continue playing a series of spring training games and potentially a series or two of regular-season games at Las Vegas Ballpark, A’s President Dave Kaval told the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month.

This week’s meeting will be the third in a series of discussions since the sides began extension talks in February.

The opt-out after three years would align with the A’s targeted date of opening their proposed stadium on the Las Vegas Strip in time for the 2028 season, though the Tropicana still sits on that site.

The casino is set to close Tuesday as organizers begin preparing to demolish it, but the team still could be delayed by legal challenges to the $380 million in public funding earmarked for the stadium, which would be MLB’s smallest.

Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s Corp., which owns the Tropicana, told the Review-Journal last week that the hotel is tentatively planned to be demolished in October. The A’s would then begin construction on the Strip ballpark in April 2025.

Oakland also asks that the team sell its 50 percent share of the Coliseum as part of the deal.

The A’s have been in discussions with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group about selling the team’s half of the Coliseum to the majority Black-owned group. AASEG would look to develop a sports, entertainment, business and educational district on the Coliseum site.

Additionally, the city plans to ask MLB to commit to a yearlong exclusive window to negotiate for an expansion team if and when the league does add franchises or a vote to leave the A’s brand in Oakland.

A third alternative, per ESPN, would be to facilitate the team’s sale to a local buyer, but Fisher has said repeatedly that he does not plan to sell the A’s, despite fans’ protests.

Las Vegas Review-Journal staff writer Mick Akers contributed to this report.