Sacramento A's becoming a real possibility
It appears as though the A's finding a temporary home in Sacramento is picking up steam. The franchise is planning to move to Las Vegas from Oakland for the 2028 season, but they only have a lease with the city of Oakland that runs through 2024. The A's have been searching for a temporary home, at various times listing Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, San Francisco, Sacramento, and even staying in Oakland as potential fits for this three-year period. Right now, it's Sacramento in the lead, according to Carmichael Dave.
For those keeping score at home, that would be the San Francisco Giants Triple-A affiliate splitting time with the A's at Sutter Health Park. The owner of the River Cats and the ballpark is Sacramento Kings owner and friend of John Fisher, Vivek Ranadivé. The Giants and Kings would be helping the A's leave town if this deal with Sacramento ends up happening.
Then we have this video from just a couple of days ago. It seems as though the River Cats haven't been kept in the loop on any discussions that have been had.
This could be a tough pill to swallow for a portion of the Kings fanbase, who have also grown up A's fans. Vivek helped to keep the Kings in Sacramento not that long ago, and aiding the A's departure from Oakland for Las Vegas by providing safe harbor is certainly a choice. Even some Giants fans in the area don't seem to be on board with Vivek helping out Fisher in this deal.
The questions we have right now are: How real is this report and what's in it for Vivek? There is no reason to doubt Carmichael Dave here, but the A's have liked to plant reports now and again to attempt to gain leverage elsewhere in the past. The team and the city of Oakland are expected to have a meeting to discuss a lease extension on April 2, which is on Tuesday.
Here is how this could end up playing out. The A's and Oakland have their meeting on Tuesday, likely in the morning or the early afternoon. If there is no tangible progress made for a deal that the franchise finds suitable, then they will scrap their parallel path talk and focus solely on Sacramento. If a deal is close already, then we could expect an announcement sometime on Wednesday after the A's leave town. In other words, the exact same thing that the team did last season when they announced that they would be relocating for Las Vegas--they waited for the road trip.
As for what would be in this for Vivek, there are some possibilities that make sense. Fisher has been vocal about looking for private investors in the A's, yet he has prefered them to be connected to Las Vegas. Perhaps he gives up the condition that they need to be from Vegas and just goes with whomever is offering him money for part of the team instead. That is purely speculation, but given what we know about the A's relocation process, it would add up.
It feels as though the A's will have an announcement on their temporary home relatively soon, and we may finally have an answer as early as next week.