Carmichael Dave: Sacramento a real possibility to temporarily land Oakland Athletics

Mar 26, 2024, 1:17 PM

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA - MARCH 18: Ross Stripling #36 of the Oakland Athletics pitches against the Arizona Diamondbacks during the first inning of a spring training game at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick on March 18, 2024 in Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

(Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

BY JOSEPH JAROSZ

Sactown Sports

We’re days away from the start of the 2024 MLB season, yet the Oakland Athletics don’t know where they’ll play in 2025.

The team’s lease with the Coliseum expires after the 2024 season, forcing the Athletics to find a temporary home until their new ballpark in Las Vegas is built. And the earliest a Las Vegas ballpark could be 2028. So there are three seasons where the team’s home is up in the air.

This process of finding a temporary home has included three possible locations: returning to Oakland or playing in Sacramento or Salt Lake City.

On Tuesday’s show, Carmichael Dave said from the whispers he’s heard, the Athletics would prefer Sacramento over the other two locations.

“The problem, from what I have understood, or at least the the tipping point here on the A’s to Sacramento has been Comcast,” Dave said. “Comcast currently has a deal with the A’s, a TV deal that is for a lot of money. Sacramento is not the market that Oakland is. So naturally, if the A’s were to relocate for three years to Sacramento, Comcast would want to adjust that number down and renegotiate that deal.”

On the A’s front:

Hearing there has been serious movement over the last 24 hours.

While NO DEAL IS DONE, Sacramento definitely has the momentum to be their 3 year home beginning next year.

— Carmichael Dave (@CarmichaelDave) March 26, 2024

In 2022, Sacramento Kings Owner and Chairman Vivek Ranadivé purchased the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Dave points out that the Kings also have a partnership with Comcast.

“The wait, as I understand it, has been Comcast making an offer, a counter offer, if you will, on adjusting that rate down so that the A’s know what they’re dealing with,” Dave said. “Sources say there was movement on that yesterday and whether it was verbal or written, I don’t know. But that Comcast did a thing. It sounds like there are politics now involved going all the way up to the governor, who very much wants the A’s to stay in California as long as possible, preferably in Oakland, perhaps, but certainly in California.

“If I were a betting man, I would put incredibly heavy odds on the on the A’s coming to Sacramento and an announcement sometime in the next week or two.”

Any temporary locations — whether it’s in Sacramento, Salt Lake City or back in Oakland — would need to be approved by the player’s association.

How did the A’s get here?

Last November, Major League Baseball unanimously approved the Athletics relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. The team plans to build a $1.5 billion, nine-acre stadium where the Tropicana Hotel currently stands. The ballpark, which was granted $380 in public funding for construction in the summer of 2023, could open as early as 2028 if everything goes according to plan.