Oakland A’s and city officials remain ‘far apart’ on Coliseum lease extension after Tuesday’s meeting
A meeting between the A’s and Oakland officials on Tuesday provided little hope that the team will sign a lease extension to stay at the Coliseum beyond 2024.
The A’s believe the two sides aren’t close to an agreement.
“We appreciate Oakland’s engagement and also we are far apart on the terms needed to agree on an extension,” the club said in a statement.
The meeting took place at 8:30 a.m. at the A’s offices in Jack London Square, where there was some hope that progress could be made on extending the A’s lease, which expires after this season.
The city has lowered its demands and is no longer requesting the guarantee of an expansion team in MLB, nor demanding the A’s to leave their name and colors behind, according to ESPN and ABC7, which obtained details of the offer.
Oakland officials planned to present a five-year offer in which the A’s would pay $97 million to stay at the Coliseum through 2029 and could opt out of the deal after three years, though they’d have to pay the total sum regardless.
The A’s planned to counter with a two-year deal worth $17 million, according to ESPN.
It’s a steep rent hike for a team that had been paying around $1.5 million in rent.
Leigh Hanson, Oakland’s chief of staff, declined to comment about Tuesday’s meeting, but recently told ESPN the city needed $97 million to help cover Oakland’s $170 million general fund deficit.
The city was also asking for the A’s to pay for the costs of turning the Coliseum into a soccer field for the Oakland Roots, for the A’s to sell their 50% stake in the coliseum and for MLB to provide at least one of the following demands: a one-year window with exclusive negotiating rights for an expansion team in Oakland; voting to leave the A’s branding and colors in Oakland; or aiding in the sale of the team to a local ownership group.
MLB cannot guarantee anything related to expansion, since all 30 owners would need to vote on expansion, which isn’t expected to happen for several years.
Warriors owner Joe Lacob said last October that he might be interested in buying the A’s if they were for sale, but A’s owner John Fisher has said repeatedly he’s not interested in selling the team. And there have been no ownership groups presenting themselves as an option to pilot an expansion team in Oakland.
A source familiar with Tuesday’s negotiations indicated that the City of Oakland and Alameda County were not unified in their offer to the A’s.
If the A’s cannot come to an agreement to stay at the Coliseum, a temporary move to Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, the Triple-A home of the San Francisco Giants, has been floated as the most likely scenario. A move out of the Bay Area would cost the A’s $67 million in annual local broadcast revenue.
“It’s important for me to express my sincere hope that the A’s remain in Oakland,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg told CBS Sacramento on Monday. “I have been consistent in my support for this from the very beginning. However, I believe that Sacramento has so much to offer and would be a fantastic temporary landing spot for the A’s. Our city and region have a rich history in baseball and a deep love for sports. Sacramento would wholeheartedly welcome Major League Baseball, as we have shown with the Sacramento Kings. Second to Oakland, Sacramento is the best choice.”
This story is developing.