A's president: 'No trip planned to Portland' to discuss relocation

Oakland Athletics president Dave Kaval poured cold water on a report that suggested team officials are scheduled to visit Portland to discuss relocating the franchise there.

"There's no trip planned to Portland. So I don't know where that story came from or what happened, but that is completely inaccurate," Kaval told the Starting 9 Podcast Tuesday. "I've said that, we've said it on background to different people in the press, I've even told people in the Las Vegas media about that. So like, I don't know where that came from or how that happened, but it's just not a thing."

Portland Diamond Project, a group attempting to bring Major League Baseball to Oregon's largest city, said Monday they've been in touch with the Athletics. The group reportedly secured a June visit from A's brass that would include Kaval and owner John Fisher, among others, a source told John Canzano of The Oregonian.

An Athletics spokesperson said multiple cities have reached out to the team, but the organization's focus is on staying in Oakland and exploring a move to Las Vegas, according to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Kaval said last week that six cities had been in touch with the franchise. Only Las Vegas has been made public. Kaval was part of an A's group that visited Sin City on Monday, where he raised eyebrows on social media by tweeting about the crowd at the Golden Knights' NHL playoff game.

The A's are exploring relocation while also trying to gain approval for a new waterfront ballpark in downtown Oakland. Their lease at the aging Oakland Coliseum expires in 2024.

Despite the Athletics openly courting other cities to discuss relocation, Kaval stressed that the team is working hard to stay in Oakland long term.

"It's important to note that we have not announced we're moving the team to some other market," he said. "We're playing in Oakland, we're fighting harder than any (other) team ever to make a waterfront ballpark a success. The other two teams (the NBA's Warriors and NFL's Raiders) left (Oakland) without even an effort. And so we will continue to do that, and I think what we're trying to do is we're trying to demonstrate what's possible with the new venue.

"We're like 10 years past when it (a new ballpark) should have happened, in all reality. ... It's incredible how long this has taken, and we owe it to everyone to bring this to a resolution one way or another."