A's to play in Sacramento before Vegas move

The Oakland Athletics will have a new home at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025-27 campaigns before moving to Las Vegas, the team announced Thursday.

There is an option for the A's to play a fourth season at Sutter Health Park, according to a statement from the NBA's Sacramento Kings obtained by The Athletic's Evan Drellich. The Kings are majority owners of the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, the minor-league affiliate of the San Francisco Giants, who currently play in the same West Sacramento ballpark.

Sutter Health Park has just over 10,000 seats, with grass outfield seats increasing capacity to 14,000.

Oakland Coliseum is capable of holding 46,847 fans for baseball games, although it can seat 56,782 if tarps are removed from designated sections. The A's have averaged 6,438 fans to begin the 2024 campaign.

"We explored several locations for a temporary home, including the Oakland Coliseum," Athletics owner John Fisher said Thursday, according to The San Francisco Chronicle's John Shea.

"Even with the long-standing relationship and good intentions on all sides in the negotiations with Oakland, the conditions to achieve an agreement seemed out of reach."

Fisher continued: "We understand the disappointment this news brings to our fans, as this season marks our final one in Oakland. Throughout this season, we will honor and celebrate our time in Oakland, and will share additional details soon."

The MLBPA will need to sign off on the A's playing in a minor-league park.

"The MLBPA has had preliminary discussions with MLB about a range of issues related to the temporary relocation and we expect those discussions to continue," a union spokesperson said, according to Shea.

The A's filed two new trademarks on Thursday, requesting to use "Sacramento A's" and "Sacramento Athletics" branding in conjunction with the potential move, according to trademark attorney Josh Gerben.

Oakland citizens have protested the team's relocation after Fisher's request to move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved by his fellow owners last November.

The A's have called Oakland Coliseum home since 1968 after the franchise was located in Philadelphia from 1901-54 and Kansas City from 1955-67.