A’s to Play in Sac-Town for 3 Years Before Vegas Move

The A's will play in Sactown for three years before moving to Vegas

The Oakland Athletics announced Thursday they will play three seasons in Sacramento starting in 2025. The game will be played at Sutter Health Park, a 14,000-seat baseball stadium majority owned by the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

The Athletics plan to share the little-known ballpark with the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A farm team of the San Francisco Giants, while they await construction of a new stadium for them on the grounds of the Tropicana Hotel and Casino. The historic casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip closed permanently Tuesday with plans for demolition in October.

When the Athletics play in Sacramento, they will drop "Oakland" from their name, but they also won't become the Sacramento Athletics. According to TMZ Sports, the team will become Cityless Athletics before moving to Las Vegas as its permanent home.

"We look forward to moving to Las Vegas and making Sutter Health Park our home," A's owner John Fisher said in a statement. "We are grateful to the Kings and the city of West Sacramento Hosting the Athletics games while we work to complete the new stadium in Las Vegas.”

The Giants were reportedly unwilling to share their Oracle Arena with a regional rival and instead offered their farm team stadium to the Athletics.

HEdging your bets

Rhode Island-based Bally's Gaming Corp., which operates Tropicana Field, has repeatedly said it intends to build a 30,000-seat A's ballpark for the A's on 9 acres of Tropicana Field's 35 acres.

Mortenson-McCarthy, the construction firm hired by the Athletics, told the Las Vegas Stadium Authority last year that construction of the ballpark would begin in April 2025 and be completed in time for the start of the 2028 season.

If the Las Vegas construction project is delayed or even canceled — a possibility that many knowledgeable Las Vegas observers fear is a real possibility — the Athletics have the option of converting their lease to Sutter Health Park Extended for fourth year.

Fisher's MLB owners unanimously approved the Athletics' move in November.

The Athletics' current lease at the Oakland Coliseum is set to expire at the end of this season, and tensions between Fisher and the city reportedly prevented it from being renewed.

Although the Las Vegas Ballpark was initially considered for the 8,000-seat home of the Athletics' Triple-A Las Vegas Pilots, the Athletics were faced with playing outdoors during a triple-digit summer season in Nevada. The prospect of competition was rejected. Don't like heat. (Who can blame them? Come on, flyers!)