Catching Up on A's Relocation News

On Wednesday, with the narrative around the move seemingly changing, I wrote about how the local leaders in Oakland need to make some noise. If the A's start looking for an escape route from this relocation ordeal, Oakland needs to be waiting with open arms, and plenty of solutions. On Thursday, mayor Thao talked with Ken Rosenthal for The Athletic, which is a pretty big move.

Not much of what was said in the article was new to A's fans, but the best quote in the entire piece was, "There was a thought that this plan he had in the beginning was viable. And now we’re seeing that actually, maybe the plan isn’t viable. The question becomes, are the plans not viable or is it that the ownership’s not viable?” Getting her message to his wide audience was a good move. 

Add in that Rob Manfred said he would be "disappointed" if the A's ballpark isn't ready in Las Vegas by Opening Day 2028, and you get the sense that MLB isn't going to support Fisher forever in his ballpark quest. 

Melissa Lockard opined on Twitter this weekend that Manfred really wants to make it into Las Vegas before the NBA, which is why they have been bending over backwards to make this relocation happen. She notes, as was reported in The Athletic, that expansion may not happen as quickly with the RSN deals in a precarious situation. "We’re gonna have to get our footing on local media a little better" Manfred told Evan Drellich. 

If Lockard is correct, and it would make sense that she is, then what happens if Fisher doesn't meet that deadline to get a ballpark built by Opening Day 2028? Could the fate of the A's depend upon when the NBA actually decides to expand and when they plan to introduce those two new teams, presumably in Vegas and Seattle? 

There is still not a clear path to getting the A's back to Oakland, but there are a lot of floating timelines out there that could become a hindrance to Fisher's plans. The Tropicana is closing its doors on April 2 to get ready for demolition--with or without a ballpark on the site--on top of the NBA's plans for expansion. Fisher is going to have to start meeting the deadlines set before him to make sure that he stays in the picture, or he may be pushed out entirely. 

If Fisher doesn't meet the 2028 deadline, and we'd know if he is on track to do so by about this time next year, then maybe MLB decides they'd rather just have an expansion team in Vegas, which has been the smart play all along, if they aren't going to beat basketball to the market. With Vegas off the board, then it could come down to a choice between Salt Lake City or Oakland for which city the team gets to call home. Which location ends up hosting the team in 2025 could be a big determining factor. Oakland has the advantage of $70 million in RSN money for Fisher, but Utah has the perk of the A's owner not being a villain in his own ballpark, at least for a little while. 

This adventure still has many twists and turns to come, and fans are about to start filling ballparks once more. Except for Opening Day, when A's fans will be staging a boycott in the Coliseum parking lot.