City of Oakland offers A’s a five-year lease extension at the Coliseum amid search for a temporary home before Las Vegas move… but officials demand they pay $97million ‘to cover a structural deficit’

The city of Oakland will make a pitch to keep the Athletics in town for up to five years by extending the team’s lease, ESPN reported late Saturday night.

Citing documents the network said it and San Francisco television station KGO have obtained, the offer will be presented on Tuesday, when the city and team meet for the third time since MLB owners gave their unanimous for the franchise to move to Las Vegas.

The team would be able to opt out of the lease after three years, according to the report, but would be required to pay the city a $97million ‘extension fee’ per the documents, the report said. The current lease expires after this season.

With a new stadium in Las Vegas not expected to be ready before the start of the 2028 season, the A’s have been exploring where to play their home games beyond 2024.

Salt Lake City and Sacramento have been in talks with the club.

The City of Oakland is offering to extend the A’s lease at the Coliseum temporarily 

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The report indicated that Oakland is no longer demanding that the A’s name and colors be reserved for the city, nor that MLB guarantee Oakland an expansion team. The extension fee would not be subject to negotiation, however, according to the city’s chief of staff, Leigh Hanson.

‘We are very interested in doing business, and in having the A’s stay in Oakland. Part of that is helping them solve this interim location challenge and just being clear in what we expect in return,’ Hanson said.

She said the city needs the $97million to help cover a $170million structural deficit on the stadium.

The team has previously proposed a two-year agreement with payments of $7million and $10million over the course of the lease. The A’s pay $1.5million in rent to play in the Coliseum under the expiring lease.

This announcement comes days after thousands of Oakland Athletics supporters gathered outside the Coliseum to protest their impending move to Las Vegas on MLB’s Opening Day.

Before, during and after their brutal 8-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, supporter groups the Oakland 68s and the Last Dive Bar held a boycott in the stadium’s parking lot for fans to make their displeasure known ahead of the A’s relocation.

The franchise, which originated in Philadelphia in 1901, operated in Kansas City from 1955 to 1967, before moving to Oakland.