Oakland named as one of two expansion sites once A’s leave for Vegas in 2028

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao addresses the media during a Wed Feb 15, 2023 press conference at Oakland City Hall. Mayor Thao has said the City of Oakland would consider extending the A’s lease through the 2027 season if the city would retain the A’s name and the city gets an expansion team. (AP photo file)

By Amaury Pi Gonzalez and Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–You might recall Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao said that if Oakland A’s are looking for extending they’re lease between 2025-27 before moving to Las Vegas the city of Oakland wants assurance of an MLB expansion team. According to USA Today reports two high officials in MLB said that Oakland and Nashville have been named as the top two cities for expansion.

The A’s ballpark is expected to be completed at the Tropicana Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas strip by 2028. The A’s are committed to play at the Oakland Coliseum through the 2024 season. Then after 2024 where do the A’s play? Several sites have been suggested Salt Lake City, Las Vegas Aviators park, Reno, and San Francisco.

Mayor Thao said as long as Oakland is assured an expansion team when the A’s leave in 2028 the city would grant the A’s an extension to play at the Coliseum for an additional three more years until they pack up and leave for Sin City.

With the two high ranking officials saying Oakland is on the list for expansion Thao will most likely extend the A’s lease through the 2027 season. The officials who were not named said the city of Oakland needs to secure an owner who will build a new ballpark most likely at the Howard Terminal location. Mayor Thao would most likely need to identify an owner who will build the new ballpark and take charge of the expansion team to make it happen.

Thao had said that the city in part of extending the Oakland Coliseum lease for the A’s would retain the Oakland A’s name and brand. A’s owner John Fisher had said that the A’s will not relinquish the name when they move to Vegas and intends to keep the A’s brand.

It was also mentioned in the report that the city and the A’s were close to a deal in before the A’s announced they were leaving for Vegas. Thao had said the city and A’s were ten percent of the way to finalizing a deal but the A’s broke off negotiations and said they had a binding deal with the Rio in Las Vegas. The deal at the Rio was later broke off and now the A’s are trying to build at the Tropicana location which the A’s are waiting for MLB owners approval a vote that is expected to take place in December.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez is the lead play by play voice on the Oakland A’s Spanish radio network and Jerry Feitelberg is an Oakland A’s reporter at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Headline Sports podcast with Jessica Kwong: No broken jaw, teeth alignment needed for Twins Farmer; Umpire hit in head by ball sent to hospital; plus more

Minnesota Twins Kyle Farmer hits the deck after getting hit in the jaw by a Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito at Target Field in Minneapolis. Farmer will need to have his teeth realigned according to Twins manager Rocco Baldelli. photo by USA Today)

On Headlines with Jessica:

#1 Minnesota Twins shortstop Kyle Farmer was hit in the jaw by Chicago White Sox pitcher Lucas Giolito who threw a 91.6 MPH pitch. Farmer was laid out and had to get help up and was able to walk with assistance to the Twins clubhouse. Twins manager Rocco Baldelli said after the game Wednesday that Farmer will need to get his teeth realigned, Farmer had to have a laceration closed and was very lucky to avoid getting a broken jaw.

#2 MLB second base umpire Larry Vanover was hit in the head by a ball that was was thrown by Cleveland Guardians shortstop Andres Gimenez who intended to throw to home plate after the New York Yankees Kyle Higashioka hit it to Gimenez. Vanover was removed for the game for precautions and was taken to a local hospital for observation.

#3 A group called Big League Utah wants a big league expansion team in downtown Salt Lake City. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said that he would like to have 32 teams in the majors. Salt Lake City is one of three other cities who want an expansion team Nashville, Portland, and Charlotte. Oakland and Tampa Bay do not look like they’ll be getting stadium soon and they could be looking for a place to move to.

#4 Jessica, the Tampa Bay Rays continue to run away with it they picked up their 12th straight win against the Boston Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon 9-2. The Rays remain unbeaten through 12 games. The Rays are getting the hitting, today they opened up in the bottom of the first with three runs and got good starting pitching from Rays starter Taj Bradley.

#5 The Los Angeles Angels have banned a beat writer who was on the Angels radio show “Beat Reporters Round Table.” Angels team president John Carpino wanted Athletic beat writer Sam Blum barred from coming back on the show because he was too critical of the Angels. The Angels are currently a .500 team. Carpino said that he was banned because he was too negative on the show and the show is supposed to be an upbeat program.

Join Jessica Kwong for Headline Sports Wednesday nights at http://www.sportsradioservice.com