(KRON) — There is more uncertainty about where the Oakland A’s will play next season. A deal has been reached to have the A’s play at a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento until their new Las Vegas stadium is ready.
However, one of baseball’s most high-profile agents is casting doubt as to whether Sacramento will really happen.
Is there still a chance the A’s could play next season at the Oakland Coliseum?
Not according to Major League Baseball, which maintains “it is a certainty that the A’s will play their 2025 season in Sacramento as planned.” Though the league admits it’s still working out details with the players’ association, one of baseball’s most high-profile agents, Scott Boras, is raising questions about the viability of West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park.
“The issue is it’s outdoors. You have turf that’s outdoors for major league players,” Boras said. “I played on astroturf in the minor leagues, and that hot sun, my god, is 130 degrees. We have no major league fields that are astroturf, that are outdoors. They’re all indoors. We’re talking about players with millions and millions of dollars of asset value to teams and to themselves.”
Boras tells Sacramento radio station KFBK that the plan to put in artificial turf is just one of the problems that must be resolved.
“The other thing is the facilities have to have massive indoor rooms so that players can work out players could do all their pregame in proper environments, all those things,” Boras said. “When you’re having a shared facility, when you have multiple teams playing in one space, all those things are unknown.”
Boras says he thinks the African American Sports & Entertainment Group’s (AASEG) purchase of the Coliseum could put Oakland back in the running as the A’s home until their Las Vegas stadium is ready.
“The Oakland A’s are now going to get a great deal from the Coliseum ownership group where they would certainly want the team there,” Boras said. “They have their offices there. Everything works for them.”
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao remains optimistic the a’s could play at the Coliseum next year.
“The A’s last game is coming up, and I’m not convinced that that’s going to be their last game,” Thao said. “We absolutely welcome them back. There would be no losers in all this. It would just be a win all around.”
But not all fans are so welcoming. Bryan Johansen is one of the founders of the fan group and online shop “Last Dive Bar.”
“The A’s are definitely welcomed back, but (owner) John Fisher is not welcome back,” Johansen said. “It’s John Fisher what he’s done in this franchise, what he’s done in the fan base, what he’s on the baseball as a whole, just leaves a sour taste in everybody’s mouth, and so he’s never welcomed back.”
KRON4 reached out to the players’ association but did not hear back in time for this report.
(KRON) — There is more uncertainty about where the Oakland A’s will play next season. A deal has been reached to have the A’s play at a minor league ballpark in West Sacramento until their new Las Vegas stadium is ready. However, one of baseball’s most high-profile agents is casting doubt as to whether Sacramento […]
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