Casey Harrison
Interior of the Oakland-Alimeda Coliseum. Aug. 18, 2023. Brian Ramos
Saturday, Dec. 9, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Officials in California are requesting the Oakland Athletics pay $45 million left outstanding for the team’s share in the Oakland-Alameda Coliseum now that the club has committed to relocating to Las Vegas.
Nate Miley, president of the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, sent a letter Thursday to the team outlining a clause in the joint ownership agreement between the county and the A’s in which the team has 180 days to pay the county its share for the stadium.
“The County demands the full payment of the remaining $45 million in Annual Purchase Term Components by no later than May 14, 2024,” Miley wrote in the letter addressed to Coliseum Way Partners LLC, a subsidy of the A’s. “This includes making the scheduled annual payment of $15 million on January 31, 2024. We ask that you acknowledge (the A’s) obligation to make the accelerated payment within ten days of your receipt of this letter.”
The A’s did not return a request for comment.
On Nov. 16, owners from all 30 MLB teams unanimously voted to approve the team’s relocation proposal out of the Bay Area to Southern Nevada, clearing the way for a new stadium to eventually break ground on the Las Vegas Strip. The A’s have played at the Coliseum since relocating there from Kansas City in 1968 and are the first MLB team to relocate since 2004.
The A’s purchased the county’s 50% stake in the Coliseum for $85 million in 2019 and have paid $40 million, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, which first reported the news.
The A’s were to pay the remainder of its balance in increments of $15 million due in January 2024, February 2025 and January 2026.
The Chronicle also notes any development of the Coliseum site could be complicated by A’s owner John Fisher’s 50% stake. If the A’s do not pay off the remaining balance, the A’s cannot take ownership of their interest until January 2026, when the Coliseum bonds are retired.
The $40 million already paid is being held in escrow, pending a lawsuit which claims the sale violates state law, the Chronicle reported.
Until that suit is resolved, all money from the sale goes into an account the county cannot yet use, but if the A’s backed out of the purchase it could possibly allow the county to access the escrowed funds.
Meanwhile in Las Vegas, team officials postponed a ceremony that was scheduled for Monday in light of the death of two Nevada State Police highway troopers who were assisting a motorist along Interstate 15. The team was expected to share new renderings of the proposed $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat ballpark off the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue.
A new event for the unveiling of the renderings has not yet been announced.
