SEATTLE — The Oakland Athletics plan to play the 2024 season at the Oakland Coliseum, the final year under their lease. They plan to open their new stadium in Las Vegas for the 2028 season.
That leaves three seasons when the A's would need a home, and the team would not make that decision on its own. Major League Baseball would work with the A's, but the players' union would have to approve the interim plans, which could involve one or more temporary homes.
The union has no say in whether the A's move, but the league must negotiate the effects of the move — the working conditions — with the union.
"The logistics and the effects bargaining is going to have us front and center," Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Tony Clark said Saturday.
The A's have said they could share the minor league stadium in Las Vegas with the Triple-A team currently there. They could play some games in minor league stadiums — in Reno, Sacramento or elsewhere. They could ask Oakland for a lease extension, or ask the San Francisco Giants for permission to share their ballpark.
MLB owners first must approve the move to Las Vegas. At that point, Clark said, the union would become involved in discussions, particularly if minor league ballparks are part of the plan for an interim home.
"We would have a conversation about the field," he said. "We would have a conversation about the conditions and travel. We would have conversations about the amenities and housing and support that would be around the ballpark, and around the area, for the players and their families."
The president of the minor league team in Las Vegas has said he might need to replace grass with artificial turf in order to accommodate what would be almost daily use by the Triple-A team and the A's. The minor league stadium does not have a roof, and the current 10-day forecast for Las Vegas shows highs ranging from 106 to 115 degrees.
"We would have to make sure that the quality of that turf, if that's what happens, or the quality of the grass and the support for it, if that's what happens, is up to snuff," Clark said.
"You're talking about playing conditions. We are going to be a part of that conversation in one fashion or another, to insure that the quality of play and the standard to which players are accustomed and the safety that is required for players to play on any surface is adhered to."
If the A's opt to play in multiple temporary homes, Clark said the union would again be involved — a point he said the MLBPA reinforced during the recent exploration of whether the Rays could become a two-city team that split its home games between Montreal and the Tampa Bay area.
Clark was a player in 2003 and 2004 when the Expos split the final two years of their existence by splitting home games between Montreal and San Juan, Puerto Rico. That in part involved ensuring options for accommodations for players and their families in two home cities.
"As a result of some of the rhetoric that's been out there for the last couple of years with regards to Tampa, we have revisited that," he said, "to make sure there was an appreciation for all the moving pieces and for what part of the conversation we need to be at the table for."
