Athletics To Promote Future Las Vegas Home With Uniform Patch

Even though they’re three years removed from completing their move from Oakland to Las Vegas, the Athletics will make an immediate profit on it.

The team will promote their future home with a jersey patch sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority – even though they will play their next three seasons in Sacramento’s minor-league stadium.

Patch Promotional Fee

The LVCVA will pay the team $8.25 million over three seasons, according to The Athletic, with $2.5 million this year, $2.75 million next year, and $3 million in 2027. To mollify Sacramento interests, the A’s will also wear a Sacramento patch in 2025, its first year since leaving Oakland.

In a news release, team owner John Fisher said, “This partnership is more than just a jersey patch—it’s the beginning of the transition to our new home. This is a chance to wear our hearts on our sleeves for the next three years before bringing the vibrant spirit of our new home front and center across our uniforms.”

It’s unusual – to say the least – for a team to promote a city in which it is not playing.

“One of the reasons that something like this hasn’t been done, at least for a team that’s moving, is that they’re still in the city they’re moving from,” LVCVA president Steve Hill said. “Because (the A’s are) moving to Sacramento for three years before coming here, it opened up that possibility of doing that.”

The Athletics plan to occupy a new, 33,000-seat, all-baseball ballpark in 2028, though ground has not yet been broken on the massive construction project. The NFL’s Raiders moved from Oakland to Las Vegas in 2020 but play in their own facility.

Roster Resource projects the Athletics’ $76 million as second-lowest in the majors, ahead of the projected $70 million the Miami Marlins pay their players.

The A’s finished dead last in attendance, drawing 922,286 to the dilapidated Oakland Coliseum last season, while compiling a 69-93 record. But that was an improvement over the 50 victories the team recorded in 2023.

Improved Roster

Among the team’s stars are Brent Rooker, a powerful designated hitter, and catcher Shea Langeliers, who has hit 51 home runs over the past two years. Both Rooker and right-fielder Lawrence Butler have received recent long-term contract extensions.

Manager Mark Kotsay will also have valuable reinforcements in veterans Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs, both acquired in winter trades, and third baseman Gio Urshela, signed as a free agent.
The team’s top star figures to be flame-throwing closer Mason Miller, a 2024 All-Star who collected 28 saves while fanning more than 14 batters per nine innings. The A’s refused multiple trade offers for Miller during the off-season.

Sutter Health Park, the team’s temporary home, holds only 11,000 people but could be the home of playoff games if the up-and-coming Athletics continue to improve.

After losing Kyle Tucker in a trade and Alex Bregman via free agency, the Houston Astros seem vulnerable in the American League West title chase for the first time in years.

But the A’s will also have to contend with the Kansas City Royals, who reached the playoffs last year, and the Seattle Mariners, the only team that has never won a pennant. In addition, the Texas Rangers hope to retake the world championship crown they won as a wild-card team in 2023.