Could the SF Giants share Oracle Park with the Oakland Athletics?

Oracle Park, home of the SF Giants, is apparently one of three locations the Oakland Athletics could use as a home field in 2025.
Could the SF Giants share Oracle Park with the Oakland Athletics?
Could the SF Giants share Oracle Park with the Oakland Athletics? /

Could the Oakland Athletics and SF Giants soon share a home ballpark? What seemed like a far-fetched idea in the past could transform into a real possibility, according to reporting by John Shea of The San Francisco Chronicle. It seems the rollercoaster regarding the A’s proposed move to Las Vegas continues to present new twists and turns.

A general view of Oracle Park before a game between the Braves and Giants
The A's could possibly play 30-40 games at Oracle Park starting in 2025 / Robert Edwards-USA TODAY Sports

The A's are awaiting approval from MLB for their relocation request to Las Vegas. The plan involves playing in a suggested $1.5 billion, 33,000-seat stadium with a retractable roof located on the Strip. However, their lease on the Oakland Coliseum is set to expire following the 2024 season.

In simpler terms, the A’s will need a place to play home games for three seasons until their ballpark in Las Vegas is ready in 2028 – with the slow manner in which proceedings are moving now, it’s hard to imagine any aimed timetable is set in stone.

Oracle Park, the Giants’ waterfront ballpark they’ve called home since 2000, is one of three likely locations for the A’s to play home games once their lease expires, Oakland President Dave Kaval told The Nevada Independent this week.

The other two options are the Coliseum – the A’s may extend their lease by a few seasons to fit their needs as construction in Nevada looms – and Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin South, home of the A’s Triple-A club – the Las Vegas Aviators – of the Pacific Coast League. The latter option has some obstacles with significant upgrades needed to function as a viable MLB facility.

“I think those are the three most likely scenarios and how that plays out,” Kaval said. “That's something [Major League Baseball] is running point on.”

According to Shea, the Giants would not comment on Kaval’s statement, but there have been some rumblings about the Giants sharing their stadium with the A’s for roughly 30-40 games

For a plan of this magnitude to happen, it’s likely the Giants would have to sacrifice many of their non-baseball events that are held at Oracle Park while the team is on the road – concerts, ceremonies, additional sporting contests, and other occasions where the venue is rented out would all be significantly cut. They would also have to deal with the addition of extra facilities and the constant maneuvering of brands, which could weigh on team employees and support staff.

Shea also noted the noticeable benefit for the A’s. They wouldn’t have to forgo their current regional TV deal with NBC Sports California, which runs through 2033 and has an annual value close to $60 million. Since the SF Giants have a contract with the same network, the transition would be seamless. If the A’s move out of the Bay Area before their stadium is built, they would be opting to lose all of that TV money. If anything has been learned about Kaval and Oakland owner John Fisher, it’s that maximizing any profit is the main goal.


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Steven Rissotto
STEVEN RISSOTTO

Steven Rissotto (he/him) is an award-winning journalist who currently covers the San Francisco Giants for SFBay.ca and Giants Baseball Insider. At 19-years-old in 2021, he joined SF Bay Media as the Giants beat writer, covering games a few times a week during the Giants’ record-setting 107-win season. Along with his game story coverage he is also the host of RizzoCast, a baseball podcast he founded in 2020 that features interviews with professional and amateur baseball players, coaches, media, fans, and everyone else around the game. Past guests have included Tyler Glasnow, Bob Kendrick, Shawn Estes, Bill Laskey, Renel Brooks Moon, Dave Dravecky, Ned Colletti, Denard Span, Ron Wotus, Joe Maddon, J.T. Snow and more. He is also a co-host with Tylor Hall on the Shutdown Inning Podcast, a show focused on all the latest happenings around the baseball world. Both podcasts are available on YouTube and everywhere podcasts are found. Currently, he is a student at San Francisco State University where he is majoring in Journalism with an emphasis in print/online and minoring in education. At SF State, he is the managing editor for Golden Gate Xpress, the student-run newspaper. He was formerly a member of the newspaper at Skyline College, where he served as editor-in-chief and news editor while also writing sports and features. He was formerly a student-journalist at Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco, where he pitched for the baseball team and covered some of the biggest stories in campus history. This includes a new multi-sports facility on campus, the breaking news coverage of Riordan’s coed announcement and the COVID-19 pandemic. Steven is well-respected by his peers and has been honored numerous times by Student Newspapers Online, JEA, ACP, and the California Publishing Association. In 2021, he finished second in the country for Reporter of the Year for ACP among the two-year college schools.