The now formerly Oakland Athletics will play at least the 2025 season in a Sacramento minor-league ballpark as their poorly conceived and poorly executed efforts to relocate to Las Vegas remain in a holding pattern. On Monday, the organization took the symbolic step of dropping "Oakland" from the franchise name.
Per a club announcement on "brand transition guidelines," the following now applies and reflects the franchise's current uncertain status:
• When referring to the team name, use only "Athletics." You may use "A's" on second reference.
• ATH is the approved designation for the Athletics.
• The city the A's play in is West Sacramento.
• The A's home ballpark is called Sutter Health Park.
• The A's new ballpark address is: Sutter Health Park 400 Ballpark Drive West Sacramento, CA 95691
• The Club's new primary logo is the green "A's" and is attached.
• The Club's primary wordmark will remain unchanged from the green Athletics script.
The A's are leaving Oakland at the bidding of owner John Fisher. Las Vegas has committed public dollars to the construction of a new ballpark for the A's, but that partial funding will be secured only if Fisher is able to secure private financing for the rest of the stadium project.
Given the financially dubious decision to leave a place in one of MLB's largest media markets, the Bay Area, for a spot in what would be MLB's smallest media market, it makes for a hard sell to potential investors. That's why the A's have offered precious little in terms of specifics and have repeatedly missed important deadlines. It's not to be assumed that the A's ever wind up in Las Vegas, and in that sense it's fitting that there's no location attached to their name. It's anyone's guess as to when that will change.
