Athletics' relocation update: Oakland, Alameda County, and A's meet again

The Oakland Athletics met with representatives of the city of Oakland and Alameda County on Tuesday to further discuss extending the A's lease at the Coliseum.

David Haubert of Alameda County spoke to the SF Chronicle afterward ($), stating that the sides had a productive meeting and that everyone involved understands the need for an expedited timeline.

The Athletics need to have a plan in place for the 2025 season as soon as the beginning of May so that the league office can release a preliminary schedule for next season.

Despite Haubert claiming the meeting was productive, there's no indication that the sides are close on a deal. We learned via Casey Pratt of ABC7 the terms of the city's offer, which included a considerable rent hike with a 5-year lease, as well as the requirement that John Fisher sell his stake of the Coliseum.

It was reported by Tim Keown of ESPN that the Athletics had offered to pay $17 million total for the lease extension. The city has asked for $97 million, to be paid in full regardless of whether the A's opt out of the deal after three years.

The city and county have also reportedly asked for either exclusive negotiating rights to be granted an expansion franchise after the A's move, OR the ability to keep the Athletics brand and color scheme, OR the ability to help facilitate a franchise sale to a local ownership group.

Oakland and Alameda County not on the same page?

In their column at the SF Chronicle, John Shea and Scott Ostler reported that the city and the county "are not unified in their negotiations". It's unclear at this time which parts of the conversation the two sides don't agree on.

It's possible that it has to do with who Fisher will sell his stake in the Coliseum property to. It's also possible that the county isn't prioritizing an expansion team. There are too many variables left at this stage to provide a clear answer.

At the end of the day, we don't have a ton of new information and time is still running out on the parties to come up with a definitive answer. As of now, it doesn't sound like the two sides are going to come to an agreement.

The Athletics are scheduled to meet with Sacramento today to discuss staging a home at Sutter Health Park, home of the Sacramento River Cats. It's important to note that Fisher is friends with River Cats' owner Vivek Ranadive, who also owns the NBA's Sacramento Kings.

Sharing a minor league park with your cross-town rival's Triple-A team doesn't sound like the most ideal plan but the A's are quickly running out of options.

If they don't want to pay Oakland $97 million in rent over the next five years, they'll have to settle for a restructured RSN deal, assuming NBC Sports California is willing to negotiate with the A's.

Fisher will likely get a better deal from his buddy than what he's been offered in Oakland, but it'll cost him a significant portion of the A's annual TV rights money. We'll see how the meeting plays out on Wednesday but the A's are running out of time to make a decision.