San Jose, 40 miles south of Oakland, was proposed in 2012, but the San Francisco Giants blocked the site because it was part of that team’s territory. The A’s in 2006 proposed a ballpark in Fremont, about 25 miles south in the East Bay, but abandoned the plan three years later.
Since the Washington Senators became the Texas Rangers in 1972, the only other team to relocate was the Montreal Expos, who became the Washington Nationals in 2005. The new stadium will be the team’s fifth after Columbia Park (1901-08), Shibe Park (1909-54), Memorial Stadium (1955-67) and the Coliseum. They played in Philadelphia from 1901-54, moved to Kansas City for 13 seasons and arrived in Oakland in 1968. Las Vegas will become the the A’s fourth city, the most for an MLB team. He said the preference will be to “find an 81-game home” for the team, unlike the unique situation with the Toronto Blue Jays in 2021, when pandemic travel restrictions caused MLB to shift home games to the team’s spring training facility in Dunedin, Florida, and then its Triple-A ballpark in Buffalo, New York, before going back to Toronto at midseason.
Manfred said the a variety of alternatives are being explored, including the A’s possibly staying at the Coliseum in the interim period.
