Borenstein: Alameda County demands A’s make $45 million payment for leaving Oakland
Alameda County officials on Thursday demanded $45 million in payments from the A’s because the baseball team is leaving Oakland for Las Vegas.
It’s a move the county should have taken eight months ago when the team first announced its departure.
But late is better than never.
The demand, in a letter signed by Nate Miley, president of the Board of Supervisors, was prompted by my recent column questioning why the county was not seeking money it was entitled to as part of a contract it had with the team.
That deal, struck in 2019 and expected to close in 2026, calls for the county to sell its half-interest in the Coliseum site to the team. The city of Oakland owns the other half interest.
The county’s sweetheart deal with the A’s bypassed any competitive bidding and probably undervalued the land. It was misleadingly billed by county officials and team President Dave Kaval as an incentive for the team to stay in Oakland.
It proved to be no such thing.
Indeed, not only are the A’s leaving town, but team owner John Fisher, with a half-interest in the Coliseum, will have veto power over the city’s plans for development of the valuable 120-acre parcel adjacent to a BART station. Fans and taxpayers both got shafted.
As part of the deal with the county, the A’s are to pay $85 million in seven payments. Three of those payments, $15 million each, are outstanding and were to be paid in January 2024, February 2025 and January 2026.
County supervisors failed to require that the team stay in town in order to acquire the property. But the contract does require that the A’s accelerate payments if the team makes an “announcement of their relocation out of Oakland.”
All of the payments are due within 180 days of such an announcement. And the A’s made exactly that announcement in April when they told the world that they had signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a future ballpark in Las Vegas.
Yet the county never attempted to collect its money. The 180th day, Oct. 16, came and went without any action or payments. It was only after my Nov. 29 column that county supervisors started to move.
It’s apparent now that County Counsel Donna Ziegler had been dragging her feet on enforcement of the contract. County supervisors say they were told that the April announcements were not sufficient to trigger the acceleration clause. But none of the supervisors can explain why. And Ziegler has not responded to inquiries seeking comment.
Instead, the payment-demand letter sent to the A’s on Thursday says the contract provision was triggered on Nov. 16. That’s when Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the A’s relocation to Las Vegas.
So rather than demanding immediate payment of the full $45 million, the county seeks $15 million when it was originally due in January and the remaining $30 million by May 14, 2024, 180 days after the Nov. 16 vote.
Whether the A’s will comply remains to be seen. Team President Dave Kaval did not return a text message Thursday afternoon seeking comment. He has previously refused to comment on the issue.
The timing of the payments is not expected to affect the formal transfer of property rights. That probably cannot be finalized until 2026 because of outstanding bond debt.
However, the county’s eight-month delay in collecting all the money means the team, not the county, will receive the investment income — the interest — on the funds in the meantime.
And, more important, it somewhat eases the financial pressure on the team, which is scrambling to secure money from Nevada taxpayers to help pay for construction of its new ballpark there.
But, again, late is better than never. In an ideal world, or perhaps just one of wishful thinking, demanding the payments by May would nudge Fisher to back out of the deal rather than cough up the $45 million.
That would free the city and the business group it’s been working with to acquire full ownership and proceed with housing and commercial development of the site.
Failing that, the city still has the option to use eminent domain to force the A’s to sell their half-interest in the Coliseum.
In the meantime, until Fisher shows any respect for Oakland, neither the city nor the county should cut him any breaks.
Daniel Borenstein is editor of The Mercury News and East Bay Times opinion pages.
View more on Silicon Valley