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The city of Oakland will present Athletics ownership with an offer to extend the team’s lease that includes a five-year contract with an opt-out after three years, as well as a requirement the team pays a $97 million “extension fee,” according to document obtained by ESPN and KGO-TV in San Francisco on Saturday.

The team and the city will meet Tuesday, the third formal meeting between the two sides since the Athletics received unanimous approval from major league owners to move the franchise to Las Vegas.

The team is hoping its stadium in Las Vegas, on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Tropicana Casino and Resort, will be completed in time to open the 2028 season. With the Coliseum lease expiring at the end of this season, that leaves at least a three-year gap the Athletics and Major League Baseball need to fill.

Commissioner Rob Manfred has expressed a desire to have the team’s interim plans completed by early summer for future scheduling purposes, but he has said only that the team’s temporary home will be “someplace in the West.” The A’s have been in negotiations with Sacramento and Salt Lake City in addition to Oakland, and the idea of a three-year stint in Sacramento — allowing the team to keep a larger percentage of its reported $67 million in yearly local television revenue than it would in Salt Lake City — has gained traction in recent weeks.

The city is proposing the five-year lease with the opt-out after three to safeguard itself in case there are construction delays in Las Vegas or the deal falls through. According to the offer sheet obtained by ESPN and KGO-TV, the city has dropped previous requirements that called for MLB to keep the A’s name and colors in Oakland, as well as a demand that MLB guarantee the city a future expansion team.

“We are very interested in doing business, and in having the A’s stay in Oakland,” said Leigh Hanson, the city’s chief of staff. “Part of that is helping them solve this interim location challenge and just being clear in what we expect in return.”

The $97 million extension fee, a number Hanson terms nonnegotiable and will be owed by the team even if it opts out after three seasons, figures to be the biggest point of contention in the upcoming negotiations. Sources indicate the A’s, who currently pay just $1.5 million in rent to play in the Coliseum, offered a two-year deal and payments of $7 million and $10 million over the course of the lease, contending they have options after two seasons.

The $97 million — the shortfall the city says Fisher walked away from on the multibillion-dollar Howard Terminal project — is what Hanson said the city needs from the A’s to help the Oakland’s $170 million general fund deficit. She indicated the city will earmark those funds to cover public safety expenses.

The city is also asking the team to assume the costs of switching over the Coliseum playing field for the Oakland Roots SC, which plays in the United Soccer League.

The city is also asking the Athletics to sell the 50% share of its ownership in the Coliseum complex — an agreement that has been agreed to but not finalized — to a local developer to allow the city to move forward with redevelopment of the site. Both of those conditions were covered during previous negotiations and are not expected to be contentious.

“I remain committed to doing everything in my power to keep the A’s in Oakland,” Oakland mayor Sheng Thao said in a statement to ESPN. “The terms we have proposed for a lease extension at the Coliseum are clear, reasonable and achievable. Having Major League Baseball in Oakland is what is best for the owners, the league, the players and most importantly, the fans.”

In addition, the city is asking for a commitment from Major League Baseball on one of three options: (1) a one-year exclusive right to solicit ownership of a future expansion team; (2) vote to leave the A’s colors and name in Oakland, or; (3) facilitate the sale of the A’s to a local ownership group.

Oakland’s appeal to owner John Fisher and the A’s includes the $67 million annual local television revenue and the convenience of not having to uproot the team and its employees to play in a minor-league stadium in either Sacramento or Salt Lake City, two cities attempting to position themselves as viable options for MLB expansion. West Sacramento is the home of the RiverCats — the Giants‘ Triple-A affiliate owned by Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who is a friend of Fisher’s.

“The city is putting forward a very reasonable deal,” Hanson said. “We don’t think there’s a poison pill in this deal. We feel this is an accomplishable goal, and we are going forward understanding we have a short window to execute.”

The A’s have drawn just 22,784 fans combined in their first three games of the season, their 56th in Oakland, and have dropped each game to the Guardians. The team has a run differential of minus-19 after those three games after losing 112 games last season. Thursday’s Opening Day game featured a parking lot protest staged by two local fan groups and attended by thousands who refused to buy tickets but remained in the parking lot to watch the contest on a projection screen.

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Reds’ Miley denies wrongdoing in Skaggs case

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Reds' Miley denies wrongdoing in Skaggs case

Cincinnati Reds left-hander Wade Miley said Friday that he has not been accused of any wrongdoing, one day after reports stated a deposition from a lawsuit alleged he supplied Tyler Skaggs with drugs when both players were with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The deposition is part of a motion for summary judgment filed by the Los Angeles Angels, requesting a lawsuit from the Skaggs family be dismissed.

The deposition from Ryan Hamill, Skaggs’ agent, contains testimony that he was concerned in 2013 about Skaggs’ drug use. Hamill said he and Skaggs’ family confronted Skaggs about his drug use. Skaggs was then in his second season as a teammate of Miley with the Diamondbacks.

“He came clean,” Hamill testified. “He said he had been using — I believe it was Percocets — and he said he got them through Wade Miley.”

Skaggs died on July 1, 2019, at age 27 in a Dallas-area hotel. The autopsy found fentanyl, oxycodone and alcohol in his system.

Miley briefly addressed the issue before Friday’s road game against the Detroit Tigers.

“I hate what happened to Tyler, it sucks. My thoughts are with his family and his friends,” Miley said. “But I’m not going to sit here and talk about things that someone might have said about me or whatnot. I was never a witness for any of this. I was never accused of any wrongdoing.”

Former Angels communications director Eric Kay is serving a 22-year prison sentence in Texas after being found guilty on two charges of providing drugs related on Skaggs’ overdose.

The Athletic reported that the criminal proceedings against Kay included a recorded phone conversation in which Kay told his mother that Miley was a drug source to Skaggs.

Asked if Major League Baseball has contacted him regarding the allegations, Miley said, “I’d rather just focus on the Cincinnati Reds right now and baseball and what I have to do moving forward. I’ve got to get ready for a game on Sunday.”

Miley was mentioned in Kay’s criminal case, but he was never charged with a crime.

Skaggs was traded to the Angels after the 2013 season. He went 28-38 with a 4.41 ERA in 96 career starts.

Miley, 38, is with his eighth big league team and attempting to revive his career after Tommy John surgery in 2024.

Miley has a career 109-99 mark with a 4.09 ERA in 319 games (311 starts) since making his major league debut in 2011. This is his second go-round with the Reds. He was with the team in the 2020 and 2021 seasons, going 12-10 with a 3.55 ERA in 177⅓ innings over 34 starts (32 innings).

The Skaggs family is suing the Angels, contending that high-level team officials, as well as other employees, knew Kay was a drug user and should have known he was Skaggs’ source.

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Belmont Stakes to remain at Saratoga in 2026

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Belmont Stakes to remain at Saratoga in 2026

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — The Belmont Stakes is set to be run at Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York for a third consecutive year in 2026.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and the New York Racing Association announced Friday that it will be the third and last time the Triple Crown finale is held there before returning to Belmont Park on Long Island in 2027.

“Saratoga has served our fans and stakeholders extremely well as the temporary home of the Belmont Stakes during the construction of a new Belmont Park on Long Island,” NYRA president and CEO David O’Rourke said. “Belmont Park will always be the home of the Belmont Stakes and we look forward to its return to the newly reimagined Belmont in 2027.”

It was confirmation of an expected extension of the race’s stay at Saratoga while Belmont Park undergoes nearly a half-billion dollar renovation project. It is on track to reopen in September 2026, with the Breeders’ Cup returning to New York at Belmont Park in the fall of 2027.

The Belmont will again be run at 1 1/4 miles instead of its traditional 1-1/2 mile distance that has been known as the “test of the champion.” That has been the case the past two years, as well, because of the configuration of the main dirt track.

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Rays get former top prospect Whitley from Astros

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Rays get former top prospect Whitley from Astros

The Tampa Bay Rays acquired right-hander Forrest Whitley from the Houston Astros in exchange for cash considerations Friday.

Whitley, once a top-10 prospect in baseball, was designated for assignment by the Astros on Sunday.

Houston selected him with the No. 17 pick of the 2016 MLB draft out of high school in San Antonio and gave him a $3.148 million signing bonus, but he failed to reach expectations.

Now 27, he didn’t debut in Houston until the 2024 season and made three relief appearances, giving up no earned runs in 3⅓ innings.

This season, Whitley appeared in five games for Houston, with opponents scoring 10 earned runs on nine hits and six walks in 7⅓ innings. He has no decisions with a 12.27 ERA.

In 117 minor league appearances (65 starts) he had a 17-20 record with a 4.75 ERA over 306⅔ innings. He struck out 421 batters and walked 160.

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