Kings owner Vivek Ranadive is trying to bring the Athletics to Sacramento

The Oakland Athletics are just a hop skip and a jump away from being the Las Vegas Athletics.

The A's hoping to be in their new ballpark on the Las Vegas strip to start the 2028 season. In the meantime, though, there is that pesky fact that 2028 is four years away. The team's lease with the Oakland Coliseum is also going to run out after this season.

Officials with the city of Oakland and Alameda County had made an offer to the team to get the A's at the Coliseum at least through the 2027 season, but new reporting states that there's another nearby city that would like to play temporary host to The Athletics, and that's the city of Sacramento.

The team met with officials from Sacramento on Wednesday to discuss a proposal to bring The A's to their city for at least the next three seasons. It sounds like they'd even be open to keeping the A's if their move to Las Vegas falls through.

Part of the muscle behind it? Per ESPN, it's Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadive.

"Ranadive, a longtime friend of A's owner John Fisher, sees a Major League Baseball franchise as the next step in Sacramento's ascension to a full-fledged big league city," ESPN's Tim Keown reported. "He owns the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, a San Francisco Giants affiliate that plays in West Sacramento that would share Sutter Health Park with the A's. The move to temporarily house the A's would position Sacramento to be the team's permanent home if the move to Las Vegas falls through."

One would assume that if Sacramento (and Ranadive by extension) wants to be a major player in this relocation, the city would have to beat Oakland's original offer. Per ESPN, it's a five-year lease deal with a team opt-out after three seasons. 

Leaving Oakland early would also require a renegotiation of the A's regional television contract with NBC Sports Bay area. That currently nets the organization $67M per year, so Sacramento would really have to pony up in that regard.

Ultimately, the A's want to end up in Las Vegas. What happens between now and then, though, really appears to be a roll of the dice.