The Oakland City Council on Tuesday will vote on a non-binding term sheet that team and MLB officials insist will decide the Athletics' future in the city.
The city council is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. to discuss a potential 55-acre, $12 billion development at Howard Terminal, which includes a $1 billion waterfront ballpark, after city officials and the team continued to negotiate over the weekend and into Monday.
A's President Dave Kaval told NBC Sports California on Monday that city and team officials had "marathon negotiations" in search of consensus.
"We’re still not there," Kaval said. "There's still a gap in a lot of the pieces of the puzzle, but we remain hopeful that we can actually get to something by tomorrow that can be voted on."
The A’s first released a term sheet on April 23, insisting upon a vote before the Oakland City Council’s summer recess. Not even three weeks later, the team said on May 11 it had permission from MLB to explore relocation. A’s President Dave Kaval publicly visited Las Vegas for the first time not long after.
Oakland released its own term sheet last Friday, including one infrastructure financing district aimed to raise nearly $352 million in off-site transportation and infrastructure improvements. The A's proposal included two infrastructure financing districts which would raise $855 million to repay the team for on- and off-site infrastructure.
Alameda County, asked by Oakland in late May to consider opting into an infrastructure financing district, will not vote on doing so until September.
Kaval told KCBS Radio's Margie Shafer last Wednesday that this Tuesday's vote is the A's "last at-bat" to build a new stadium in Oakland before the team's current lease at the Oakland Coliseum expires in 2024. That same day, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said the city's vote will "determine the fate of baseball in Oakland."
City council members and community leaders criticized the A's proposal for not committing to build enough new affordable housing. Under the city’s proposal, the A's would build 450 on-site affordable housing units and the city's infrastructure financing district would raise money to construct, preserve, renovate or provide down payments and senior assistance for 450 units in West Oakland, Chinatown, Old Oakland and the Jack London District.
Both the A's and MLB have said the Coliseum, which is more centrally located than Howard Terminal and has existing public transit and parking infrastructure, is not a viable site on which to build a new stadium. Hours after the Howard Terminal vote is scheduled, the Oakland City Council is set to vote on a proposal from a local group to buy the city’s share of the Coliseum site for nearly $93 million.
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