The Oakland A’s Are Officially Moving to Vegas; What Will Their Broadcast Rights Look Like?
The entire regional sports network ecosystem will likely be very different by the time the A’s arrive in Sin City.
It’s official — MLB owners have approved the Oakland Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas, set for the 2028 season. The A’s will become Sin City’s fourth major professional team, joining the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights, NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders, and the WNBA’s two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces. While the A’s have to sort out more important issues first, namely where they’ll be playing the next three years while their Kas Vegas stadium is built, the team’s future broadcasting rights could also look significantly different than they do now once the A’s make the move to Vegas.
- The Oakland Athletics are officially moving to Las Vegas following an approval vote by Major League Baseball owners.
- The A’s currently have a deal with NBC Sports California but likely won’t once they leave Oakland.
- The A’s future neighbors, the Vegas Golden Knights, recently agreed to broadcast games on streaming — will the A’s follow?
Where Will Fans Be Able to Watch Las Vegas Athletics’ Games?
Currently, A’s games air on NBC Sports California. However, as the regional sports network’s (RSN’s) name implies, that is not likely to continue once the team relocates to Nevada. This leaves the A’s without either a physical or broadcast home, at least for now. Between now and 2028, the entire RSN ecosystem will undoubtedly go through massive changes, as even Bally Sports’ quasi-parent company Sinclair Broadcasting believes that the network of RSNs will shut down next year. Therefore, Major League Baseball teams might be looking at a completely new arrangement once the A’s get to Vegas.
If that’s the case, the MLB might end up being the home for all of its teams that don’t have solid RSN partners. When Bally Sports started dropping rights to individual baseball teams, last season when the San Diego Padres contract was abandoned MLB took over the broadcasting responsibilities for the team and aired games on MLB.TV and other pay-TV outlets. Depending on how the next year goes with Bally Sports, something similar might be in the cards for more than just the A’s.
Another option for the team might be to follow the lead of their new hockey-playing neighbors, the Vegas Golden Knights. The defending Stanley Cup champions have broken free of the RSN system and have begun broadcasting their games on local Scripps-owned channels throughout Nevada, and are also streaming games through their own direct-to-consumer platform appropriately called KnightTime+.
The A’s could do a similar route and either join the Knights on over-the-air channels or decide to stream games via their own streaming service. The move to Scripps has been a positive for the Knights, as ratings surged during the first five games of the NHL season. More and more teams, including the Utah Jazz, LA Clippers, Phoenix Suns, and others have been moving to similar setups throughout the year.
So what will the Athletics do? What makes the most financial sense, of course. If the A’s know that they can attract fans to a paid streaming service, they will. If they can secure a lucrative deal with Scripps or another local over-the-air channel, they’ll do that. If they feel like the MLB deal would be the best, then they will join their colleagues in San Diego and other markets and let MLB broadcast their games.
Unfortunately, the team’s Oakland fanbase has become disengaged due to ownership’s recent decisions, so it may be a pipedream to bank on them for additional revenue.
KnightTime+
KnightTime+ is a subscription-based streaming platform built specifically for Vegas Golden Knights fans. All 69 locally aired broadcasts on Scripps Sports during the 2023-24 season can be watched live on KnightTime+. Bonus content created by the Vegas Golden Knights is also available to provide a one-stop shop for anyone seeking content from the 2023 Stanley Cup Champions. Fans can access the platform on their smartphone, tablet, computer, and internet-enabled television by downloading the KnightTime+ app.