The Oakland Athletics signed a 10-year partnership with Circa Sports, the Las Vegas sportsbook operator, marking the franchise's first major sponsorship since announcing its Nevada relocation. Financial terms were not disclosed, but comparable MLB sportsbook deals—Caesars with the Yankees, BetMGM with the Mets—carry annual values between $4M and $6M, suggesting a total contract value in the $40M-$60M range. Circa Sports is owned by Derek Stevens, the downtown Las Vegas casino operator who built the Circa Resort & Casino and operates the D Las Vegas.
The timing precedes stadium construction. The A's are scheduled to play the 2025, 2026, and 2027 seasons at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento while a $1.5B ballpark rises on the Tropicana site in Las Vegas, with a targeted 2028 opening. Circa's logo will appear on A's uniforms during those Sacramento years, giving the sportsbook three seasons of MLB broadcast inventory before a single shovel turns dirt on the Strip. Stevens is betting on early placement—Circa will be the legacy partner when the stadium opens, not a late entrant scrambling for marquee rights after construction photos populate Instagram.
The deal structure matters for other suitors. Circa locks in a category that typically excludes competitors: MLB teams rarely carry multiple sportsbook sponsors simultaneously, and Nevada gaming regulations restrict on-field branding overlap. MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, and Penn Entertainment all operate sportsbooks in Nevada and all have existing MLB partnerships elsewhere, but none moved early on the A's. Circa did. Stevens owns no casinos on the Strip—his properties are downtown—but his sportsbook now rides the Strip's highest-profile incoming tenant. The sponsorship gives Circa a decade of MLB shoulder programming, in-stadium signage, and digital inventory without competing in a bid process once the stadium opens and Caesars or MGM decide they want in.
The A's needed this. Sponsorship revenue has been functionally frozen since the relocation announcement in April 2023. Oakland-area corporations severed partnerships, and Las Vegas brands waited for stadium certainty before committing capital. Circa's entry creates a comp for other categories: automotive, spirits, financial services. If a downtown casino operator writes a check before groundbreaking, Strip incumbents and national brands know the price to enter later. The A's also secure broadcast-visible branding during three Sacramento seasons that would otherwise air as dead inventory—no Oakland sponsor wants its logo on a uniform in a temporary market, and Vegas brands had no reason to pay for exposure in Northern California. Circa solves both.
Watch for entitlement-rights posturing in Q1 2025. The stadium naming deal remains unsigned, and Circa's 10-year term does not include stadium naming, leaving that package open. MGM and Caesars both hold naming rights to Vegas venues—T-Mobile Arena, Allegiant Stadium—and a ballpark on the Strip would complete the trifecta for either. Circa lacks the balance sheet to compete there ($15M-$20M annually for naming), but this partnership positions Stevens for a secondary entitlement—team practice facility, a club level, the sportsbook inside the ballpark if Nevada regulations permit. The A's begin Sacramento play in 74 days. Circa's logo ships with them.