The A’s are definitely bumping their 2025 payroll to their highest level in at least many years, and perhaps ever. But there’s more reason to it than just elevated competitive desires or a push to establish themselves in Sacramento. 

Just as soon as the 2024 season ended, the A’s made it clear their spending would increase while they play the 2025–2027 seasons at Sutter Health Park. The club then began to make good on that, signing a three-year, $67 million contract with free-agent pitcher Luis Severino, breaking a 21-year-old record for the largest player commitment in team history. Contract extension talks are also underway with rising outfielder Brent Rooker.

The A’s, however, will be receiving their full revenue-sharing allotment next year for the first time in many years, the result of the club solidifying its deal to build a new stadium in Las Vegas. That figure is projected to be at least $70 million, and MLB’s labor deal with the MLB Players Association generally requires that revenue-sharing recipients have a payroll of at least 150% of what they receive in assistance to promote efforts “to improve performance on the field.” 

Payrolls of less than 150% of revenue-sharing receipts shift the burden of proof from the union to the team in a potential MLBPA grievance filing for not adhering to agreement guidelines. 

If the club gets to a $105 million payroll for 2025, roughly reaching that 150% level, that would set a new franchise record—surpassing its nearly $99 million outlay in 2019. 

The Athletic reported that the A’s are well aware of the obligations in the labor deal. 

The team already has about $74 million in salary and benefits commitments for next season, nearly equal to its 2024 total outlay and well before other offseason decision-making and arbitration proceedings, but showing that there is still work to do to reach that 150% threshold. 

MLB’s free-agent market thus far has been more active than it has been in years, highlighted by the record-setting $765 million deal between the Mets and Juan Soto. But players beyond Severino will need to be convinced of the merits of playing in potentially extreme Sacramento heat next summer and more difficult playing conditions there competing in a minor league ballpark. 

“We wanted to make something of a statement coming into a new city and coming into a new ballpark,” said A’s GM David Forst after the Severino signing. 

Ticket Issues

The A’s, meanwhile, have started season-ticket sales at Sutter Health Park for the 2025 season. Capacity will be limited given the ballpark’s roughly 14,000-seat size, though it won’t be MLB’s smallest next year with the Rays playing next season’s home games at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa. Standard tickets for the A’s will range from $39 to $170 each per game, and purchasing will be limited to fans living within a 180-mile radius of the stadium. 

Priority is also being given to fans who were either 2024 season-ticket holders with the A’s in Oakland, or of the Sacramento River Cats, the Giants’ top minor league affiliate and the other major tenant at Sutter Health Park. Single-game ticket sales are expected to begin in January. 

Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka are hopeful that next week’s LIV Golf vs. PGA Tour match against Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler can be a stepping stone toward officially reuniting the two tours.

“It could transcend golf,” Koepka said during an event preview Zoom call with reporters on Tuesday. “Whether it be back together, whatever that case may be, I know that we’ll be a part of that.”

The Crypto.com Showdown next Tuesday in Las Vegas will pay out a $10 million cryptocurrency purse following an 18-hole match that will be simulcast across TNT, TBS, truTV, and Max. The competition will be divided into three six-hole formats: best ball, alternate shot, and singles.

LIV Golf and the PGA Tour are allowing each of their golfers to compete. But neither tour is an organizer of the event, which was created by Hollywood producer Bryan Zuriff’s BZ Entertainment and EverWonder Studio, which is backed by Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI (which is the majority investor in Front Office Sports). 

“The Showdown” is a new franchise, separate from “The Match” series, which was also created by Zuriff (but not EverWonder), and has previously featured DeChambeau, Koepka, McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Phil Mickelson, among other golfers, as well as celebrities and other professional athletes.

“If we can create something special for the future, something that’s lasting and leaves a good impact on the game of golf, that’s what I hope comes from this event,” DeChambeau said. 

DeChambeau and Koepka are both captains of and have ownership stakes in their respective LIV Golf teams. Zuriff previously told FOS that all four participating golfers have equity in “The Showdown.”

Koepka said the players are “extremely involved” in “The Showdown.” “We want to have our say, and I think that’s something we enjoy. We’ve become more than just players. I think we’ve—with LIV—become actual, true businessmen.”

PGA Tour–LIV Talks Continue

Earlier on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia was “nearing a deal to acquire a minority stake in PGA Tour Enterprises.” That’s the for-profit entity that the PGA Tour created earlier this year to essentially serve as its commercial arm. 

The Strategic Sports Group—a consortium largely made up of professional U.S.-based sports team owners—has already invested $1.5 billion in PGA Tour Enterprises, with an option to double that to $3 billion. Per Bloomberg, the PIF is “in advanced talks about taking a roughly 6% stake” at a potential $12 billion valuation, which would equate to $720 million—just under 50% of SSG’s initial investment.

However, any potential deal will face scrutiny from the Department of Justice, Woods said last week ahead of the Hero World Challenge, which he annually hosts in the Bahamas. “Even if we had gotten a deal done by now, it’s still in the DOJ’s hands,” he said.

If and when a deal finally happens, DeChambeau hopes his voice can be heard. “I’d love to have some say in how the game comes back together,” he said.

A school’s legacy carries a heavy weight during the recruitment of high school prospects. But in the NIL (name, image, and likeness) era, money has become the great equalizer—and BYU proved that Tuesday.

AJ Dybantsa, the No. 1–ranked high school player in the 2025 class, announced his commitment to the Cougars on ESPN’s First Take. He chose BYU over UNC and Kansas—two college basketball bluebloods that have won 10 national championships combined—and Alabama, which made the Final Four last year.

The Cougars’ NIL offer to Dybantsa is close to $7 million, according to basketball insider Adam Zagoria, a deal that flirts with the potential $10 million deal Bryce Underwood, the top-ranked quarterback in the 2025 class, may receive to decommit from LSU in favor of Michigan. But Dybantsa is expected to declare for the NBA draft after one year in school. If he receives $7 million for one year, it would be the highest annual NIL figure ever reported.

The 6-foot-9 forward, who grew up in Massachusetts, is already playing in the state. In the summer, he transferred from Prolific Prep in California to Utah Prep in Hurricane—about 260 miles south of BYU’s campus in Provo, Utah.

BYU has been lurking as a potential NIL powerhouse in men’s basketball, particularly after the school hired Kevin Young as head coach in April. Young, who was an assistant coach with the Sixers and Suns from 2016 to 2024, was once the highest-paid assistant coach in NBA history (more than $2 million a year) before moving to the collegiate ranks. 

Young’s presence as head coach was the first thing Dybantsa cited when ESPN asked about his decision to choose BYU.

“A lot stood out during my visit. Obviously, coach Kevin Young’s there. My ultimate goal is to get to the NBA, and he coached my favorite player of all time, Kevin Durant,” Dybantsa said. He also added that the Cougars were full of staff members with NBA experience.