The Athletics have a meeting on Thursday with officials from the City of Oakland and County of Alameda to discuss a lease extension at the Coliseum, reports John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
The A’s are planning to move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season, a move that was already unanimously approved by all 29 other owners. But their lease at the Coliseum in Oakland is up after 2024, leaving them without a home stadium for the three intervening seasons. Various solutions for how to navigate that interim period have been considered, including playing in Sacramento, Salt Lake City, Reno, sharing San Francisco’s Oracle Park with the Giants or playing at the organization’s Triple-A field in Las Vegas.
Staying in Oakland never seemed to be a realistic option, with the relationship between the club and the city growing frosty during and after the stadium negotiations. Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has previously indicated that the city would have lofty demands in any lease discussions, such as the city retaining the rights to the name “Athletics” or a guarantee of a future expansion franchise. More recently, she indicated the city is willing to reopen talks with the club, but also relayed that she hadn’t spoken with owner John Fisher since he started focusing on the Vegas move in April.
It seems likely there’s a financial motivation for the sides to come back to the table. It was reported back in August that the club’s TV deal with NBC Sports California runs through 2033 and pays the club about $60MM per year. Jeff Passan of ESPN later reported that the club will actually receive about $70MM in 2024. But the deal lapses if the club leaves the Bay Area.
Sharing Oracle Park with the Giants would allow the club to continue collecting that money but would come with many logistical problems. The other proposed locations are not considered to be in the Bay Area and would result in forfeiting the deal. If the A’s want to get that TV money, staying in Oakland could be their best bet.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the upcoming negotiations will be fruitful, as the city and county will now they have leverage coming into the talks. But with the club having millions of dollars on the line, perhaps they can work something out. Shea reports that the A’s pay $1.2MM annually in rent. Also per today’s report, the meeting will feature Oakland chief of staff Leigh Hanson, city council member Rebecca Kaplan, county supervisor David Haubert and A’s team president Dave Kaval.
F em
Here’s how this should go:
“You get two choices. You can either sign a 30-year extension at $5mm a year, in which case WE will pay $50mm to take down Mount Davis, remove some upper deck seats, remodel the dugouts, bring the bullpens off the field, fix the rodent problem etc OR you can sign a 3-year extension at $15mm a year, in which case you change your name and colors, and we get an expansion team the year you leave. Your choice.”
Otherwise, F em indeed.
You’re missing the part where the city desperately needs the money, and is otherwise looking at sunk costs. They have zero leverage.
They lost money last year on this lease. Besides the A’s have no leverage as well since they don’t really have a home after this.
The city has ample leverage. The A’s would get nowhere near $70M annualy from an RSN considering it’d only be a three-year deal, the Bay Area is the largest media market of the available options, and cable’s general decline is tamping down on the local broadcast value to the providers. Fisher has severely overplayed his hand in Vegas to the point where I’m wondering if he even has enough liquidity to finish the ballpark by OD 2028.
I think I may have replied to the wrong post. Sorry! I share the sentiment with letshooakland123
City has all the leverage here. They have already lost the A’s. Im sure the A’s dont want to lose their TV money
@Highwaymenace If they have no leverage, remind me why the A’s are going back to negotiate with them?
Well if the A’s can’t lease the coliseum they lose out on $70m in TV money
So I think yearly lease is right about $35m- 50m per year
The city does not need to lose 6 million a year on a franchise at war with its last remaining fans. The A’s however do need that $70 mil in TV revenue.
Also their going from the 10th largest market (Bay area) down to the 41st (Las Vegas).
The TV deal is tied to the bay area. That $60-70m is a huge motivator to find a place to play near Oakland. Given how cheap Fisher is and how few realistic options he’s got it’s kind of the bottom line for this whole elaborate dance.
WRONG!
Oakland has leverage.
If the A’s do not play in the SF Bay Area,
then they lose 70M per year if they do not play in the SF Bay Area.
DO THE MATH.
70M X 3 YEARS – 210 MILLION DOLLARS IN LOST TV REVENUES.
IT JUMPS UP TO 280 MILLION IN LOST REVENUES FOR THE FULL 4 YEAR TERM 2024-2027 END OF SEASON
(70M X 4 – $280M lost SF Bay Area Sports Network TV Revenues until the proposed new stadium is built IF IT IS EVER BUILT.
Oakland gets new stadium they sell it out nearly every night?
Why can’t people go to see the current team? Why is it too much trouble to support a baseball team in-person?
Sacramento, here I come
Dunno I think the likelihood is probably like:
50% Oakland
20% Salt Lake
10% Sacramento
5% Summerlin
15% Oracle/Nomads/team folds/John Fisher gets eaten by an alligator/nuclear winter/etc
You can put me down for “John Fisher gets eaten by an alligator.” THAT I would pay to see…
If they were going to Sacramento or SLC, they wouldn’t be trying to explore Oakland. I think the only way Oakland isn’t done is if they can’t come to terms (A’s branding, etc). This is wild.
My guess (thus changes by the week)
2025:
Oakland – 75%
SLC – 20%
Other – 5%
2028:
Vegas – 55%
Oakland – 45%
SLC – 5%
Thinking more about it – only Oakland or SLC can offer the A’s their own ballpark without having to share.
I’m guessing they have something in place with SLC, and it’s just a matter of Oakland agreeing to extend them without demanding the A’s branding/future expansion (which seems unlikely they would agree to that)
The alligator won’t eat Fisher out of professional courtesy- because Fisher is full of croc
“John Fisher gets eaten by an alligator.”
==========================
How about Fisher and the mayor of Oakland trapped in an alligator pond?
That doesn’t solve the money issue. Why would they even entertain Oakland if they were all set with SLC? More than likely MLB or the MLBPA got to them and told them there is no interest in 243 games being played in some suburb of SLC next to the Smiths and the Mormon church for the next three years.
I doubt MLB has a problem with the Mormon church lol
They would not play at Smiths, there is a brand new ballpark opening up in Utah in 2025
I was talking about the actual grocery store. They don’t want the players sharing the parking lot with the family of 8 going into the store to buy their supplies for the end times.
Alligator seems fitting
Giants already said no. You can be sure that all the other options were a no or Fisher would not come crawling back to Oakland knowing that the coliseum Authority already said there would have to be a 400% increase in the lease to make it financially feasible for an extension to happen.
Although the potential for losing $70 million per season in TV money if they move would make it worth Fisher paying the Coliseum $10-15 million per season for the A’s to play there through 2027 or 2028.
I REALLY like the option that Fisher gets eaten by an alligator.
I think they should by a corn field in Iowa and put a field right I’m the middle of it. That way pests are natural and selling out a stadium is a moot point. Plus “if you build it they will come”
I dont think at this point you can handicap anything. Fisher’s leadership is just downright bizarre.
Thank you for validating what I said on the last Oakland article, Manny. Sacramento does not need or deserve MLB baseball. At least a dozen better options than Sac-Town.
Solid negotiation tactic.
SACRAMENTO IS NOT IN THE SF BAY AREA AND A VIOLATION OF THE BAY AREA SPORTS NETWORK CONTRACT.
A’S AND FISCHER WOULD FORFEIT 280M if they play in Sacramento.
Sacramento IS NOT IN THE SF BAY AREA.
BAY Area Sports Network would refused to pay Fischer
and the A’s the 280M and they would win in Court,
A’s will lose 280M in Bay Area Sports Network Revenues
if the go to Sacramento that is NOT IN THE SF BAY AREA,’
It is NOT IN SF BAY AREA.
Therefore, Bay Area Sports Network will not pay the A’s 280M in TV revenues if they relocated to Sacramento,
Because the Bay Area Sports Network will just pocket the 280M for 4 years of playing outside the SF Bay Area.
Sacramento is the Capitol of California,
It is NOT IN THE SF BAY AREA.
The A’s don’t have the ability to guarantee an expansion team to Oakland in 2028 or any other year. The city just drove 3 teams out of town. I know Manfred is an idiot, but not even he would award an expansion team to a city who has proven unwilling to play ball financially.
Except that they raised over $500m in grant money, which was more than they agreed to raise? How is that not “playing ball?”
They did not “drive 3 teams out of town”.
THAT IS A FALSE AND MISLEADING STATEMENT,
1) Oakland Raiders were a nomadic franchise when Al Davis owned and operated it,
They are in Oakland,
Then in LA.
Then back to Oakland,
They wanted to go back to LA, but LA and the NFL
were fed up with the vagabonds Raiders and let them go.to Las Vegas.
The Chargers blocked the Raiders move back to LA,
2) Golden State Warriors.
The team started in San Francisco.
Then, they moved across the Bay to Oakland a 15 or 20 minute drive depending on traffic.
Then, they built a New, privately financed Arena back in SF and went back to SF, a short drive away.
Warriors did not leave the SF Bay Area,
Oakland did nothing wrong,
Warriors Owners made decision to go back to SF,
It had nothing to do with Oakland,
3) Oakland A’s
It was NOT OAKLAND THAT IS DRIVING A;s to Las Vegas.
It is MLB Owners, Baseball Commissioner and Owner John Fischer
Owners want to be in Las Vegas to tap into gambling revenues. MLB did a 18o on the gambling issue.
They might as well reinstate Pete Rose while they are at it,
MLB and Giants deliberately sabotaged A’s economic viability in the SF Bay Area.
(Rejected a Superior Offer to buy the A’s by Reggie Jackson, Bill Gates, Paul Allen, James McCaw who had the cash and capital to build the A’s a new stadium in the SF Bay Area,
Even Mayor Goodman of Las Vegas stated recently that the A’s were offered a better deal and more money in OAKLAND and should just stay there and work it out.
So your MLB Media marketing narrative does not jibe with the facts,
I demand a John Fisher rap performance, make him go full Kendall Roy.
Option #3 please. Screw Oakland. What a cesspool.
Seriously. Oakland does not deserve an MLB team.
BS!
AND WHAT CESSPOOL DO YOU LIVE IN?!
One BEEEEEEEEELION dollars. Per year.
Serious he deserves it.
Dr Evil is alive and well
Time to call up:
Mr. Shags-a-lot-of-fly-balls
The city of Oakland gets to put a moat around the stadium containing sharks with frickin laser beams attached to their heads.
Killer Sea Bass….. No sharks lol
Something less desirable already surrounds the coliseum.
An Evil Petting Zoo?
The LV A’s should change the nickname from the Athletics to the Aces, or anything with an A.
Being tied to Oakland is not a good idea
Aces is already taken by AAA-Reno.
minor and major league teams can have the same name just ask the rockies and giants
And by their WNBA team
Athletics started in Philly and then moved to KC before Oakland
Soo…. rename them the Vegas Vagabonds?
Essentially, yes.
They should be the Gamblers.
Homelesses!
The Cokeheads
Las Vegas Escorts
The Jokers.
Well, they did know when to fold em.
The Real Estate Deals.
The Vegas Line
“Lofty demands on a lease extension” from the Oakland mayor is hilarious. The city’s choices are a reasonably profitable lease or nothing but an empty albatross.
“Lofty demands on a lease extension”
=========================
Not to mention that there are jobs at stake.
Low wage temp jobs, and not that many
Oh really, so why are the A’s coming back to meet with them unless every other situation didn’t work out? Also, how do you know how much money they make from the A’s vs. any other event? Do you work for the city?
They’re still in middle of due diligence.
The options are not losing money on the current lease or the A’s paying 400% more just so the Coliseum breaks even.
Empty is better for the Coliseum Authority and the city than the A’s staying on a lease for the same amount as they currently pay.
BTW, the Coliseum won’t be empty.
The USL Oakland Roots (men’s league team) and USL Soul (women’s league team) will play there starting in 2025 once the A’s leave. The only reason they are playing at Laney College and not playing in the Coliseum now is Fisher has blocked it. The owners of those two teams have also proposed building a soccer only stadium in the Malibu parking lot that would be completed in 2028 and that plan has been approved pending the AASEG selling their 50% interest in the Coliseum to that group.
Considering the advance interest in tickets for 2025, the Roots will likely outdraw the A’s and might outdraw the MLS San Jose Earthquakes that are also owned by Fisher
Reasonable profitable, based off what? Doubt the $1.2 million in annual rent is moving the needle.
Stop it with “Aces” already.
An “A” name…..hmmm. Preferably one befitting the owner…. Oh, how about the Oakland Anuses?
The WNBA team is the Aces
as someone who bleeds orange and black but has a bit of a snarky streak, the a’s should change their name to the “Titans” just as a parting shot to the giants. 🙂
I think you may have a serious blood disorder.
Las Vegas Carpetbaggers
Maybe they don’t want to be tied to Las Vegas.
I still say Pete Rose us the perfect manager for a Las Vegas team. MLB is in bed with gambling (and most likely the mob) already anyway, so what’s the difference?
Aces is name of WNBA team.
WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!
Why? You don’t like people of color?!
Just have Oakland play all road games. Problem solved!
They’d get better attendance numbers…
Well considering teams have on average a better winning percentage at home that would be unfair for teams facing the As more than others (teams still play their division a bit more right?). Plus it isn’t fair to concede a team will not make playoffs and the home/road win % is very lopsided in playoffs which would be unfair to whoever faced them in that doubtful scenario.
So what. Teams playing the As will have a .900 winning percentage anyways.
Just mark them off as automatic losses and dispense with the entire charade.
I hope the city demands the moon.
“Demands the moon”….It’s nice to see such a one sided, biased, anti business view. I guess you’re suggesting that the city of Oakland should not have any professional sports teams at all?
Because we should bail out billionaires. Fisher made this mess.
“Bail out billionaires”…Said the guy that partners with media elites and Hollywood celebrities on practically everything.
Think of the poor billionaires man.
The A’s already got permission to leave so the city does not have any pro teams left. Id tell fisher to pound sand
Are you John Fishers burner account? No way you simp for billionaires for free.
I believe the moon is already taken, but Uranus might be available.
That’s how this mess started isn’t it?
Not really no.
That’s a pretty fair bet.
That doesn’t seem realistic. The City has less leverage than the team… which isn’t much either.
These two sides deserve each other.
The city and the Coliseum Authority have all the leverage. Fisher loses $70 million if he leaves. If the A’s stay under the same lease the Coliseum Authority loses money on the lease.
So if Fisher doesn’t want to lose $70 million per season in TV money, he will pay the Coliseum Authority whatever they ask for to stay.
The USL men’s and women’s soccer teams are also scheduled to start play in the Coliseum in 2025, so Fisher would have to share the facility with those two teams. Something he blocked up to now but won’t be able to do after this season.
Not necessarily.
There’s too much talk about ‘oh they lose the $70m….’
It all comes down to this:
In a new city, there is a *chance* more fans attend as a novelty, and, you always have visiting team fans come around. Then you compare that to what you expect attendance to be in OAK which is extremely low.
Then, you take that difference in expected revenue, which should be a + for leaving and put it in column a.
Now, the TV money. I’d suspect there is about +30-45m for staying, compared to some.new market. Put that in column b.
If OAK asks for more from the team than the difference between the two, or, doesn’t leave enough meat on the bone to make staying worthwhile to be in the dumpsterfire if a facility, the team doesn’t do an extension deal.
I think either a 6m deal with the team conceding use ofnthe venue by other sports, or, picking up some extra maintenance costs would be about fair and probably on the upper end of concessions.
Forfeiting the brand and all the IP is not, unless rental costs are near free.
The average income per club is $344MM. TV deals are just one aspect of that income. I even heard on the radio today that there are other ways to help mitigate the $70MM lost from the TV deal
There is little chance that in a new city they draw more fans because in SLC the absolute most they can draw is 11k and they drew 10,276 in Oakland in 2023.
There would be no plus to put in that column.
Then put a $22 million minus in the column of costs Fisher would have to incur to move to SLC just in stadium upgrades. That is how much the Larry H Miller Company has said it will cost and they have said that they are not willing to bear that cost. It would be 100% on Fisher.
There is $70 million deal in Oakland for staying. he loses that if he leaves.
Fisher MIGHT get a TV deal for 3 years in SLC, but at 1/3 the market size and a short term stay to build up advertisers and an unknown viewership it would be much, much smaller.
The Coliseum Authority has said they lose money each game the A’s play in the Coliseum and that to break even would require a 400% increase in the lease. Considering the fact that they already have leases negotiated with other sports to play in the Coliseum the moment the A’s are gone, I am quite certain that they will not allow the A’s to stay at a loss.
The A’s are the ones that lose if they move now, so the Coliseum Authority holds all the cards. Fisher would not even be talking to them if he had other options right now.
Total MLB revenue in 2023 was $12.4 billion according to Manfred. That is $413.33 million per team. Since I believe Manfred is always fudging those numbers and underrepresenting publicly how much the sport is making, Its probably closer to $440 million on average.
We know for sure because they are owned by publicly traded corporations that the Braves and Blue jays made $576 million and $542 million respectively and that they are not in the top 5 in revenue per Manfred. That makes me think I may be estimating low at an average of $440 million.
OaK attendance was what it was in part due to protest fans.
I doubt that carries over.
Problem is, the average is skewed by the top earners being so high. It’s not a perfect bell curve.
I’d suspect the bottom 5 teams bring home a net of 1/3 or less what the top 5 do even after revenue sharing, and the top team grosses 5x what the bottom does.
I think the median team income is lower than the mlb average for revenue.
Now calculate the expenses Websoul. Expenses count. Give the net revenue before you make a point like this.
I don’t think it’s as much as you think. The Coliseum is the worst facility in the league — and maybe all of sports — for them to think they have any sort of place to make demands here seems venal.
I agree that Fisher has laughably overplayed his hand. I still can’t understand why Manfred let it get to this, other than most of the owners seem indifferent to it.
They wouldn’t lose 70 million though. They’d likely lose some of that. But it’ll get made up elsewhere. And thinking the USL teams will dictate the A’s schedule is laughable.
That said, to me moving back is a mistake considering how badly Fisher and baseball have burned bridges with this. It’s staggering really. Especially when you consider that there were better options in Oakland to begin with.
WRONG!
BAY AREAS SPORTS NETWORK WILL BE PAYING 70M for 2024 and more for 3 other years before the new stadium in LV is built, if it is not sidelined by lawsuits and a Nevada Citizens initiative that would cut off funding for it in LV.
So, Fischer would be leaving 280M in BayArea Sports Network money on the table for the full 4 years if they don’t play in the SF Bay Area.
AND NO, SACRAMENTO IS NOT IN THE SF BAY AREA SO BAY AREA SPORTS NETWORK WOULD BE LEGALLY JUSTIFIED IN NOT PAYING FISCHER AND THE A’S ONE DIME FOR ANY GAMES PLAYED OUTSIDE THE SF BAY AREA,
BUD SELIG AND MANFRED TOTALLY SCREWED UP THE A’S IN THE SF BAY AREA.
NOW, WITH THE ORIOLES AND NATS FOR SALE, COMMISSIONER MANFRED SAYS MLB CAN CHANGE TV CONTRACTS, SPORTS NETWORKS, TERRITORIES WHATEVER THEY WANT WITH THE NATS AND THE ORIOLES?!?!
WFT?!@?!(*(*.
IF MLB. SELIG, MANFRED AND THE OWNERS HAD DONE THAT WITH THE A’S IN THE SF BAY AREA,, THEN THE A;S WOULD BE PLAYING IN A BRAND NEW STADIUM 10-20 YEARS AGO IN SANTA CLARA COUNTRY SILICON VALLEY SPONSORED BY SOME OF THE RICHES TECH COMPANIES IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, IN THE SAME NEIGHBORHOOD AS THE SF 49ers.
THERE IS SOMETHING INCREDIBLY FISHY THAT STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN AS TO HOW BUD SELIG, ROB MANFRED AND MLB ARE FORCING THE A’S OUT OF THE SF BAY AREA AND SCREWING THEIR FANS,
EVEN LAS VEGAS MAYOR GOODMAN, IN AN UNGUARDED, TRUTHFUL MOMENT, SAID THE A’S BELONG IN THE SF BAY AREA AND THAT THE A’s SHOULD WORK OUT A DEAL THERE.
LV SHOULD GET AN MLB EXPANSION TEAM,
Manfred also said that every team would earn in excess of $250 million in 2023.
So if your theory held true, then the top 5 teams make in excess of $750 million on average and the MLB average is around $500 million or a bit higher.
Thanks for verifying my suspicions that Manfred was fudging the number downward.
Of course they can make demands. They have all the leverage. Fisher would not be back talking to them at all if he had any other options.
He WILL lose a $70 million TV deal if he moves. That is not in question. Have you seen what is happening with the RSNs? He will not get a high dollar TV deal anywhere he moves to and because its temporary, he won’t get the local streaming rights to the city he moves to either. Attendance in SLC would be at MOST equal to what it was in the worst season ever in Oakland and that would be after he was forced to spend $22 million on stadium upgrades just to play there for 3 years. He WON’T make it up elsewhere, because there is nowhere else to make it up.
The Coliseum is losing money on the A’s lease and the USL teams will each be paying the Coliseum Authority MORE than the $1.2 million the A’s are paying on their current lease for far fewer games. Of course they will get their choice of dates unless the A’s fork over much, much more money. This has to be worth it for the Coliseum, not for Fisher and that means a huge amount more money coming out of Fisher’s pocket. Sheng Thao holds all the cards. Fisher has to make her happy, not the other way around.
The question is, do you see Fisher being willing to pay the amount of money it would take to make it worthwhile for the city and the Coliseum Authority to make money on the new lease KNOWING that the A’s are leaving in 3 years?
It also hosts concerts and various events. Not that it isn’t funny to watch people try and support a real life Succession character pretend he’s good at business.
I didn’t know about the concerts. That makes sense though. Its a big venue
Those are the governments that are in perpetual poverty. It’s like the GMs and fans that think other teams will meet their price or get nothing. And then wind up giving the player away in two years.
Getz and the White sox with Cease. He will be gone by July at the latest and Getz won’t get what he is asking.
Yah, don’t be surprised if MLB halo drops in and negotiations re-start for a ballpark in Oakland. Fisher and Kaval has made it plain they cannot exist in the big leagues and their Las Vegas attempt has been a collective clown show of ineptitude.
I think there’s a significant gap between “cannot exist in the big leagues” and “are unwilling to spend at a big league level.” There are revenues available that he’s putting in a big bag and taking home each night. OAK can never keep up with the Dodgers or Giants on a dollar basis, but if they spend what they earn they can do far, far better than this.
Here’s a laugh: “Only the Reds, Royals, Marlins, Brewers, Twins, and Padres have lower tv deals. The Giants, who are on the same network and in the same market as the A’s, pull in nearly double for their tv rights. That’s what winning World Series titles will do.” – si.com
People in MN always like to complain about their cheap owners’ spending, but they are constantly around that #16-20 payroll ranking which isn’t far off their income rank. OAK has sort of matched income and payroll in the past when they were winning, but is not nearly doing so today under Fisher. If MLB swoops in to fix things it’ll certainly include a little prodding to get his checkbook out of his pocket and field a more competitive team.
Tiresome. I mean, Fisher owns the A’s and that is the way it is but gee…
It’s just annoying to simultaneously play “so and so owns this and can do what they want with it” while they take public money to build something they apparently then own with no input from taxpayers
I mean, I can honestly say I own my home. But I didn’t demand the town pay half the mortgage either.
Bad Analogy City.
They do not own a public financed stadium. The city owns it. That’s why they pay rent every year.
There is rent involved, but often that’s held over the head of cities for maintenance of ballparks. Like the Diamondbacks and Brewers ballpark squabbles. I just went to Miller Park (can’t remember current name) a few years ago and it was awesome. Now, Manfred is putting Milwaukee to the oven about updating the park. It’s the same story. Threaten to leave or get a new stadium. Keep dumping more money in, or threaten to leave. Meanwhile billionaires pitch in a little to have public build out their stadium, and keep it as modern as possible or next chance, the threat is to leave again and value of business just goes up. Major league teams are given such a luxury that most businesses don’t have. I get it to a degree, I can’t imagine professional sports existing as they do now without the help as if MLB teams had the success rate of restaurants for example, the sport would be in trouble. But it would also be a night and day difference if any restaurant opening got the help that MLB owners get, along with having their place of business maintained for a very reasonable lease.
Uh, I think he’s talking about the stadium in LV. The A’s pay rent in Oakland.
They don’t own the stadium.
But I didn’t demand the town pay half the mortgage either.
==========================
Did you get a tax break by being able to deduct the interest?
Did you get a $250k/500k capital tax break when you sold a previous house?
I have a feeling that the local officials will succumb to the interests of the A’s because they may want to show some give if they, the officials, ever want any other pro team in Oakland ever again.
They also could use some revenue from the stadium. Leasing to a jerk 81 times a year is better than leasing to a few random events throughout the summer.
They’re not going to make any money from the A’s. They have other events lined up. If they don’t get what they want, they should say no. And I say this as an A’s fan who wants them to stay more than anything. There is a pretty clear dividing line here: Fisher is the bad one.
You’re one of the few. Not enough A’s fans. Market is dry. Oakland is done. Otherwise you’d root for an expansion team with new ownership and a clean slate.
Not going to happen. Time to go.
The Coliseum Authority has said they are losing money on A’s current lease.
The Colisuem will be the home to the USL Oakland Roots mens soccer team and USL Oakland Soul women’s soccer team.
Yeah I’m trying to imagine the Oakland City Council’s sales pitch the next time any of the major sports leagues want to expand.
LOLLLLLLLL
Oakland can either have the thing sit empty or collect some rent money.
The A’s can either become vagabonds or rent the home they know for three more years.
Makes sense for both sides. Yet somehow it likely won’t happen.
Oakland previously said they were losing money by having the A’s play there.
I expect in the end the A’s stay in Oakland and play in Oakland, but there is a big mess here that needs some cleaning up.
So Oakland raises the rent for the three Years. Problem solved. I know they will lose money if they let it sit empty.
Think the rent being paid wasn’t even covering expenses, so that’s one of many things that would have to change for them to stick around a few years
See, that is the thing. It won’t be empty. The USL Oakland Roots and USL Women’s Oakland Soul will both start playing there in 2025. The only thing that has been blocking them playing there has been Fisher saying no.
The owner of those two teams is also trying to buy out AASEG’s 50% share in the land the Coliseum sits on to build a privately financed soccer focused stadium on the Malibu lot. That has already been approved by the city of Oakland. They just need the A’s to leave.
As Case said, they also hold concerts at the coliseum.
The only one with an issue here is Fisher because he is the one with no TV contract if he leaves. The Coliseum Authority is losing money on their lease to the A’s and they hold all the cards if the A’s want to stay. Either Fisher forks over a large amount more money for the lease and allows the Roots and Soul to play there, or he loses $70 million in TV revenue.
They don’t lose 70m in TV revenue. They lose the difference between 70m and whatever they get paid for a new market.
They aren’t going to get $0 in TV revenue for playing somewhere else.
They lose their $70 million deal in the Bay Area.
SLC is 1/3 the size of the Bay Area media market, so even if they were able to secure a Tv deal, it would be a tiny fraction of what it was in Oakland.
So while its not zero, its a huge loss. No matter where they play, it will mean tens of millions per season lost in TV revenue and tens of millions spent and unrecoverable in stadium upgrades for that city’s ballpark by Fisher.
But, remember, at least the potential for higher attendance.
It was only what it was because of the ‘protest’ attendance, and, if anyone thinks fisher will bump payroll while paying relo and stadium costs, if anything talent would go down with a stay in Oakland.
Between the nominal new TV rights value, and the ticket value, there is a chance to make up probably 50% of that 70m. So, what were quibbling Iverson is roughly 105m in value.
How does fisher value the IP, name, and brand with the history that goes with it? How much does OAK value dual use for the concrete dump?
The difference in attendance between 10,276 and 11,000 is $1.6 million per year. Not enough to make up the cost of the moving vans to take the team to SLC, let alone the $70 million TV deal or the $22 million in stadium upgrades he would have to spend in the next couple of months for a stadium he would only play in for 3 years.
If Fisher was staying in SLC long term, then he might get a TV deal that is 1/3 of what he was getting in the Bay Area. Taking into account the situation with the RSNs today, that is not probable. Only a maybe.
If he could make up 50% of that $70 million, he wouldn’t BE TALKING TO OAKLAND NOW and that would only be PART of his costs to move..
The Coliseum Authority is going to be paid more by each of the USL teams for 34 matches than the A’s pay on their lease currently. It makes little sense for them to make any concessions to the A’s.
Oakland should have the bulldozers waiting outside on the last day of the A’s lease.
They have leases signed for the Oakland Roots and Oakland Soul mens and womens USL soccer teams to play in the Coliseum until a soccer focused stadium can be built on what is now the Malibu parking lot.
I hope when the A’s are done playing there, the country builds affordable housing on the site of the stadium with retail and supermarkets. Like a private development deal, but benefiting the public.
Dream on
Probably because you’ll head down to the next community meeting to block it, and then whine about all the homeless.
“Next community meeting…..all the homeless”…I love the naive people that think sports teams, athletes and celebrities, not government, are the solutions to the USA’s social problems.
If you think the government is going to help with anything I have a bridge to sell you.
The Govt is busy paying for the 10 million ppl they let in on the our border – which is coming out of our pockets
Because affordable housing can fund that project?
You must be a politician, another person with zero idea how the economy works and exactly why we’re in this mess right now.
Retail and supermarkets is a terrific idea geg!! A smash and grab haven!!
“the country”
You mean people
“affordable housing”
How do people take care of things that they have no personal stake in?
Fisher is about to find out that Vegas does the taking in the relationship. The Vegas mayor made a statement and quick phone call saving both cities millions
In Vegas, The House always wins..
Actually in my New Vegas play though, Yes Man wins, Vegas is independent, and I beat House to death with a 9-iron
The Mayor of Vegas has no real say – the ballpark site isn’t actually in Vegas. Clark County is the governing body in Paradise, NV.
Nobody leaves the room until a leasing deal gets hammered out. Give AsFanInTheUK the only key.
The A’s are a clown show.
Why on earth would they want to extend in Oakland and not play in Salt Lake unless they are staying in Oakland for good?
TV money lost if leave rights territory. SLC may not be Oakland territory.
Bc it’ll be a novelty team in SLC until they move again. Attendance may be good until the shine rubs off by the ASB realizing that the team sucks.
Attendance can’t be good. The stadium being built there as currently configured seats 7500. To get 3500 more seats and bring the facility up to MLB standards, lighting, field, etc…, it would cost $22 million that would need to come out of Fisher’s pockets.
Also, the Bay Area is a top 10 media market and SLC is 29th so even if Fisher was somehow able to secure a TV deal for the 3 seasons the A’s would be in SLC, the contract would be tiny compared to what it is now.
I listened to Steve Starks (president of LHM group) interview and he mentioned it could be up to 15,000 not counting standing room. They would actually do better averaging 11,000 there than last year at the coliseum. I listened to another interview today from KSL Sports Zone and they were mentioning that the LHM group could realistically present multiple packages to mitigate the lost 70MM in TV revenue. Everyone keeps talking about the Bay Area as if the Giants are not there soaking up 90% of the fans
11k is what he said is max at the site they are building on. 7500 capacity as currently configured plus a max of 3500 more with the upgrades. $22 million total in cost and he has said that LHM would not be the one footing that bill. He also said that they would have to begin making the changes to the current design within the month in order for the ballpark to be ready opening day 2025, so Fisher would have to fork over all that cash pronto.
The A’s averaged 10,276 in 2023 at the coliseum. The A’s,.a terrible team that will be terrible for at least the next 3 seasons, would have to sell out all 81 home games in SLC to even make as much money as they did in Oakland.
There is no way to mitigate the loss of $70 million TV deal. They MIGHT get a small TV deal in SLC, but even that is doubtful given the short-term stay. LHM wants them to play in their park, because they are leading the drive to get an MLB expansion team in SLC and want to prove its viable, but not on their dime and they have made that crystal clear.
You are also forgetting the fact that the Angels have a say in it. Do you really think that they Angels will want a division rival sharing a locker room and training facilities with their AAA players?
Angels don’t have a say. The affiliate is independently owned. That’s also why they don’t want to pick up the improvements, and, angels should be escatic anyways considering that their milb guys would get mlb-quality facilities, thats a bump upwards.
And as I said elsewhere, that attendance was boosted by protest fans, I dontnthink we reasonably expect that to continue, except, perhaps by a slight bump at the end of the extension.
You best tell Manfred that. He said the Giants would have a say and the diamondbacks would have a say when Sacramento and Reno were supposedly on the table as potential temporary homes of the A’s. Why would the Angels not have a say if those two teams would?
Protest fans increased attendance at ONE game all last season, June 13th. It was the third highest attended game last season.
Because their TV deal voids if they don’t play home games in the Oakland area. That’s something like $70 million for three years the A’s owner would be giving up. They’re already planning to move to a smaller market. Foregoing that TV $ would make this planned move even dumber than it already is.
Short term yes, long term no.
Because their TV deal voids if they don’t play home games in the Oakland area.
=========================
Would they not have a TV deal in SLC?
Yes they would have to negotiate a TV deal in SLC
SLC is 29th largest TV market. 1/3 the size of the Bay area media market. if they were able to somehow secure a TV contract, it would be pennies on the dollar compared to what they have now.
I’d be 100% with you if the Giants were still in New York
The Giants have ZERO to do with the size of the media market. Regardless of their presence, the media market is exactly the same size.
I think you mean Salt Flat.
They would obviously have a TV deal with a SLC sports station
What incentive would an SLC station have to offer anywhere near the Right Fees they currently receive from their existing contract? Oh you’re just passing through? We are willing to offer peanuts. Your mascot will love them.
Advertisers would need to negotiate on a rolling basis. If they drop out, having a broadcast may not even be viable. And why should any fans invest in the team?
Why would you assume that?
The RSN model is *dead.* The Padres and Diamondbacks, both in markets much larger than Vegas, don’t have TV deals for this season, and it will get worse.
The LV Golden Knights are broadcast on over the air free TV and a streaming service called KnightTime+. After they move to Vegas, there’s absolutely no way the A’s equal the $70 million a year they’re getting for their broadcast rights. They need every $ they can get.
SLC has zero reason to offer them a dime.
I agree no way they get a $70MM deal, but 11,000 fans in SLC is better than 2,000 angry fans in Oakland
That TV $$ is guaranteed regardless of how many people show up. That’s all that matters. Fisher probably laughed at the fans who bought tickets to protest him inside the stadium. All he cares about is the $$. He doesn’t care who’s angry with him and who likes him.
You mean 2000 PAYING angry fans AND $70MM vs 11K fans in SLC. No choice. Take the money!
As bad as the team was and knowing the team was moving the A’s still averaged 10,276 attendance in Oakland last season.
As of today, the ballpark being built in SLC will seat 7500. The max they can add is 3500. Between the cost of changing the plans, adding the additional seats and infrastructure, and bringing the field, lighting, clubhouses, etc… up to MLB standards will cost $22 million according to estimates by the Larry H. Miller Corporation, the owner of the ballpark. That is money that Fisher would have to pay for his team to stay 3 seasons. not including the lease on the ballpark.
All while losing his TV contract in Oakland.
Getting Kamchatka-esque “That’s right, 8 japanese torpedo boats and no it’s not my imagination” vibes here from your argument.
Not for 70 mil a year. Not even close.
Who on earth thinks they’ll get $70MM a year from SLC???? In SLC they will get some TV deal (maybe even only $5-$10MM), but more importantly instead of only 2,000 fans at the game all protesting, they will get 11,000+ fans actually cheering and will be building fanbase in SLC (we have no “home team” here) for the Vegas A’s. There is absolutely no guarantee SLC is getting an expansion team
They got 10k in Oakland last season and they knew the team was leaving.
In SLC the max they could possibly get would be 11k. That would only be if Fisher forks over $22 million in cash to upgrade the stadium that is in the process of being built with a 7500 capacity. Money he could not recoup. The Larry H Miller Company would keep the upgraded ballpark and Fisher would have received only a temporary stay there while losing his $70 million per year Tv deal.
The Expos had like 4500 per game before they left. There is nothing worse than being a lame duck in a market you are leaving. This is all bad. At least in SLC they can get 11k+ and I heard on the radio today the LHM group can offer packages to help mitigate the $70MM lost from the TV deal. I moved to SLC area 2 years ago from Walnut Creek area (I’m a lifelong A’s fan), there is no MLB “home team” here. When the A’s move to Vegas (only 5 hours away) they will technically be the home team (the Raisers are the NFL home team here). Playing here for 3 years would be huge to cultivate the fan base. There is no guarantee SLC gets an expansion team
One of many reasons why Montreal hasn’t returned. Montreal also a big market. What websoul doesn’t understand is Oakland does not support the A’s. Unfortunately the pro-Oakland crowd can come to terms with the fact that citizens don’t care for Athletics baseball as much as other US cities.
Not obviously. If they ARE able to get one, it would be a tiny fraction of the $70 million annually it is in Oakland.
Its not as if SLC is actually a reasonable alternative. They’d be sharing the park with two other teams, a AAA club, and Utah;s college team.
No, they are building a brand new ballpark in South Jordan which opens in 2025, the SLC Bees would stay at Smiths Park. They even agreed to style the new ballpark in A’s brand.
I think this obviously takes Oracle park, Sacramento, and Reno off the table as they would have to share a clubhouse. It’s either going to be the Coli or the new Utah ballpark
Thing is: Oracle or Sacramento would allow them to retain that $70 million broadcast rights money. SLC does not.
Sacramento does not, only Oracle or the Coliseum
I’m actually starting to believe they might stay in Oakland. Ballys, who is building the hotel, is also struggling apparently
‘The new ballpark is being built FOR the SLC Bees by their owner, the Larry H Miller company.
the ballpark was being built BEFORE the A’s even decided to move from Oakland, so it was definitely NOT styled to the A’s brand.
$70 million in TV money.
We love you Oakland. Stay strong.
Doesn’t matter if the A’s move out of Oakland or not, Blue Baron will continue to buy his rock off them streets.
Really very embarrassing for all clubs.
Why for all clubs?
all games one dollar…$1.00 admission
All games free with free $5 gas card and valet parking.
Would be smart for bleacher seats,
They just want to do it to retain the TV revenue. I can’t imagine anyone besides family would go to a game there. At least I hope no one shows up.
Easy: Visiting teams. You’re gonna have a lot of All-Stars scheduled to play there, including the Dodgers this year. When I lived in Florida a few years back, I was able to see my Braves play the Marlins for a $50 ticket behind home plate. That same seat would’ve easily been over $200 in Atlanta. The Marlins have a relatively new park too, so I’d imagine Oakland prices are much easier.
Just do what all the A’s fans do, buy the cheapest tickets you can and sit wherever you want. Can hate on the owner all you want but the fanbase isn’t deserving of better.
Did all the loyal fans move out along with Billy Beane?
@spirts_fan9921: What’s wrong with that?
It’s a terrible stadium, but I can’t think of them playing anywhere but the Coliseum.
Best solution, Change the name to the Las Vegas A’s, then sign an extension at the coliseum.
Tell the A’s it’s a 30 year lease, they tear down Mount Davis and reinvest in the Coliseum , or they can go pound sand.
“It’s a 30 year lease”…Yeah, being unreasonable, childish and obstinate is such a good long term play, right? And then you’ll be blaming the “other side”, right?
Worked for Big Stein.
Ha ha ha ha!
CALLED IT!
GOING TO BUY A LOTTO TICKET NOW
So this is just like Homer having to literally crawl back to Mr. Burns for his job back after Homer gave him the middle finger haha!
I’m not sure why the most obvious solution hasn’t even been mentioned. Allegiant Stadium in Vegas could be the A’s home until the new park is built. There wouldn’t be any conflict with the Raiders for four months, and the stadium sits empty most of the time outside of the NFL season. They can block off a reasonable number of seats (15-20k) so they don’t have to completely reconfigure the park for baseball. The A’s cut ties with Oakland and make the move to Vegas after 2024.
Based on field goal data, they might want to move the fences back a bit.
Decent idea. Problem is the dimensions of the stadium – when MLB played at the Alamodome a few years back it was 280 to right. 280! I don’t think MLB wants something like that for 3+ years.
Also, if I were the A’s I’d avoid Vegas until I get my shiny new stadium, otherwise the new shine from the A’s would wear off before the new stadium is actually built and people would realize that the team stinks and isn’t going to run a high or even average payroll.
@ zoinksscoob91
Read the article again: Moving out of the Bay area would forfeit the $70 million in broadcast fee rights that they now receive.
And for the record, that solution was mentioned in a related article last week.
The Minor League Las Vegas ballpark has been mentioned as a possible venue by the A’s but not Allegiant Stadium.
Allegiant Stadium hosted multiple big concerts during the 2023 baseball season, plus CONCACAF. It’s scheduled to host a few Copa America matches this year. Then the Raiders and UNLV football occupy the stadium starting every September.
I highly suspect the LV Stadium Authority doesn’t want the A’s in Allegiant Stadium for three years. They’d rather have that venue available for big concerts (two Beyonce concerts last August brought in $25 million in revenue alone). I’m also confident the Raiders and the NFL wouldn’t be thrilled about it at all.
Makes you wonder if the Stadium Authority wants them at all, especially considering they canceled the February meeting.
This move really doesn’t make any financial sense for either party.
At best, the A’s are getting $380 million in public money. Clark County’s delusional if they think the stadium’s paying off the bonds and interest. Then Fisher’s on the hook for the rest of the construction. Allegedly, they want a ETFE roof like Allegiant Stadium. They’re building the smallest stadium in MLB with only 33,000 seats but that’s probably going to cost Fisher around $1 billion.
Vegas will be the smallest market in MLB, and the RSN market’s already imploded. The A’s TV deal in Oakland guarantees them $67 million a year until 2034. Much better teams like the Padres and DBacks can’t find a broadcast partner already, and the LV Golden Knights games are broadcast on free OTA channels plus a brand new streaming service. In the 40th largest media market, the A’s will probably have to do something similar because there’s no way every MLB team gives up their rights and allows MLB to create the in-market streaming package they want to create in the next three years. At minimum, the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs will band together to kill that idea dead in its tracks.
The A’s projections they sold Clark County were laughable, as is Fisher’s claim of an increased payroll.
If that’s the case then def the Mets with sny and possibly the angels and Sox bc of proxy jump in and you have the 3 largest markets leveraged against 4-40 at best.
Mayor Goodman of LV stated that there were a lot of holes in the A’s LV deal. And, A’s Owner John Fischer refuses to meet with City Officials, refuses to meet deadlines, refuses to tell LV officials WTF is going on,
Refuses to release a viable financing package?!
What would the hypothetical dimensions for baseball be? Football fields rarely allow for the entire outfield to meet MLB min. Distances.
Luckily, Allegiant puts its football field outside for watering outside of gamedays. I went to Google Earth and used that to measure the distance, assuming home plate rests 30 feet from the back corner of the playing area, at a 45 degree angle.
Long story short it’s 370′ to right and 190′ to left (reverse those depending on field orientation). I didn’t even bother to measure center or the gaps. Can’t imagine that’d ever happen.
Marc Davis absolutely HATES Fisher. i don’t think he would piss on Fisher if he was on fire. He blames him for the Raiders leaving Oakland.
John FIsher should have his money confiscated and given to the poor
“John Fisher should have his money”….Why don’t you set a good example, Liberalsteve, and “give” all your own money to the poor?….But that will never happen will it Steve, because you’re all talk and not even serious about helping the poor, but only in showing the world your fake “virtue signaling” credentials. Do get back to us when you’ve given all your own money to the poor, Liberal Steve, ok?
Liberalsteve is a troll who makes statements like this to excite anger, he is not being sincere and wants you to waste your time replying.
Giving poor people money doesn’t help them, they just waste it, it’s why they are poor to begin with. Stop pretending people are equal.
You are better than a social worker because you make 10 times more money? Not very christlike thinking
Phony.
Teach a man to fish. Giving him a fish does nothing.
I know, your comments prove they clearly are not
I’m wearing my Steely Dan T-shirt to their games.
Outrageous!
Only if she has a shape-a-ly body.
I can see the city fighting for the Green/Gold colors. That pretty much belongs to the city. The Athletics name though… it belongs to the team since this is their fourth move. The Philadelphia A’s used white/royal blue, not unlike the KC Royals or Dodgers. So colors can be.. whatever for them, really. Keeping the green/gold in the city as a heritage thing would work (though honestly, silver and black might make for more “cool” looking jerseys should Oakland somehow get another team and care about Oakland heritage).
I think the A’s name is just leverage to the A’s team right now. I’d be shocked if anyone in Vegas cared about the A’s name. I’d be shocked if anyone outside of Oakland cared about the A’s name (maybe a small amount in KC or Philly who have family members that held on to their fandom). I would honestly think a name change would be best for A’s organization if they leave Oakland. But it’s something they hold over Oakland right now. But I do agree that green and gold would be very important for Oakland fans if any expansion franchise ever comes back. To me it just makes so much sense for baseball as a business to leave color scheme and naming rights in Oakland as a possibility for a future franchise. This should be a Browns and Ravens type situation where Vegas gets the franchise but new name and color scheme are required. Oakland retains those rights, but it would be a new franchise despite name and colors.
The Kansas City Athletics were also Green and Yellow, so it’s certainly not exclusive to Oakland.
They only wore green and gold for a portion of the time in KC, and in all were there for just over a decade. Anyone read about what the Missouri senator at the time said about Oakland receiving the A’s? Definitely some crazy A’s history in KC, but nothing that should keep Oakland from retaining rights to green and gold.
They are going to lose so much money. The TV deal barely covers payroll. They are going to get 2,500 fans a night, all there just to protest
Last season they managed 10k. This year probably like 8k, but in the 3 additional years I could see it rising again to like 15k.
This would of course involve intelligent marketing work, which this org is lately incapable of doing, but here’s how they could do it:
Parking $10 instead of $30.
Ticket prices 25% off.
Season tickets half off.
Then, fans like myself who are kind of done with going to games could probably squint and see a reason to support the team since once they’re gone, they’re gone forever.
Also maybe stop doing giveaways for “Early Arriving Fans” (AKA “however many we want”) and make them like first 10k.
Do Kelly Green Fridays, Root Beer Float Day, bobbleheads of current players instead of legends/Kotsay, etc.
Thanks for coming to my TED talk.
If, huge if, the A’s are a competitive team in 2-3 years fans would probably show up a little more too. Not saying they’ll be a 85-90 win team but 75-80 wins with some talent will pursuade some fans to come back. If they don’t trade Gelof and Butler before then. I still have faith in Billy Owens and Forst/Beane to develop some players and find some value guys.
What Fisher actually did in Oakland:
Raise parking fees, eliminate “A’s Access” ticket program, jack up concessions prices while reducing choices, and DOUBLE season ticket prices (*bleachers* spiked to over $2K).
Wait that’s it 1,200,000 in rent 200,000 a month for the baseball season … That seems very low !
Even for the by far worst stadium in MLB ..
White Sox pay less
It’s a sheetwhole of a stadium though. It’s literally the low rent district.
It is not,
With some refurbishing, clean up remodelling certain areas,
the Coliseum could be an above average facility.
Take down those added Al Davis seats too!
Trop is way worse in terms of field, Oakland wins for fan experience tho
is that a joke
A joke by and for people who lack a sense of humor.
Man cue up the Benny Hill music.
They can get Mr. Bean to arbitrate a deal.
The franchise should change their name when they move to Las Vegas, Oakland can keep “Athletics” and be renamed the “Amigos”. Still would still be able to be referred to as the A’s.
How about “Elon Musk buys the A’s and moves them to Mars?” He can leave tomorrow to start scouting locations…
I would rather the Philadelphia/Kansas City/Oakland Athletics be contracted as a franchise than to change the mascot, colors, logos, etc. at this point. If you’re going to wash away history like that, go all the way and start with a new expansion franchise in Las Vegas/Salt Lake City/Portland, etc.
Not unlike the Cleveland Browns moving to Baltimore and becoming an “expansion” franchise. Then again, I hate how that all worked out as well.
John Fisher comes begging with his tail between his legs, just so he can get his 70 Million, which he needs to rent enough moving vans
Reno please. A’s have the Dodgers at “home” in August.
Fisher is trying to make sure he pockets that $70 million per year in tv money
Fischer has been panhandling revenue sharing money from MLB for years and years instead of spending money on players and stadium upkeep.
Fischer is worse than the Owner in “Major League” the movie.
The A’s rent bout to go through the roof….
Reading about and watching this fiasco is far more entertaining than any Athletics game.
CA and Oakland need all the money they can get.so YES the county should be sucking it up and agreeing to a tough pill to swallow and extend the lease. It is all about the money honey at this stage of the game!
LOL, how are there people who think the A’s have the leverage here? Like jeez, you gotta start getting your news someplace else, because whatever you’re reading ain’t it.
Oh man, I’d love to be the fly on the wall during that meeting.
Have the team pay $5M per year, relinquish the A’s name and their 50% ownership of the property, and the city gets first rights to an expansion team.
How do you expect the city to get those expansion rights, and from whom?
Those rights are not the A’s to give. An owner would have to want to put a team there. There are other cities more deserving, and the prospective owners in those cities would be willing to pay more there than for Oakland.
Fisher seems to be able to get anything he wants from MLB.
Oh. So where did he learn his mind control techniques, from Rob Manfred or Scott Boras?
He’s gotten approvals from the league for revenue sharing when he had none of the required plans in hand. He got approval to move with no firm ballpark commitments. He’s pretty good at getting what he wants.
None of 30 owners of MLB need any special powers for getting what they want. They take care of themselves.
OK, so you’re previous comment was irrelevant and pointless? Gotcha,
Nope, it’s right on point. You just didn’t get it.
Old Boys club and college fraternity brother of Bud Selig,
It *costs* the JPA $6M/yr to have baseball games played.
Maybe they have a stadium for lease at Aaron’s or Rent A Center?
The first step by Fisher to remain in Oakland
1st step would be for Fischer to sell the team to local SF Bay Area Ownership and get the hell out of Dodge.
Fischer is now a Pariah.
The wild card in this whole deal is SLC. either the city of Oakland gets desperately needed cash off the extended lease and the TV money at least through 25 which would result on a reworking of the 24 lease and SLC has at least 2 years to get their new stadium up to the minimum standards for the current oakland team to play 1-2 seasons there, possibly with a different name and they show Oakland doesn’t deserve the expansion team or Oakland stays and Vegas has to scramble to get a place for an expansion team to play immediately bc Utah will already have it. There will only be one team in the West the other will be in Nashville, Raleigh or an outside shot in Montreal with the new roof being put on Olympic stadium. The roof cost and another 700 mil in retrofits is still 25% cheaper than knocking it down or building a new one in Quebec. The only other solution is the current A’s moving to one of the eastern expansion cities or expanding Bithorn or Sahlen temporarily and 2 teams play it out for SLC Vegas and Oakland with the latter being ridiculous given a new stadium would still have to be built on the terminal site in the same time frame as if they stay there.
They can make money from events other than the A’s. They rather famously aren’t making money from them now. The A’s, on the other hand, obviously don’t want to lose out on the TV money right now, or they’d probably have already agreed to play in SLC. People gotta chill with the whole Oakland desperately needing cash line. The city has it’s problems, as many do, but it’s a massive area that can attract other events, and some of the wealthiest people in the US live in Oakland and Piedmont. They can figure it out without bald John Fisher.
Fisher and the A’s would not be coming back, hat in hand, to Coliseum Authority if any of those other places mentioned were even an option.
Fk them go find a t-ball field to play on!!! John Fisher has treated the fans like trash so he might as well go find a trash field to play on (not saying all T-ball field are trash but ya ino
As a Guardian fan who wants to attend the A’s home opener versus Cleveland, will I be in danger if I don’t join the boycott of A’s fans?
I’m willing to bring Chief Wahoo hats for anyone that will attend the game with me. Please advise.
Its time to start disbanding some ML teams – Oakland and Miami should be first – Manfred talks of expanding but the talent level has dropped so much baseball is painful to watch at times – disbanding 4 teams would bring the level of play back to baseball being a pro league again – as it stands MLB is third behind the NFL and NBA – adding teams is not a good idea unless its you crave watching it turn into AA minor league ball – there are so many players on ML rosters that should no where near a ML team and working at some other profession
I don’t think the owners care about the talent level, when compared to franchise relocation fees and franchise expansion fees. It’s literally billions of dollars
I don’t understand why these capitalist pigs that run CA won’t just hand over tax payer money like the socialists in NV or MO.
So un-American.
It’s because the capitalist pigs that run California don’t have the money because they are spending too much of it to support the illegal alien invasion.
If CA was it’s own country, it would have the 4th largest economy in the world.
Tents are pretty cheap, FYI.
I guess the socialists in all of those red states could help…oh wait, the taxpayer money is ONLY for billionaires but that’s how it should be, right?
I don’t have a dog in this fight as a long suffering Mets fan, but still haven’t forgotten 1973. Charley Finley seems like a saint at this point compared to Fisher, and he did have some innovative marketing ideas at the time. He also proposed that every player would be a free agent at the end of the year. Imagine how much different things would be if that had happened…
At any rate, after reading all the comments I would go back to a modified alligator concept, except I would have a moat full of them around the Coliseum and give Fisher a head start just to make it a little sporting.
Rename the team the Oakland Oaks, their old PCL name, and play at UC Berkeley’s Evans Field. Pay UC a boatload of money out of the 70 million per year as rent and maintenance, and let Berkeley keep the gate (it’s only 2500 seats). It’ll still be better than the Coliseum, which should have been razed and renovated on Finley’s dime years ago, and certainly by the billionaires who followed.
I’d like to see all ties cut with Oakland let them get nothing and have an empty turd hole stadium . That Salt Lake looks good .
Salt Lake City should be much lower on the list. It doesn’t have the population to support a major league team
Scenario:
1. To prevent lost TV revenue MLB will lean on the Giants to share Oracle Park.
2. Price to share Oracle will be:
A. $15,000,000 / yr
B. Oaklands first 2 Draft picks for each year
C. Oakland pays all utilities and maintenance
Giants have already said no.
A’s can’t give up draft picks. Its not in the CBA and little chance the MLBPA allows it.
I still don’t get why they don’t want to build the new stadium close to or next to Las Vegas Ballpark. Apparently if they build it on the strip they won’t have enough room for a retractable roof. Which should be very much considered. I plan on going to some games but not if it’s s day game and it’s 115° outside. There’s an insane amount of open land to build on.
Oakland should raise the rent now that they have the A’s over a barrel land it likely will be their last chance to extract value from the team.
If the A’s cared about Vegas they would move their immediately and start building a community presence but they don’t care. Fischer only sees $
I’d say Oakland should be asking for half of the TV deal. as rent..
I don’t like the idea of Oakland, CA getting the rights to the ‘Athletics’ name. The Athletics name was taken for previous teams (prior to 1870) and used since 1901. What was Oaklands PCL name: Oakland Oaks? Oakland can keep that name.
They don’t need a home..just double the length of all their away games and designate them the home team for 1/2 of them. Change the team name to “the Migrants” – they will be in the news everyday and build a huge fan base. Promotions are virtually limitless…free cellphone night, free hotel stay in local seediest hotel. etc etc.
Did you work on that one all night or is it a copy/paste from your racist alcoholic uncles Facebook account?
You play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. RIP Fisher.
The city should not negotiate with the team as they never were honest to make it work.
1968 Oakland Athletics
Opening Day Starters
Sal Bando
Bert Campaneris
Danny Cater
John Donaldson
Reggie Jackson
Lew Krausse
Rick Monday
Phil Roof
Ray Webster
I did not read anywhere in the above article that Oakland is losing money on the current deal. The rent of 1.2m is just a token amount. The real money must
come from everything involved being taxed. Tickets concessions alcohol parking etc. They need an extra three years of this. In a residential lease it’s illegal to raise more than a certain amount per year. I believe the A’s will succeed in getting a lease for 25-27 at a much higher rate where the city can say they won.
There is no such law for Commercial leases. You can raise your prices as much as the market will bear.
You should read more than the synopsis of the situation that is posted on this website if you are going to comment on the situation.
The Coliseum Authority has said that to break even they would need to receive 400% more money than they receive on the A’s current lease.
Go to Reno. You’ll draw more than you did in Oakland.
About Reno. It’s a new PCL park. The Athletics are the local TV team, there is a built in fan base, and it’s in Nevada. And there are plenty of Hotels.
The population of the Reno metro area is a little over 500,000. Las Vegas is nearly 3M. Salt Lake City gets a lot of mentions but its metro area is only 1.2M. So this why they chose Las Vegas.
Just until the park in Vegas is built.
It is Relatively new Stadium, and can easily be expanded by utilizing party areas in the out field. But If they could share a home park with the Giants, that would be great.
But if they want to build their fan base. Reno seems great. We are talking about TV revenue and Reno is already in their market.
Salt Lake City does nothing to promote their product.
Are you saying Reno and Las Vegas are in the same market? They may be in the same state but they are farther from each other than Los Angeles is from San Francisco.
FWIW, I suspect that if they can’t for some reason play their home games at the new PCL park in Las Vegas then they’ll come to some kind of agreement to lease the Oakland Colosseum for three more years. Once you get past the bluster, money does all of the talking.
Oakland and Reno, as far as blackouts and local TV contracts are concerned, are the same market. And when the A’s move to Vegas, it would not surprise me that the A’s TV market extends to Vegas.
The A’s did play some of their games in Vegas a while ago. That PCL park is a joke.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter to me, there are a lot of options, and I think that’s the point
Are you sure they are in the same media market? These cities are more than 400 miles apart.
What’s the problem with the minor league park in Las Vegas? It’s pretty new and seats 10,000 I believe. Nothing could be worse than the toilet bowl where they’re playing now.
Am I sure Oakland and Reno are the same market, and the A’s games are televised in Reno. 100%.
Am I’m sure the Las Vegas A’s games will be televise in Reno. No. The future is uncertain.
The problem with the Las Vegas park is it’s proclivity to give up the home run. . Reno uses the humidor, and has good dimensions. It’s a triples park.
I visit Reno and have been to the park. I would not go to Oakland on a bet.
So, does this mean the Red Sox will also lower their ticket prices?
Disregard this comment, after I signed in, this comment posted to the incorrect location. Thank you MLB for not allowing me to delete or revise my comment.
Omg! That is hilarious. Did Fisher just realize that he was going to lose most or all of his $70 million of TV money if he moves?
Or was it the cities telling him “just fork over $20 million to upgrade our stadium and we will let you play here. Yes, we need that money all right now and no you won’t get the taxpayers to cover it”?
After he pulled out of the Howard Terminal deal at the last minute after the city of Oakland spent millions on EIS and defending lawsuits he still thinks they well take him back.
Hey John, looks like you are going to pay through the nose. I know that emojis are more fun but Rotflmfao.
We are one of the contractors that will be working on building the soccer stadium in one of the parking lot areas at the coliseum. Its already been put off a year because of Fisher and the A’s. I am really hoping the city says no to Fisher or one of the conditions of an extension on his lease is that construction can proceed on the soccer stadium.
A’s have been there long enough they should have squatters rights. No need to move or pay rent.
Is Oakland in much of a negotiating position?
City has to realize they have little to gain by stiffing the A’s.
Payback? That’s for children.
They are not servicing the few fans that are left by denying them baseball.
There is a compromise here, find it. Be adults.
Yes, they are.
If they A’s don’t fulfill their TV contract obligations for the next three years (81 home games IN MARKET) they’ll receive at least $100M less in revenue that Fisher badly needs for Vegas.
He’s worth $2.2B of which 80% is the A’s & Earthquakes, can’t borrow against the team per league rules, while even GoldmanSachs won’t accept the risk to loan $1B+ against Fishers ~$400M remaining value in GAP stock.
A’s are over a barrel, and the city already has other things it wants to do with the land.
There’s a fan organized boycott of opening day, while Fisher is selling “buy one get one” tickets for that game. If anyone is denying Oakland baseball, it’s John Fisher.
Add Bud Selig and Rob Manfred to destroying the A’s economic and financial viability in the SF Bay Area,
Selig created the A’s problems when he told Reggie Jackson that just “stick with me and trust me, I will get you approved to ownership to Own the A’s in Oakland”.
Reggie Jackson’s financial backing to buy the A’s included: Bill Gates, Paul Allen and the McCaw Celluar communications family.
They had the money and credit to buy the team and build new stadium for the A;s with private funding.
Except, Bud Selig had other ideas.
Selig stabbed Reggie Jackson in the back.
Selig refused to present Reggie’s SOLID OFFER TO BUY THE A;S to the Other Owners.
I doubt that Bill Gates’s or Paul Allen;s checks would have been bouncing.
Reggie made it clear that he and his financial partners to buy the A’s would top any other offer by 20%!!!
Instead, Selig forced the sale to 2 of his college fraternity brothers
including Fischer who were “all hat and no cattle”
and had no business owning a major league baseball team.
They did not have the money and/or income streams to invest and build a perennially competitive Oakland A’s team.
They became “bottom feeders” of MLB, dumpster diving for re tread players and fire saleling any of their young draft picks who morphed into star MLB players.
“The 14-time All-Star recalled that Selig tried to help him with the purchase before it all fell apart. “Bud said to me, ‘Reggie stay with me, I’ll guide you, I’ll do it for you, don’t worry. ‘ Then all of a sudden it came out that the A’s had been sold to a guy named Lew Wolff,” he said. Mar 24, 2023
Lew Wolfe and Fischer were Bud Selig’s college fraternity brothers.
BACKSTABBING BUD SELIG!
youtube.com/watch?v=EVlXbORV3_Q
Meanwhile, in the independent Pioneer League, the newly formed Oakland Ballers have chosen a ballpark in West Oakland that they will spend $1.6M on improving, are selling tickets and the initial demand for tickets has literally crashed their website.
twitter.com/OaklandBallers/status/1758165451342037…
Oakland is not being denied baseball, just the A’s. By John Fisher.
Reggie Jackson claims Bud Selig blocked him from buying Oakland A’s
The legendary ‘Mr. October’ accuses the former Major League Baseball commissioner of blocking his attempt to acquire the team
marca.com/en/mlb/oakland-athletics/2023/03/24/641d…
The A’s market *can’t* extend to Vegas.
Each MLB team’s TV market was written into the MLB constitution several years ago and MLB has always refused attempts to rewrite them. The A’s would likely have moved to San Jose were it not for the fact they gave away rights to South Bay to the Giants in the early 1990s.
About a decade ago, Bud Selig and MLB refused the A’s request to get those rights back. MLB had a group of owners study the issue, and determined they couldn’t force the Giants to return the rights to South Bay to the A’s. Just last year, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan requested Manfred and MLB remove the Giants rights to San Jose so the city could try to get the A’s to move there instead of Vegas. MLB hasn’t budged.
The A’s TV deal with NBC Sports California specifically states the team has to play their home games in the Bay area or the deal voids.
Not only is there *zero* way Fisher gets anybody to pay $67 million a year for the A’s TV broadcast rights if they’re in LV (because the market’s the smallest one in MLB and only the 40th largest market in the US) NBC Sports certainly doesn’t like the fact they owe him $67 million a year until 2034 if he stays in Oakland. There’s just nothing they can do about it short of declaring bankruptcy like Diamond Sports did.