11:20am: Lindsey Adler of the Wall Street Journal reports that the A’s will not have a city associated with their name for the next three seasons. Rather than the “Sacramento Athletics,” they’ll just be referred to as the Athletics or the A’s, with no city designation.
11:05am: The Chronicle’s Eli M. Rosenberg reports that the City of Oakland’s final offer to the A’s was a three-year, $60MM lease of the Coliseum (X thread). That’s a notable step down from the previous $97MM price point but still apparently didn’t move the needle for Fisher and Athletics ownership.
10:12am: The 2024 season is officially the Athletics’ last year in Oakland. The team announced this morning that they’ll spend the 2025-27 seasons playing their home games in Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park ahead of their planned 2028 move to Las Vegas. There’s an option on the agreement for the A’s to spend a fourth year in Sacramento, presumably in the event that the construction of their new Las Vegas stadium is not completed on time.
Sutter Health Park is home to the Sacramento River Cats — the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate. It seems the two teams will share the stadium for at least the next three seasons — or at least that such an arrangement is under consideration. The press release announcing the Sacramento decision states: “Not only will fans be able to experience Major League Baseball in West Sacramento, but they will also still get to enjoy the beloved tradition of Minor League Baseball and the Sacramento River Cats.”
However, that’s not necessarily set in stone. John Shea, Susan Slusser and Steve Kroner of the San Francisco Chronicle report that the A’s and River Cats sharing Sutter Health Park is “one option.” The Chronicle trio further reports that there’s also been some consideration that the River Cats could play home games across multiple sites, including the Coliseum and the Giants’ Oracle Park.
River Cats president Chip Maxon told KCRA 3’s Michelle Dapper last week: “We are Sacramento’s team, we’re not going anywhere. If someone else were to play here, we’ve made it clear we want to play all 75 home games for the River Cats for the foreseeable future.”
Maxon’s comments notwithstanding, the NBA’s Sacramento Kings are the majority owner of the River Cats. Kings president and CEO Vivek Ranadivé issued the following statement:
“I’m thrilled to welcome the A’s to Sutter Health Park, where players and fans alike can enjoy a world-class baseball experience and create other unforgettable memories. Today marks the next chapter of professional sports in Sacramento. The passion of our fans is second to none, and this is an incredible opportunity to showcase one of the most dynamic and vibrant markets in the country.”
Said A’s owner John Fisher:
“We look forward to making Sutter Health Park our home through our move to Las Vegas. We extend our appreciation to the Kings and the City of West Sacramento for hosting the A’s while we work to complete our new ballpark in Las Vegas.”
There are, as one would expect, some logistical hurdles that need to be cleared. Sutter Health Park’s capacity is just over 14,000; it’s well smaller than the size of a standard big league stadium. While that invites plenty of jokes about the Athletics’ attendance, concerns regarding the size of the stadium extend beyond its sheer seating capacity. A’s players voiced concerns to the Chronicle about the size of the clubhouse and training room, the standards of the batting cages, and the lights at a Triple-A stadium. Right-hander Paul Blackburn also noted the location of the clubhouses, which are beyond the outfield wall as opposed to the MLB standard of being connected to the dugouts, as another issue.
On top of the facility itself, the A’s will need to sort through television broadcast specifics with NBC Sports California. Shea, Slusser and Kroner report that the A’s made $67MM from their television contract last year but will likely revise that deal and receive less revenue now. However, the move to Sacramento allows the A’s to avoid the City of Oakland’s proposed $97MM fee for the extension of the current Coliseum lease. It also allows Fisher to retain a 50% stake in the Coliseum property itself.
Suffice it to say, there are ample hurdles yet to be cleared and plenty of unknowns to be determined. As The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard points out, the fact that the A’s are endeavoring to play their home games in West Sacramento — rather than at their own Triple-A stadium in Las Vegas — speaks to the difficulties of making an arrangement like this work for all parties involved. That the A’s are even announcing this despite ostensibly not having a concrete plan outlined for where the River Cats will play only adds to the disjointed and disorganized feeling that has been emblematic of their entire relocation saga.
It’s fitting there going to a minor league stadium… Still won’t sell out
Too much seats in the stadium for them
I think there’s actually only 10k seats and like 4k are on the grassy area LOL
Having sat on the grass there, 4000 fans out there will resemble a large can of sardines only more crowded. They could put in temp seats and get it close to 20k without much effort.
I like it. MLB can use it as a test of Sacramento as a potential expansion market in the future.
Any bets on if they go by “Sacramento Athletics” for those 3 years just to not use that dreaded Oakland word sooner?
Oakland does not want the A’s in their city. I wonder what’s behind such an impasse.
When they move to Vegas, they should change their name to Aces.
Taho will have as many Ls this year as the A’s
@JimmyTwoBags: TAHOE also has an E.
Good for Sacramento.
Is it though?
What a shame this whole ordeal had been, but I am surprised Fisher is passing on the RSN money.
I’m not at all surprised. He values pouting more than money, like all silver spooners.
I thought if he stayed in area he keeps the RSN $$$. Sackoftamatos doesn’t count ?
I am fairly certain leaving Oakland breaks the contract with NBC Sports California. So they’re free to renegotiate (and I’m sure they will), but I imagine it will be much lower.
Actually I’ve read that it’ll be pretty close to what they are getting now. NBC CA is having problems with their revenue stream as people leave cable.
It can’t be that much lower, or they would have accepted Oakland’s proposal.
Maybe Fisher just sees it as a sunk cost, and he’ll make up the difference with the 50% Coliseum stake.
If their revenue stream is depleting why would the A’s get a better deal? that makes no sense.
He has 50% regardless of whether the lease went through or not. Leaving Oakland meant he needed to renegotiate his TV deal. I don’t know how you’re considering that a “sunk cost”.
To Oakland, this is just lease money they’re not receiving because their mayor thought she had a lot of leverage. Turns out she had very little.
If NBC Sports decides to renegotiate a deal, it will be for less than 20% of the A’s current deal. That has been reported for months including by Maury Brown and Sports Business Journal.
Fisher can’t sell his 50% share unless the city of Oakland approves the sale. Unless he sells to AASEG, its doubtful they allow it to go through.
LMAO. Dave, HE, meaning john Fisher, your boss, cannot sell his share in the Colisuem site without Thao’s permission. He is stuck with that unless he sells to someone the city of Oakland approves. He gets NO income from that. Only equity.
The Coliseum JPA already has new soccer team tenants starting in 2025 that will be paying as much for 33 events as the A’s would have for 81 under the lease proposal from the city, and now the JPA is free to hold other events like concerts that you and your boss blocked from being held during baseball season. Plus, now with the A’s gone, the Roots/Soul will be able to build their soccer only stadium on the Malibu lot and have it ready for the 2028 season.
The JPA wins when the A’s leave. They had ALL the leverage.
Now you and your boss lose $200 million in TV revenue, have to spend $15-20 million to upgrade a AAA park, and have to play summer games in Sacramento where its 100+ for 40 days per year for the next 3 seasons.
Sunk cost in that the relationship between the A’s ownership and Oakland is so acrimonious that Fisher says to hell with the difference in RSN value, he’d rather take a small loss than a win on Oakland’s terms. Maybe sunk cost isn’t the right term; I’m no businessman.
Fisher’s loss will be $200 million over the next 3 years.
Sacramento IS NOT IN THE SF BAY AREA.
Playing A’s games in Sacramento breaks their TV contract
and forfeits 60M-70M per year in TV revenues
You keep making statements that are disproven by actual events. You’re living in a world where Fisher is leaving $70M/yr to avoid paying $20m/yr, which is nonsensical for a cheap and greedy man. The more rational explanation is that the A’s are taking a relatively small hit to their TV contract.
Oakland’s mayor also thought Fisher would lose all his TV money, so she had tons of leverage. That wasn’t true.
Dave, he is right. Why are you lying? You KNOW you are losing $67 million in annual TV revenue by moving to Sacramento.
They were trying to get him to sell his share in the colosseum which is being prepped as the site for a number of other sports franchises. The stadium is a 2 minute walk from BART and probably has way more earning potential compared to a short term TV contract.
Besides, there appears to be no penalty for completely slashing payroll, selling the franchise for parts, and moving to a minor league stadium. It will still be profitable in the interim.
Interesting. The city of Oakland’s offer to have the A’s continue in Oakland was a deal breaker. But they tried, right?!?! The bigger issue is the A’s local TV contract which was in jeopardy with a move outside of Oakland. That had to be resolved to the A’s satisfaction to allow them to go to Sacramento for three years.
Not sure the MLBPA will be signing off on three-four seasons for its players in Sacramento, either.
MLBPA has no say in the matter.
The union can nix any facility. They already said no to the AAA ballpark in Las Vegas.
You sure are going to also hear about visiting teams complain about the inadequate facilities. A’s should just use the Field of Dreams and pay for a park use permit and 500 lawn chairs.
Let’s face it Fisher want to spend the least amount of money he can. By the end of the year Fisher will trade anyone making above minimum wage. A real commish wouldn’t allow a owner to make a mockery of baseball.
Yes, MLB and the Players can refuse to play in a substandard facility in Sacramento.
A’s and Fisher are walking away from 60-70M per year in TV revenues
by going to Sacramento which is not in the SF Bay Area.
A’s rights in Sacramento are worth maybe 10M per year.
( a loss of 60M per year).
“Bad Blood” between Oakland officials and Fisher
since Fisher/Manfred have lied to Oakland officials, repeatedly.
It’ll be less, but not that much less. Considering how cheap Fisher is, it won’t be a problem for him.
The Sacramento market is half the size of the Bay Area. Plus, they have not shown to be baseball fans in the area. The estimates are for a deal around 20% of the current deal, so around $13-14 million per year. Considering the fact that the A’s are moving again in 3 years, even that is not a certainty.
Sutter Health Field is in West Sacramento, not Sacramento. It’s in Yolo County.
Now they’re your problem Sac. When LV falls through good luck
Has anyone been to a game there? Is it a nicer place? We know they won’t fill the stands either way.
If A’s fan still exist, I do like the timing window for them. I would think the Astros and Rangers championship window would be closing or already closed and Mike Trout would be retired or severely in production decline, opening up a nice window to contend their first year in Vegas.
I’ve been to half a dozen games at Sutter Health Park, and it’s a nice AAA ball field. Similar to other relatively new AAA fields I’ve been to in Omaha and Columbus.
It’s a Cracker Jack box compared to the Coliseum.
True, but you could add 15,000 seats past the outfield fence in an offseason.
Which would turn one of the most beautiful minor league ballparks with a great outfield view into an ugly monstrosity, but bringing a Mount Davis to Sacramento to ruin it long after they’re gone would be just like the A’s.
What do you think of the pyramid that you can see from the park? Pretty cool.
Summer day games will be heck.
Traffic is a nightmare, concessions are terrible and overpriced, there’s no chance of walking to anything after them game and during the summer game temperatures are in the 90s at 7PM. I don’t think MLBPA is going to sign off on this. The lights are terrible and the mosquitoes are a terror. It’s cheaper to drive from Sacramento and go to an A’s game in Oakland than attend a Rivercats game in Sacramento. The Rivercats saying is; minor league baseball at major league prices.
90 degrees is very comfortable here so the night games will be fine. There will, however, be a few day games that will be really hot. When I moved here from the Midwest people asked me about the weather and I said you can subtract at least 10 degrees from the temperature to get a sense of how it feels, but 110 is 110 and having to play in the sun on those days will be really uncomfortable.
Also, I don’t think the MLBPA has a say in this.
The MLBPA definitely has a say. The park is on the river, hence the name RiverCats, and humidity can be an issue. Especially in the summer.
Why are you driving? I live an hour east of Sacramento and even I take light rail to the games.
I’ve been to games where the temp was 107 at game start and it was fine sitting still in the shade in the dry heat. Certainly better than those humid east coast teams in the summer and cools real quick at sunset. Never noticed a mosquito or any issues with the lights. They do charge a ton for the tickets, I’ll give you that one — I’ve noticed even some Giants tickets are cheaper than the cheapest River Cats non-seat lawn ticket.
Sutter Health Park is decent by AAA standards. Its usually half empty so you can get good seats all the time, but it costs as much to go to a game there as most MLB ballparks. More than the Coliseum. Concessions are outrageous. More than at Petco Park.
Have only been to games there in April and August. The weather was cool and nice in April and hotter than hades in August. 110 and 111 the two days we were there. The park is next to a river, so humidity and mosquitos seem like they could be a problem at times.
“the River Cats could play home games across multiple sites, including the Coliseum”
lol that would be a hilarious outcome
Seems a bit backwards.. and the fact that it’s the Giants affiliate twists the knife a bit more.
Not really considering the ball park are getting upgrades without the Giants having to do anything LOL
What would really be hilarious is if the River Cats outdrew the A’s in the Coliseum.
I could see protestors really buying up seats in that situation as a way to stick it to Fisher.
They might, Giants fans probably wouldn’t mind seeing what their triple AAA team is up to.
They will out draw the athletics
How can it be better to move to a temporary stadium for 3 years rather than work it out with Oakland? Seems like a logistical nightmare.
Oklahoma City parlayed their hosting a temporary team into getting a permanent one. As much as I despise the A’s owner, this is better than dealing with the Oakland government and remaining in the open air toilet known as the Coliseum.
Rickey Henderson lifted up that base in that open air toilet.
And Jackie Robinson played at the Polo Grounds. What’s your point?
Filling a Basketball arena 40 times per year is not even close to as difficult as filling a Baseball stadium 81 times per year. Lets see if the Sacramento area embraces the A’s AAAA team enough to even be remotely considered
From what I have read, the City of Oakland was asking for the moon in their negotiations for a 3 year ext. Guess ownership of the A’s made the right move and bailed. Now the city gets nothing. Now turn the stadium into a homeless camp!
I was assured that the A’s were going to Oakland’s city council “with their hat in hand” and the A’s had no leverage because of the TV deal! Somehow Oakland’s shrewd political leadership fumbled. This is odd because Oakland rarely messes up negotiations with sports franchises.
City and County HAD ALL THE LEVERAGE.
A’s Fisher and Manfred had zero leverage
since they have been CAUGHT RED HANDED IN MULTIPLE LIES, MULTIPLE BAD FAITH NEGOTIATIONS WITH OAKLAND OFFICIALS,
“BAD BLOOD” BETWEEN FISHER, MANFRED AND OAKLAND OFFICIALS ENOUGH TO LEAVE 60-70M
IN FORFEITED TV REVENUES ON THE TABLE?!?!
…because Sacramento isn’t demanding $60-100MM a year to play at their ballpark?
The A’s were paying like $2MM a year in lease to Oakland. MLB teams pay usually pay something around $1-5MM a year in lease agreements.
Oakland was demanding 50-100x market rate for the lease.
Oakland was in the “drivers seat”. It had spent many millions on the Coliseum over the years to keep Fisher happy.
Fisher, consistently, did not hold up his end of the deal,
Oakland has soccer, rugby and other teams that play at the Coliseum that actually pay, cooperate and are “good corporate citizens”..
They were in the drivers seat, were they? I suppose they were the limo driver.
Problem is they set their price like they were the only limo service in town because they were angry. Now they get nothing.
Oakland and Alameda County actually gets more money from Soccer, Rugby, Concerts, Special events
than it gets from the A’s and Manfred.
The stadium lease deal was a “money loser” for the City and County officials and a yearly subsidy of the A’s, a private business, every year.
Once Fisher, Manfred, MLB “showed their cards”, exposed their “bad faith” in negotiations, were caught in multiple lies and bad faith negotiations, Oakland and Alameda county had zero incentives and and zero reasons to continue to subsidize the A’s and make it easier to move to LV.
Yes but the problem is that most teams create multiplier effects that raise tax revenue in the surrounding areas. The Coliseum, because of lack of investment in the area (more the city of Oakland’s fault than anyone’s) doesn’t create these same multiplier effects. And when the team stinks it’s like a black hole (which is ironic because it used to be called the Black Hole).
The A’s are a total $hit$how! Fisher needs to sell the team. As a fan who lost the Supersonics to a shyster owner, I truly feel for A’s fans.
I bet the River Cats outdraw the A’s by 20%!
Whatcha wanna bet, crybaby?
Scrub
You should have lobbied for the new stadium project to actually get some funding instead of boycotting the A’s games to really “show ’em”
Poll:
How many times will the players outnumber the fans at home games between now and the end of the Coliseum experience?
Zero
sell the team
SELL
As an A’s fan living in Sacramento, I still won’t watch until Fisher sells
merkzy, are you Eric The Midget?
2 hours from me. Good I guess if I want to see my Dodgers.
Well, A’s ownership gave up on Oakland long time ago. Such a waste of time and discouraging to their fans whatever the number. I’m sure Fisher is saying viva Sacramento and Las Vegas all together…
“A’s players voiced concerns to the Chronicle about… the lights at a Triple-A stadium”
The lights in Buffalo were upgraded already for the Blue Jays. JUST SAYIN’. (coughBuffaloAthleticscough)
Blackburn should fit just right in a AAA stadium.
unknowneric – nice Dano.
They’re already selling out ads for the massive tarps they’ll need to put over sections of seats in the new stadium to condense crowds.
No context comparing the situation at Sutter Health Park to TD Ballpark, Steve?
As someone who was at TD Ballpark for the series against Boston in May of 2021, the setup for those games was interesting. The clubhouses had to be redone, temporary lighting installed, and remote cameras added. All to play games in front of more cardboard cutouts than people.
TD Ballpark is quite intimate, so the fan experience is amazing as you are so close to the action. As a business case, the fan spending barely moved the needle. IIRC, ticket sales were less than 2500 in a stadium that can seat about 7500 (8500 with SRO). The TV revenue is what mattered. It will be interesting to see what TV deal the As can wrangle.
Oakland Coliseum (1966) and Kaufman Stadium (1973). No need for major league baseball in these communities. Shame they cannot put a team in Manhattan. Charlotte might be an option at some point.
Put a team in Manhattan, KS?? Surely not Manhattan, NY.
Brooklyn would be top-10 in largest US cities if it were independent of NYC. It has the history, the population and the real estate – which should be considered more so than Manhattan. Manhattan is 13 miles long and 2 miles wide with some of the most expensive real estate (per square mile) in the world. You’ll be able to bring peace in the Middle East before building a stadium in Manhattan.
Agree, and I live here. Rudy, when he was Mayor, used to talk about a stadium over where the Javits Center is now. Bronx Bombers out to be in The Bronx. It’s a nice stadium (a little cold, and lacking in historical glory) and there’s plenty of mass transit to it, if you don’d mind the sardine approach for a few minutes.
Nothing wrong with the K…
I was at that stadium last year, and while I really liked the stadium experience, it’s in the middle of nowhere. The new plans for a downtown KC stadium make sense to this fan that wouldn’t be paying taxes to build it. Location, location, location.
Even if the Royals do need a new stadium, there’s no reason for them to leave Kansas City.
Sure seems like they are messing this all up at every single step. Failed franchise all due to the owner. Moving to Vegas wont turn things around.
Messy.
I hope NBC Sports simply drops the A’s or makes the deal terrible to the point that Fisher steps back and undoes Sacramento and has to refigure.
The A’s consistently set a plan w/o having the details in place, which gives all the negotiating power to other parties.
The way the A’s negotiate is to put out a lot of alternatives to make it look like they have all the cards, then they jump and play their card before knowing what everyone else has, and then they are at the mercy of everyone else while looking inept.
I expect this announcement will be another inept looking moment for a terribly run franchise (and my favorite team…at least it was for 30+ years).
They should. Or pay way less. Nobody will be watching
If the A’s had any long-term vision at all, they would have chosen Salt Lake City. Vegas is going to be SLC’s home MLB team in 2028 (no guarantee they get expansion), and they could have started building their Nevada/Utah fanbase.
I’m guessing NBC CA is so desperate to not have to give the entire $70M (if they would have stayed in OAK) that they are still giving them a sweet deal in Sacramento (maybe $35M), which I’m sure was the biggest reason the A’s rejected OAK’s latest proposal.
A’s are still going to get boycotted in Sacramento and the local sports radio station 1140 KTHK is against all this because they almost lost the Kings
Finally, if they A’s have to share a clubhouse with a AAA team and the stadium is branded for the Rivercats, that would be rediculous
The only way to salvage this is:
– Have the Rivercats play elsewhere
– Brand Sutter Health Park for the A’s
– Play a spring training game in SLC (vs the Bees (A’s vs Bees)) to remind SLC they have a new home team in Vegas
Once the A’s leave Oakland, there is no desperation on behalf of NBC Sports California. The A’s break contract.
Exactly. NBC can pretty much offer $1 million for the rights and would also have a breach of contract claim if the A’s go hunting for a better deal from Amazon or someone like that.
All of which are Easier Said Than Done.
You don’t break a naming-rights contract or a TV contract just to please mouth-breathing fanboys.
SLC can’t support an MLB team. Way too low of a population/density.
I lived in SLC for 13 years. People barely understand baseball, let alone care to watch. They aren’t going to care about a team in Vegas
The Bees outdrew the Rivercats by a large margin. The Amarillo Sod Poodles outdrew the Rivercats too.
Last person to leave the Bay Area, turn out the lights please.
There are 8 million people here and real estate prices are through the roof, what are you talking about?
Artificially through the roof. It’s a massive real estate and tax scam.
The owners should band together and drive Fisher out of their fraternity.
Is anybody else disgusted by the Giants banning kids from the ballpark?
> the Giants banning kids from the ballpark
You know that was an April Fool’s Day joke, right?
I think that was an April Fool’s joke? I Googled it and only found 2 articles about it, both dated April 1.
HAHA who would ban kids from watching baseball. You got April Fooled!
You couldn’t fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine.
I never claimed to fool anyone but good response smh.
But Clearly hogans goat got fooled by the article that came out on 4/1 about the Giants banning kids from their stadium, because they were disgusted by it.
The owners are absolutely on board with Fisher and they’re all thanking him. Him moving the team paves the way for them to get new stadiums in the future.
One little acknowledged fact, in the 55 years the A’s were in Oakland they drew more than 2 million just once. Reasons could be a lousy stadium, teams have been on a great lousy cycle, a person puts their life at risk driving to a night game there, and traffic is ridiculous there. I am sure more reasons exist.
@Arnold Ziffel – That’s easy to blow out of the water with 30 seconds of work.
baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/index.shtml
You keep repeating that lie. So I will keep repeating the facts.
2,003,628
2,109,118
2,201,516
2,216,596
2,169,811
2,133,277
2,035,025
2,494,160
2,713,493
2,900,217
2,667,225
2,287,335
I will let you look up the years. Hint, only one of those is since Fisher took over the team.
The River Cats sold 388K tickets in 2023, an average of about 5,200 per game. That sounds close to the A’s typical attendance, so the team should feel right at home.
Okay, the A’s should do better than that in a new town, especially when a good draw like the Yankees, Red Sox or Cubs come to Sacramento. Though the team might try to put games like that in a bigger stadium, like San Francisco’s. I get the feeling that Sacramento will only get the run-of-the-mill games, while the better draws are scheduled elsewhere.
We’ll see. The entire relocation has been a long strange trip.
Perhaps for the best. The two sides, Oakland, and Ownership, clearly didn’t have any trust between them and any deal they made would probably end up being the cause of litigation afterwards. As to the players’ concerns about the quality of the facilities, if Fisher can’t get someone else to pay for it, the players will just have to cope. MLB is probably happy with this, because Fisher’s open greed makes it harder to convince other cities and states to pony up. Could the votes in KC have been affected by the negotiations in Oakland?
lol I know I’m a dreamer but imagine a world where a World Series game is played in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento. That would be goofy
Or even a playoff game
Haha.. that would be an interesting scenario!
I think they would have the playoff game in Anaheim . Anaheim was mentioned 2 weeks sgo as a possibility of the A’s playing games there during regular season
Buccos. I finally have something to root for this year. (I’m an Angels fan) That would be awesome for Manfred, wouldn’t it?
I read that if they stayed in the area and sac town was one the locations they would still get rsn payola
How does it workout with the Giants AAA team there?
Where will AAA giants play? 10000 capacity lol still wont fill up
Will they be called sacramento A’s? What a mess of a franchise. Oakland is kind of cursed. Warriors left, raiders left, athletics…
Athletics …is more representative of the franchise’s mobility than their players’ ability …at the moment
Please boycott the GAP. It’s how Nepotism baby John Fisher made his money
The A’s have no fans. If the few fans they have boycotted GAP, would anyone even know about it?
Is that why the A’s set regular season and playoffs records for attendance at individual games under a prior ownership group?!
When the A’s had competent, well funded ownership who were successful business persons, they thrived and made money in Oakland and drew large crowds.
When the A’s had COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT, UNDERFUNDED OWNERSHIP THAT REFUSED TO SPEND MONEY ON PLAYERS, STADIUM UPKEEP, HAD FIRE SALES AS SOON AS THEIR YOUNG FARM PLAYERS BECAME STARS,
THEN THOSE INCOMPETENT OWNERS LIKE FISHER DID NOT GET LOCAL SUPPORT.
That’s BS! The A’s have a ton of fans that packed the stadium and set attendance records for years in the late 80’s and early 90’s. After the strike 1994, they suffered a massive attendance loss, as did everyone else and then Al Davis and the Raiders ruined what was once a beautiful ballpark with his disgusting Mt. Davis wall. Then Beane played Moneyball, which was cute at first and then Fisher came in and the rest is painful
The city of Oakland would have blown the revenue on something ridiculous anyway. The city is in serious trouble and we know why
Do we?
Did we hear what the team will call itself? Oakland A’s, Sacramento A’s, Las Yegas A’s? Or will it be Fisher’s Barnstorming Traveling Circus?
Just looked at the picture of the park on Wikipedia. It looks like a pleasant minor league stadium. It sure looks better than that dump in Oakland, though much smaller, of course. The games will probably look better on TV, with a fuller park instead of the embarrassing acres of empty seats in the Oakland dump.
I actually think that the new location will bring more people to the stadium. People in the Central Valley would show up for Sacramento games vs traveling to see games in Oakland. Oakland shot themselves in the head
I believe you might see sell outs for most of the games. And more season tickets
Always. Yup you are all over it. Even bay area people will make the trek. Safer in Sac.
A’s offense is going to rake.
Left field: 330 feet (101 m)
Center field: 403 feet (123 m)
Right field: 325 feet (99 m)
And almost no foul territory.
The A’s need some batters to know how to play before they rake. It is hard to find anyone on the team that if they play on another team, they will be in AA.
Also, Fisher need to buy some players, because if they send this team to Vegas, he will have no fans showing up.
How long is it going to take for MLB to realize they need this guy(Fisher) gone. Hes truly embarassing the sport of baseball and will continue to do so, can anyone say hillbilly billionaire
Why would MLB owners view this as anything other than a win? Political leadership in other MLB cities surely noticed what happened with Oakland’s hostile city council and mayor.
Hahahahahah. Hostile in what way?
Did you see their demands for a 3 year lease extension? Keeping the team colors, name, exclusive negotiations for MLB expansion, and a $97m exit fee?
Also, see the vote regarding the KC stadium that happened in the past few days.
Dave, why would the MLB owners view this as a win when its taking money out of all of their pockets? Most of all out of Fisher’s pocket.
In what way was Oakland hostile?
Haters gonna hate, but the A’s are about to sell out every game in Sacramento the next 3 years and get more attendance than they would in the slums of Oakland. So many die hard baseball fans in this area + tons of ppl moved from the Bay Area up this way over the past 10 years. This is part of the problem for the Giants too. Giants attendance is down and a lot of their core fan base from the 3 WS is no longer attending games as regularly as they used to, probably in part because they live near Sacramento now.
I am an SF Giants die hard fan but I’ll be a season ticket holder for the A’s next year. Will also keep my tix for SF but I only go to a handful of games anyways.
Agreed. A’s need to move. I also think MLB needs to start moving the Marlins, White Sox, Pirates, Rays & Rockies.
Why on Earth would the Rockies be moved? They averaged over 32000 fans a game for a terrible team. You should never be in charge
Amen Barry. All so true
They’re going to be playing in front of an excited fanbase. The players won’t have to listen to “Sell!” chants at every home game.
With that BAD ATTITUDE, prior A’s Ownership should have let the Giants move to Tampa in the 1990’s
instead of helping the Giants stay in SF and thrive.
Giants Owners are a bunch of backstabbers.
I will never buy another Giants ticket, hat, shirt or anything.
@SportsFan0000
Weren’t the Giants close to moving to Toronto in the 70s? That would have been interesting. Toronto Giants.
Bring back the crab mascot
Oakland’s government has no sense of reality. Asking between $20 and $35 million a year for rent on the Coliseum? HAHAHA, right.
I experienced their lunacy first hand on an apartment they were trying to get built near Jack London Park. They wanted the tenants to park in a deck that they controlled and we found out that dozens of cars were getting smashed into every night. We asked what was going to be done to fix that and the answer was crickets.
The city of Oakland richly deserves having all of its business and community icons flee that rat dump. Keep electing the same clowns and maybe things will change. Or not.
When their options are a AAA stadium in Sac, and already have one foot out the door and their plans are delayed? Yeah, make em pay a ton. If they go to Sac, whatever. No one goes to the games anyways.
Oakland’s political leadership salted the earth with that $97m “termination fee” proposal. No way the A’s were going to pay an exorbitant lease to play in front of a hostile fanbase.
How appealing does Oakland look for MLB expansion? I’d love to be in the room for that sales pitch.
Yep. Typical MLB leases are under $5MM. The arrogance of Bay Area governments knows no bounds. They can enjoy their “$0” lease agreement now. Wonder how the taxpayers are going to enjoy the tax hike?
The city did not make money on the prior lease, it was a net giveaway.
Oakland’s sales tax is 10.25%. The city made millions per year in sales taxes. Now $0 for 2025+ Athletics events.
Show how little you know about the A’s, Fisher, finance and economics.
The A’s had a rent subsidized deal in Oakland that was a money loser for the City and County.
They were going to be charged “market rates” if they were openly moving to Las Vegas.
Why would Oakland help the A’s move to LV?!
How much does the City and County pay for police, fire, infrastructure around and in the stadium?!
The A’s, Fisher, Manfred are the big financial losers here
since they forfeit their 60-70M TV deal PER YEAR if they play in Sacramento which is not in the SF Bay Area.
SF Giants who only play 81 games in SF a year have refused
to cooperate and let the A’s play in Oracle park?!
Oakland’s maintenance budget for the stadium was $1MM.
The Athletics lease was $1.25-1.75MM. The city generated it’s revenue from sales tax. Have a nice day.
You are funny. The typical MLB lease is $11 million- $15 million and the teams actually pay for maintaining the park.
Says the guy who lives 3000 miles away in the slums of NY?!
All of the crap you are talking about happens in every major US city. Should the Cardinals flee St. Louis?
sports.yahoo.com/u-cities-highest-murder-rates-162…
The Rams left LA.
Took as much money as they could from St. Louis and Missouri
then went back to LA?!
The Raiders left Oakland, went to LA, went back to Oakland,
destroyed the baseball character of the Coliseum
with the new Davis seats in OF then went to LV?!
IT IS ALL ABOUT GREED AND GET AS MUCH TAXPAYERS CORPORATE WELFARE AS POSSIBLE.
IT WAS NEVER ABOUT ECONOMIC VIABILITY.
How is $19.4 million they asked for on the lease $20-35 million?
What a crock about condos near Jack London Square. I had a condo right of 3rd and Washington for years. Just sold it for more than $1 million and way over asking price because that area is HOT real estate.
What a cluster F. This ownership has done everything on the cheap for years and the poor fans are left with a shoddy team and now AAA field.
MLB should step in “for the good of the game” and resolve this mess..
And by NO means should should MLB ever consider Oakland for any expansion franchise. Just my opinion.
A’s should have been in San Jose years ago.
But they gave up the rights to the Giants who selfishly will not give it back. If San Jose was available none of these shenanigans would be going on today.
Blame A’s ownership for being dumb enough to be nice to the Giants years ago when they were looking to move themselves. And I hold the Giants just as accountable for this whole debacle
Likely, the Giants got what they wanted – they will now control ALL of the Bay Area. They’re the only game in town.
agreed !! there are plenty of fannys to go around !!
A’s fans haven’t supported the team in 20 years. Even after making the playoffs year after year after year in some cases, the fans still didn’t show up. The Coliseum needed replacement by 1990 and earnest efforts to get something done failed for over 20 years.
Oakland is not the problem.
The problem was MLB and Bud Selig pulling strings
to gift wrap the A’s to his college fraternity brothers
Wolf and Fisher
who ran the team and franchise into the ground
and now use MLB financial subsidies to
and whine and cry to the press and trash the good hardworking
people of Oakland and SF Bay Area
who have put millions into the pockets of MLB, Ownership,TV
etc over the years.
HYPOCRISY!
I wonder if Fisher will see naming rights to the team as has been done for stadiums, i.e. RingCentral Athletics..
The CalPERS Athletics sponsored by Gavin Newsom for Governor. That has a nice California ring to it.
@8791Slegna
Sounds better that that NHL arena in Seattle.
I pray that Oakland/California employs eminent domain to reclaim 100 per cent rights of Coliseum rights, after all Fisher has turned his back on it…
The Indianapolis Colts relocated from Baltimore because the state of Maryland planned to seize the NFL club through eminent domain.
Be careful for what you wish.
Shame on MLB for allowing this once great franchise to become the laughing stock of professional sports.
@Don T
MLB has been eroding the quality of the game for decades, with all the changes in rules. The ball has constantly been changing. They changed the height of the mound, changed bat size, batter’s box introduced, getting rid of the spit ball. Even in 1887, just for that one year, any BBs were recorded as walks. In 1893, the slab was moved from 50 feet to 60 feet 6 inches from rear of home plate. Move it back to 50 feet!
Bring back the rule that the game ends after the inning in which a team reached 21 runs. Tired of these 2-1 games that finish after 9 innings. Make ’em play till 21 runs.
Now that the team is actually leaving Oakland, we will see if Oakland can get together with a new owner, and new stadium.
don’t hold your breath about that. Oakland is a messed up city financially and crime ridden.
the former warriors arena and future abandon raiders/A’s stadium will become relics that will decay over time.
Thank you for parroting the regular Fox talking points.
Let us know how entire red states are doing though.
am very familiar with Oakland, I have crossed over bums over that bridge coming from bart several times to get to stadium and very familiar with oakland and alameda county
Businesses in downtown have hired private security guards for their employees and have mailers to let employees know not to walk out in oakland without security. One of those businesses is KAISER
.
Oakland won’t be a serious contender for the upcoming MLB expansion. If you were an ownership group, would you want to deal with that hostile political climate?
True, because Portland, Charlotte and Nashville are all more likely to get an expansion team than Oakland is. However, they are definitely not the only cities that are more likely to get one.
Congratulations to the city of Sacramento. You’ll get to see some great baseball for a few years. To those who don’t live in California or have never been to Sacramento, it’s a nice city and surprisingly the capital of California. Gets a little hot in the summer for sure. Population growth there is just exploding. Not only for young families but a lot of 55 plus communities with people ready to spend money
They will sell more seats than Oakland will for sure.
They used to have their AAA team there with a fan base that followed them. This will allow other teams to get their fans in that live here too,
First option is staying in Oakland, but I always kinda hoped they’d move to Sacramento if they ever did.
Hate that they’re planning to move on later, to Vegas which should be an oversaturated sports market by the time they get there.
I wonder how this will effect things like licensing for video games like MLB: the Show. The Blue Jays plaid about one seasons worth of home games in Dunedin/Syracuse and neither of those stadiums could be included in the game so i wonder if the A’s moving to a AAA stadium for what will be a temporary 3 years will qualify it as a “Major League” stadium?
Just plop them into their Hohokam spring training facility in the game. No difference.
Good posting gang! I would have just moved to Vegas now. You could build up the base while the new park is built! If I was NBC, I would give the owner zero for next year! Agree with the immanent Domain suit by city. Why should the owner get any money out of the stadium, he is fleeing. Lot of blame with lots of pain. A poet and I do not even know it!
So, the “No-Name A’s”? OK.
These Actions of A’s Owner Fisher
are A COMPLETE DISGRACE to Major League Baseball, the Owners, the Players, the fans AND THE INTEGRITY OF THE GAME.
This ACTION SHOWS A COMPLETE LACK OF LEADERSHIP AND DIRECTION IN THE MLB COMMISSIONER’S OFFICE AND OWNERSHIP OF MLB TEAMS.
IF I had a vote @ MLB Ownership meetings, this would be “the straw that broke the camel’s back”.
I would MAKE A MOTION TERMINATE COMMISSIONER MANFRED
IF HE AGREES TO THIS HAIRBRAINED PLAN THAT FISHER IS PRESENTING.
The West Sacramento stadium DOES NOT MEET MLB STANDARDS in many ways. No MLB team should ever be playing in a substandard minor league ballpark,
It tarnished the MLB brand in many ways and causes all the other MLB owners to subsidize Fisher for his gross incompetence as A’s Owner that continues with these anti fan, anti MLB baseball, anti Owners’ position,
The question I would want answered is: Does A’s Owner Fisher have compromising pictures of Commissioner Manfred with either hookers or known mobsters or criminals?!
That is how bad this complete mismanagement of Fischer and the A’s situation by Manfred, Selig and the Commissioner’s Office looks to the public and other successful business people.
If I was Tony Clark, Executive Director of the MLB Players Association, then , I would come out LOUDLY AND PUBLICLY against this crazy plan by A’s Owner John Fisher.
As my Dad used to say “this looks like the tail is wagging the dog”..
Manfred and Fisher are making MLB Owners look like complete fools
and a clown show.
If the private sector, business owners would handle a situation like this one way and quickly:
Call an MLB Owners Meeting.
1) Make a Motion for Fisher to be forced to sell the A’s to local SF Bay Area Ownership to keep the A’s in the SF Bay Area, with local, well funded New Ownership that will spend its own cash and credit to build the A’s a New stadium in the SF Bay Area.
2) Make a motion for a full vote to restore the A’s 50% of their Santa Clara County Silicon Valley territory that they LOANED TO THE SF GIANTS WITH THE EXPECTATION THAT IT WOULD BE RETURNED TO THE A’s after the SF Giants build their new ballpark and left old Candlestick Park.
(Candlestick Park was a complete dump, built in a area with excessive winds on land that was owned by a speculator wanting to make a killing on the deal, which he did) It took a long, long time to get both the 49ers and SF Giants out of Candlestick Park and into new stadiums
Fisher and Manfred HAVE LOST ALL CREDIBILITY IN MLB AND OAKLAND..
Get a New Oakland A’s Ownership team in place quickly with an Open Bidding Process.. (Joe Lacob, *Warriors Owner and builder of privately financed New Chase Arena in SF for Warriors), OR the Reggie Jackson Group OR some other SF Bay Area billionaires. There are so many to choose from (Larry Ellison of Oracle?!).
Open up a New Public bidding process for A’s New A’s Ownership in the SF Bay Area with New stadium in SF Bay Area for A’s.
And yes, Fisher has violated numerous provisions of MLB Rules for Ownership that could be invoked to force him to sell the A’s including:
1) Does not have the cash and capital to run a successful MLB franchise and would not be approved as an MLB Owner if he were bidding on buying an MLB team at this time and had not ever owned the A’s.
2) Collecting Revenue sharing from MLB Owners for years when Fisher and A’s operated in one of the largest Media and TV markets in the country the entire time (that is in violation of MLB Rules for Owners and evidence of mismanagement of the A’s by Fisher)
JUST 2 OF MANY EXAMPLES THAT COULD BE CITED TO FORCE THE SALE OF THE A’S TO NEW, LOCAL, SF BAY AREA OWNERSHIP THAT WOULD KEEP THE A’S IN THE SF BAY AREA AND BUILD THE A’S A NEW STADIUM WITH PRIVATE FUNDS AND CREDIT.
1) Sign an new, temporary lease to play in the Oakland Coliseum until an New stadium is built in the SF Bay Area,
Some fresh cash could be invested to make the Oakland Coliseum more fan friendly, player friendly etc for the next few years while New A’s Ownership was building the A’s a New State of the Art baseball stadium for the A’s in the SF Bay Area.
New A’s Ownership with the intent on quickly building a New privately financed baseball Stadium for the A’s would attract the full cooperation of Governor Newsom and SF Bay Area officials.
Honestly, this is so straightforward that any successful business person, fan, athlete, government official(s) would quickly jump on board, work together and get this done much more quickly than the proposed Las Vegas, much smaller deal.
By the way, didn’t L:as Vegas Mayor Goodman publicly say that Fisher did not have the money and financing to hold up his end of the proposed Las Vegas Deal?!
Fisher has been rejected for financing the A’s propose project at Oakland’s Jack London Square and in Las Vegas according to reports?! How much will it cost MLB Owners and the MLB Commissioner’s Office to financially bail out Fisher, again?! Why is MLB continuing to throw more good money after bad money and bad business decisions by Fisher?!
Shouting so much that you’ll lose your voice later if not now.
A “Win/Win” proposal could also accommodate Las Vegas and Nevada.
MLB could award Las Vegas an Expansion Franchise.
MLB could take over the financing of the New Las Vegas stadium so the stadium process is not interrupted and the New Las Vegas baseball stadium building could be timed and coordinated to be ready by the time the New Las Vegas MLB Expansion Team is up and running.
A New, well funded Las Vegas Ownership Group could be lined up to Own and Operate the Las Vegas MLB Expansion Team.
MLB could add their cost contribution to financing and construction of the New Las Vegas baseball stadium to the Franchise Fee paid by the New Ownership Group for the Las Vegas MLB expansion team (plus interest).
A possible/proposed New Name for Las Vegas Expansion Franchise
could be “The Las Vegas Road Runners”.
The fact that other MLB owners have approved the relocation disproves everything you’re suggesting here.
YOUR POINT PROVES, ONLY, THAT YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HOW BUSINESS WORKS.
BUSINESSES THAT SURVIVE AND PROSPER REVERSE COURSE WHEN PRESENTED WITH A BETTER PLAN.
BUSINESSES THAT SUCCEED AND THRIVE CHANGE COURSE WHEN THE MARKET DEMANDS IT ALL THE TIME.
THE ONES THAT DON’T LIKE: SEARS, WARDS, MALL COMPANIES BECOME FOOTNOTES AND DISAPPEAR.
Dear Mr All Caps,
Are MLB owners actually doing what you’re suggesting, or have they unanimously approved the relocation?
Approved based on false and misleading statements
and conveniently leaving out the long history of mismanagement
by MLB Commissioners’s Office and Fisher?!
Approved based on the complete Lies by Fisher and Manfred?!
Approved after Fisher could not get financing for his share of the Jack London Square project.
In any other successful, profitable business
both Fisher and Manfred would be shown the door
by MLB Owners and told to not let the door handle hit them on their way out.
The Treachery of the SF Giants.
The campaign to make the SF Bay Area a
“monopoly” for the SF Giants in one of the biggest TV markets in the USA
Selig?
Manfred?
Fisher?
How did (Wolfe & Fisher come to own the team
(Selig’s college Fraternity Bros).
A counter proposal including ALL THE FACTS
would certainly get a vote against the A’s relocation to LV.
Hey Dave Kaval aka thornt25,
We have all noticed that the MLBPA has not given their ok on you playing in Sutter Health Park yet. What are you going to do if they turn you down AGAIN like they did with your AAA park in Las Vegas?
Al that verbage and 1 upvote lol
Most people read and don’t thumbs up or down many of these posts.
It is useful to GET THE REAL FACTS OUT.
and not to rely on sanitized public relations releases
from Fisher, the A’s, MLB that show only 1 narrow part of the story.
Not worried about it.
Taxpayer subsidies for pro sports facilities continues to be a big issue in cities across the country and not just in Oakland, CA
Kansas City Taxpayers just voted overwhelmingly against taxpayer subsidies for
stadium construction for the Royals (new stadium)
and for the Chiefs (massive upgrades for Arrowhead stadium).
Should both those teams move to Las Vegas or Omaha also?!
As a baseball fan, As a Cincinnati Reds fan who fought Oakland in two great World Series, I feel very bad for A’s fans. You’re a great group of fans and you deserve better. I do hope you get another team down the road.
This team is a disgrace on and off the field. I will never cheer for them again.
Interesting that considering LV’s AAA park was clearly not a top choice all along, but a smaller park which needs even more upgrades in Sac was chosen instead.
What a S-show
It’s because Fisher only makes decisions based on short term money considerations. If he left to Vegas, he loses his plum TV deal.
Las Vegas team did not want the A’s playing in their ballpark,
Fisher’s stench and bad reputation precedes him,
This is really cool for Sacramento
IF a deal was struck with Oakland for the Coliseum. Who says Oakland keeps there side of the upkeep of the Coliseum if they stayed. Obviously they have not since Charlie O Finley owned the team.
The A’s pay next to nothing for the lease. Fisher always wants everything as cheap as possible and to suck whatever money he can from others. The whole rushed Vegas “plan” was so he wouldn’t lose revenue sharing. Going to Sac is for free rent and to keep as much of the TV deal as possible. It’s all reactive for short term cash.
That was the reason for asking for $19.4 million. Maintenance is $7-10 million per year and the A’s haven’t been doing any for years.
Both sides really weren’t amicable after this breakup. Oakland asking for too many petty conditions and A’s owner being a greedy pig. The owners should be annoyed af at Fisher for making them look bad. Now their teams have to play in a crap minor league stadium. Everyone shouldn’t let the A’s ownership out of the dog house for this.
Oakland officials have negotiated reasonably and in good faith throughout the process.
Hard to negotiate with parties like Fisher and Manfred who appeared
to have LIED TO OAKLAND OFFICIALS
They wanted a $97m exit fee and exclusive rights to an expansion team for a 3 year lease extension on the worst sports stadium in the country. This is neither reasonable nor good faith.
Fisher originally was sold half the Coliseum site on the premise it would insure the A’s would stay in Oakland long term. Reneged in a few short years. He is the definition of bad faith. And also total ineptitude. And also being a total cheapskate.
Again, that leaves out a lot of facts that are not reported./not posted accurately.
The Coliseum Authority and Alameda County gave Fisher a “sweetheart deal” for valuable land around the present Oakland Coliseum with the intent that Fisher and Oakland-Alameda County would be closing a New A;s Stadium deal with MLB, Manfred and Fisher .IN OAKLAND, NOT LAS VEGAS.
If the Oakland A’s New Stadium deal is dead,
then it is ONLY LOGICAL for Oakland and Alameda County
to request the land back that never would have been given to Fisher on those pro A’s pro MLB extremely favorable terms.
Manfred, MLB, A’s Fisher will forfeit 60M -70M per year by playing in W Sacramento instead of Oakland in SF Bay Area.
(180M-210M by forfeiting the Bay Area Sports TV contract.
New TV contract in Sacramento area is worth only about 10M per year.
So MLB, Manfred, A’s Fisher are leaving 150M-180M in TV revenues on the table by playing in the W Sacramento instead of Oakland in the SF Bay Area?!
VERY DUMB MOVE BY MANFRED, MLB, FISHER, THE A’s /
Dave Kaval/thornt25, Why do you continue to lie? We can read. We know the facts.
There was no $97 million exit fee. There was a $19.4 million per year lease for 5 years giving you and your boss John some leeway when you completely f-up building a ballpark in Las Vegas like we all know you will.
The 3 year lease was for $60 million. Again, not an exit fee.
The fact that you are not mentioning that the lease included all the maintenance you have NOT been paying and parking fees that you have NOT been paying the JPA is typical of your lying self.
You are also not mentioning that you had signage made for Sacramento that takes weeks to produce and it was there at the announcement, but supposedly John Fisher made the decision to play in Sacramento just yesterday?
so who exactly was not negotiating in good faith?
The JPA will make more from one soccer match than they do from an entire season of A’s baseball games due to the A’s MLB low rent this season of about $1.4 million for the entire year. They also won’t have you and your boss john Fisher blocking other events from being held at the coliseum. Bringing more revenue to the JPA.
Keep on lying Dave. Its made you so trusted and respected in the industry. Maybe that is why you block responses on your Twitter account and on the A’s Twitter and you feel like you have to have burner accounts on here.
Sacto gettin another triple-A team. Hey-ohhh!!!!
The Triple A’s
I guess the A’s weren’t going to Oakland City Council, hat in hand, with zero leverage.
As mismanaged as the A’s are and that they’ll be basically homeless for a few years, they ought to be called the California A’s.
oo!oo
Fisher will probably take this same team to Vegas. The same batters that will be in AA on any other team. Pitchers that knows nothing about the strike zone. Coaches that try their best in a bad situation.
I think Fisher is so greedy, that he will change the name of the team to the Vegas Fishers.
TrAshletics
this article failed to mention city of Oakland demands that included keep colors and team brand – no team would ever agree to that with a long history.
I think they dropped a lot of the more ridiculous demands in recent negotiations. MLB is not going to guarantee an expansion franchise, naming rights, or colors for a temporary 3 year lease extension. Oakland’s political leadership has excelled in silly posturing in recent years and their voters reward it.
The Browns did when Art Modell moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens. Funny thing is Dave Kaval interviewed about how upset he was as a Browns fan growing up about Modell. And then he became a two faced water carrier for a lower life version of Modell in John Fisher.
not the same. A’s came from Philadelphia, Kansas City before Oakland, so they have no real “CLAIM” to the name nor the colors.
Considering the talent level of the team maybe should just move the A’s to the PCL. I’m sure you could find a AAA team that’s better to replace them in the AL.
Columbus Clippers. Nashville Sounds. Both of those teams draw extremely well. Top 5 in the minors.
Or the Albuquerque Isotopes if you want to stay in western half of the country. They are topten in minor league attendance every year.
This played out exactly as I expected it to play out. Bay Area government drunk on its own importance and power gets the shaft.
The players are going to have way more fun and be happier playing in Sacramento.
You have never been to Sacramento in summer have you? There were days it was 110+ last summer with 80% humidity. Think Las Vegas on a river.
The Coliseum won. They have two new tenants for 2025 that will pay roughly the same amount that the Coliseum was asking the A’s to pay for 2025-2027 and they will play only 33 games p[er season there. Now the Coliseum can have concerts and other events during the baseball season.
Now if they can just get Fisher to actually PAY for the share of the site that he purchased from the county or get him to sell that so AASEG can start construction of the new stadium and arena asap.
The A’s were being asked to pay $20m/year in the most recent offer. Is there that much money in US rugby?
Dave Kaval/thornt25 There is obviously MORE per game in soccer since the A’s were being asked to pay the same amount for 81 events as the Roots/Soul are for 33.
Sacramento’s humidity is always very low in the summer. Maybe a couple of points higher near the river, but not much. The 110 degree temps during the day are real, though. Usually the evenings are pretty mild, so especially after the sun goes down games should be pretty comfortable.
Yep. Only about 5* warmer than Denver and the moment the sun goes down, temps plummet. Denver gets a little help from the mountains that way, but it’s not like night-day between Sacramento and Denver.
Same latitude. Same humidity.
You know the sign in CF above the batters eye in Sutter Health Park? Used to call them Jumbotrons. The day that we were there in August 2022 it had been 110 that day and when the game started that sign said 102 degrees on the lower right side of it. I still have the picture, because my wife said “OMG that is Billy Mckinney” when the batter for the LV Aviators led off the game. Loud enough that he turned around and tipped his batting helmet at her.
Imagine being born into one of the most prestigious/wealthiest families in America, being handed almost every advantage one can be given in this world…..
And you’re such an F-up that you run a business that literally prints millions by existing into the ground which forces you to close up shop and have big brother bail you out and start over somewhere else.
Like imagine if John Fisher were born to an average middle class family……he’d probably be hooked on fentanyl and have charges against him for stealing his grandmothers Buick.
Oh, I thought you were talking about someone else.
This whole thing has been a bad joke on both sides and it seems like both sides treated it like a bad joke. Either way, gotta feel for the fanbase. This is a team whose owners haven’t really cared for a while and won’t likely commit any real resources for another 3 years minimum. For that matter gotta imagine the players on that team are going to have the worst morale in the league. Gonna be a while before they’re out of the cellar.
The city shares some blame but I have to put the majority on Fisher. There is no way that any baseball team loses money these days, as there are prospective billionaires waiting in line for a current owner to sell and take their profits or die.
But baseball needs to fix the Athletics formally known as Oakland (that’s the best one I’ve heard, like Prince lol) before it can think about expanding. That, and Tampa and the other “struggling” clubs.
I think the well of public funding to support the exploding economics in baseball (and all sports, look at Kansas City voting down the tax for Arrowhead) is drying up. You already made the public mad by increasing ticket prices 10 fold and now you build smaller stadiums because it costs too much for most people to go.
I’ll laugh when Las Vegas tells him to “shove it” and the A’s are stuck with nowhere to go.
I think its going to come down to Fisher’s lack of ability to find financing. When he can’t get the financing to build the stadium in Las Vegas, what does MLB do?
At 7:46 AM there was A’s signage up in Sutter Health Park already. Signage that had no Sacramento or Oakland on it and that costs upwards of $40k and 2-3 weeks to make and hang.
So this was all BS. This agreement as in place long ago and Fisher’s “negotiations” with Oakland were complete lies.
I for one will be glad to see him go. The $200 million loss in income paired with his lack of ability to secure financing to build in Las Vegas means that in 2-3 years Fisher will be forced to sell the A’s. That is the best possible outcome from all of this.
Oakland’s starting offer included a $97m exit fee, Oakland keeping naming rights, exclusive MLB expansion negotiations. Followup offer was $60m/3yr. That gap was never getting closed without it being embarrassing for the city council. Oakland’s politicians are either delusional or just posturing. Not a surprise that the Sac deal has been in place for multiple days or weeks.
You left out many of the facts and only present the Fisher/Manfred perspective.
The so called “exit fee” appears may be money for reimbursement for some of the value of the Coliseum land made available to Fisher @ way below market value with the understanding that Fisher would finance and build a New A’s stadium in Oakland.
Once again, Fisher did not do that.
Fisher and Manfred do not keep their word and cannot be trusted to negotiate in good faith,.
West Sacramento and Las Vegas better both “watch their backs”
since both Fisher and Manfred have PROVE THEMSELVES TO BE UNTRUSTWORTHY AND DO NOT KEEP THEIR WORDS AND/OR AGREEMENTS.
Would not be surprised to see Fisher, Manfred and MLB sued to recoup the value of that Coliseum land and on other issues related to their complete mismanagement of the A’s in Oakland and the SF Bay Area.
Oakland attempting to “Lock in” the commitment for an MLB expansion team is a smart move while they still have the leverage..
That is what smart, successful businesses, organizations and governments do all the time.
The “backdoor” negotiations with Sacramento proves, once again,
that Fisher and Manfred lied, again, and cannot be trusted to keep their words and close a deal with Oakland officials on reasonable terms.
Dave Kaval/thornt25, why do you keep repeating the same lies?
Dave Kaval/thornt25, Since you keep repeating the same lie, I will repeat the facts
There was no $97 million exit fee. There was a $19.4 million per year lease for 5 years giving you and your boss John some leeway when you completely f-up building a ballpark in Las Vegas like we all know you will.
The 3 year lease was for $60 million. Again, not an exit fee.
The fact that you are not mentioning that the lease included all the maintenance you have NOT been paying and parking fees that you have NOT been paying the JPA is typical of your lying self.
You are also not mentioning that you had signage made for Sacramento that takes weeks to produce and it was there at the announcement, but supposedly John Fisher made the decision to play in Sacramento just yesterday?
so who exactly was not negotiating in good faith?
The JPA will make more from one soccer match than they do from an entire season of A’s baseball games due to the A’s MLB low rent this season of about $1.4 million for the entire year. They also won’t have you and your boss john Fisher blocking other events from being held at the coliseum. Bringing more revenue to the JPA.
Keep on lying Dave. Its made you so trusted and respected in the industry. Maybe that is why you block responses on your Twitter account and on the A’s Twitter and you feel like you have to have burner accounts on here.
A’s are doing everything they can to not endure themselves to Las Vegas fans. They don’t care about the city, they only care about a few more bucks.
Or endear.
Absolute disgrace to the sport to have a team playing in a stadium like that for 3 years. I know that the coliseum is a pile of crap because I grew up going to games there. That’s not the solution either. This should have been figured out with the city of Oakland and a new stadium should have been built at one of other proposed sites. Fisher never made a real effort to make sure those deals got done. He very well had the power to do so. He should be forced to sell the team. His whole plan to derail the team to force a move is so cartoonishly obvious.. If it were up to me he would also be dragged through the streets of oakland and beaten within an inch of his pathetic life and then banished to the depths of outer space. Preferably in one of those 2D prison things from Superman II
1) If Fisher sold the team tomorrow, would the new ownership group stay in Oakland?
2) When MLB expands, will Oakland be one of the cities?
The answer to 1 and 2 should be the same.
Joe Lacob has said many times he would buy the A’s and build a park in Oakland. Fisher is a spoiled little loser boy who has done nothing but run the franchise into the ground. Blaming Oakland is a pure excuse from a failed business person who has zero skill in business and only got his wealth from being born.
Could be more about CA in general.
You could be wrong:
Many new, successful stadiums have been built in CA
1) Sofi Rams & Chargers) (private financing)
2) Intuit Dome Clippers (private financing)
3) Case Center Warriors (private financing)
4) Levis Stadium 49ers (also offered to Raiders) private/public financing
5) Petco Park Padres private & public financing
6) Oracle Park Giants private & public financing
Approved Deals allegedly SABOTAGED BY MLB COMMISSIONER, Fisher, SF Giants
Cisco Field San Jose/Santa Clara County
Laney Field Alameda County
Jack London Square Waterfront Deal Oakland
Oakland Coliseum site Oakland(build new stadium in parking lot and demolish old Coliseum when new stadium completed (let Citi Field/Mets in NY was done).
Dave Kaval/thornt25, yes. You know that you have a standing offer from Lacob and that he has said publicly that he would build at Howard Terminal. Why do you keep pushing the same lies on here? We know who you are. Its not working.
Mr. Pallazzo
I believe the prison was called the Phantom Zone, an alternative dimension created on Krypton that served as a prison for Krypton’s worst criminals.
Read that again in the Comic Book Guy’s voice and it will make more sense.
293 comments and only 71 of them mention sidewalk poop. progress!
No one in Vegas will care about the A’s either. The locals are starting to get antsy that Fisher won’t pony up the dough. The Tropicana keeps having to jump through hoops. Manfred should (but won’t) force Fisher to sell and Lacob could keep a team in Oakland and make them competitive,
Only the other owners can force a sale, and they won’t do that so long as the current owner meets the financial standards of franchise ownership. The only example of a forced sale in recent history was the result of a franchise in bankruptcy, and it was essentially out of MLB’s hands. So fantasize away about what the commissioner should do, because a fantasy is all it is.
Frank McCourt was forced to sell the Dodgers when
messy divorce legal filings uncovered complete mismanagement of the Dodgers, looting of the Dodgers finances for personal use,
revealed McCourt was unfit owner personally and financially.
Rangers, Astros and other teams owners were forced to sell.
Open the A’s books.
It will reveal that Fisher is not financially qualified to bid on and/or own an MLB franchise and should be removed.
Evidence includes major MLB revenue sharing subsidies for
an MLB team operating in one of the biggest richest TV markets in the country.
Evidence includes Fisher unable to qualify for financing of a new stadium in very rich SF Bay Area.
Evidence indicates that Fisher is in “way over his head” as Owner of the A’s.
You really don’t need to explain the McCourt situation to longtime Dodger fans. We lived it. How Frank and Jamie managed to run the franchise into bankruptcy is less important than the fact that they did, and this is what forced the sale of the team ultimately. Bankruptcy also forced the sale of the Rangers. I don’t find where MLB ever forced the sale of the Astros, only that the purchase by Crane was made contingent on moving the team from the NL to AL.
As close as I think you’ll find to a “forced” sale for any other reason was Marge Schott being suspended from her management of the Reds for her repeated bigoted tirades. She finally agreed to sell her share of the franchise.
No franchise will ever open their books except to MLB. So that’s just more fantasy thinking. MLB and nobody else decides who is financially qualified. We as fans have no actual evidence of a franchise owner’s finances.
2 franchises already open their books because the are owned by public corporations and have to by law.
Public corporations don’t actually open their books, they release financial reports. They don’t tell all. But no matter because very few sports franchises are public corporations. The A’s certainly are not.
Already dealt with McCourt and Schott. Did you miss the post somehow?
They will and do open their books in Court Actions like bankruptcy Courts and Divorce Courts.
And when they do, it often reveals lies, wrongdoing, mismanagement, diverting team revenues for personal use.
The Mets (Wilpons) should have been forced to sell their team when they blew a great deal of money with Bernie Madoff, fell below the financial qualifying threshold to own an MLB team.
But, Selig and MLB bailed out the Mets/ Wilpons allowing them to use team profits to refill their family’s financial coffers. They did not spend substantial money on team payroll for years in the top TV market in the country and fielded lousy teams while pocketing the profits from team revenues.
Bankruptcy is a whole different animal. The books of the company aren’t made public but they are open to the court. All previous contractual obligations are essentially voided and the court decides which creditor gets how much. One of the reasons the buyers of the Dodgers made out so well with their new media contract is the court suspended some of MLB’s rules for revenue sharing.
Anyway, I think there’s a lack of appreciation of the fact that MLB is one business with 30 owners. So yes, they will bend over backwards to keep one of their owners solvent. Good luck telling them what they should do. Get real about it, is my recommendation.
Most bankruptcy records are made public.
MLB has forced sales of the Astros, Rangers, Dodgers and other clubs.
The Mets could have been a forced sale after Ownership invested with Bernie Madoff and experienced very serious cash flow problems.
Repeating the same wrong things does not make them right.
Marge Shott. McCourt.
Note that a lawsuit brought by the teachers union concerning spending public funds for the stadium is still working its way through the Nevada court system. I believe the State Supreme Court hears oral arguments on April 9th.
Nevada State Constitution may have been violated that could VOID the deal to use public funding for a new baseball stadium in LV
pulling the plug on the LV A’s stadium deal.
Despite 20 years of pro sports inflation, John Fisher never topped the modest $66 million contract Eric Chavez signed back in 2004. Fisher being a total cheapskate has always been a huge part of the problem.
Not sure if to sell off all my merch on Ebay or burn it.
without taking sides on the whole “”city of Oakland vs owner” debate, it is sad to see the A’s leave Oakland. I am a Blue Jays fan, but for whatever reason I have a lot of respect and admiration for that franchise and the great players that played there.
Question: with the team generically named “Athletics” and “A’s”, what’ll this site refer to them as in the 2024 Offseason in Review?
Offseason in Review: Athletics?
Offseason in Review: The Athletics?
Offseason in Review: Sacramento Athletics?
One of the least important things in this development but I’m interested.
You missed one possibility: the Erehwon Athletics.
A 14,000 (actually 10,000) seat stadium is an embarrassment for MLB. I don’t care if this is Fisher’s fault, City of Oakland’s fault, or anyone else’s. The other owners and Manfred should be ashamed of themselves for allowing this to work out in this fashion.
My thoughts, exactly. It’s two bit amateur hour stuff from a league that people around the world view as the pioneer of mass sports entertainment.
I don’t think MLB understands the damage they’re doing to the collective product.
Embarrassing for the league. As a side note, the A’s have a top 3 jersey in the league. I will deeply miss those if those change.
Just no oakland on jersey but still have A’s and athletics logos and same colors but obviously still not the same. I got back into hat collection several years ago invested probably thousand dollars buying current A’s hats pretty regularly and also bought more vintage items like starter jackets and few hats from 80s and 90s I’ll still keep the vintage items but it’s looking like wasted money at this point
I have a couple seats out in RF for the final game in Oakland. My son, Magic Sam, and I are going to fly in. Lots of special memories with the A’s. I’d like to meet some of the drummers and others I’ve gotten to know.
What an absolute joke of an organization. The league should be ashamed of themselves.
Dummies!
A disaster from beginning to end.
MLB should have a system in place to remove bad ownership. Strange that the large-market teams don’t demand it since the national TV contracts exist only because of the major markets, yet revenue is shared equally. Even a large percentage of local revenue gets divided up. What do the A’s bring to the table?
The owners voted 30-0 to approve the move. The teams don’t share the revenue equally. The big market teams get more revenue than the small market teams.
26-0. Fisher didn’t get a vote and 2 owners didn’t vote, San Diego and Baltimore.
MLB bought the Montreal Expos. There’s precedent. It’s just that Manfred has a goal of destroying good PR whenever he smells it.
The death knell for the city of Oakland
What a joke for MLB and the MLBPA.
Oakland has lost 3 major sports franchises in jus six years.
I don’t believe their stadium in Vegas will be ready either.
Instead of tens of thousands of empty seats for each home game there will only be just thousands.
A’s Red Sox game drew 6,000 the other day.
SF Bay Area did not lose the Warriors.
The Warriors play only 15-20 minutes away in SF in the SF Bay Area where the originated decades ago.
The Raiders are very nomadic and have moved cities multiple times. Abd Fisher’s stupidity and obstinance with the land situation around the Coliseum was instrumental in the Raiders leaving according to Raiders Owner Mark Davis.
The A’s were sabotaged by The SF Giants, by MLB, by Fisher in SF Bay Area and could have easily had a stadium in SF Bay Area
if MLB, Manfred, Selig, the SF Giants and Fisher had made
more reasonable efforts to keep the A’s in the SF Bay Area
Many deals were on the table.
MLB, Selig, Manfred and the Giants sabotaged most of them
Oakland was specifically mentioned, not the “Bay Area
The Raiders left because of the A’s lease that prohibited the Raiders to make upgrades they wanted.
The Warriors left because their brand was losing $ due being in a city that has a very negative image.
The mayor of Oakland and their representatives overplayed their hand. Tha A’s owner will have to shell out millions to temporarily relocate. How a deal was not hammered out is interesting.
Re Read post above.
Oakland is in the SF Bay Area.
It is a Region.
It generates more than 650B GDP per year just for that SF Bay Area Region and more than most countries.
If Fisher cannot make it there, then he cannot make it anywhere.
Is New York City not fit to have pro football teams since both of its Regional teams play in New Jersey?!
And, New York City also lost the Giants and the Dodgers?!
Has someone declared NYC not fit for professional sports
teams because at least 4 pro teams have relocated out of NYC?!
I don’t think so!
Many more examples.
Oakland is in California the 5th highest GDP in the world. So what I said Oakland has lost 3 professional sports franchises in 6 years. Stop trying to change that.
Oakland lost those franchises to GREED AND BAD SPORTS OWNERSHIP.
It was Fisher who drove the Raiders out of Oakland and not the City of Oakland (Google it).
Raiders were offered a “shared stadium” in Santa Clara with 49ers.
So, it was Mark Davis’s choice, not the fault of SF Bay Area.
The Warriors started playing in SF, moved to a New Coliseum Arena in Oakland for a few decades, then moved back to SF to Chase Center in SF
a few years ago only a 15-20 minute drive or BART train ride away
so they did not leave CA or SF Bay Area.
Wonder why they didn’t pursue a minor league park in vegas? Seems to me if a comparable venue and financial deal was available it would have made more sense.
Azcm, the MLBPA said no to the AAA park in Las Vegas. They also said no to Hohokam Park in Phoenix area.
Duh A’s.
MLB leadership, team ownership, player unions, and sports agents all suck. Why do I like baseball so much?
Brainwashed by WWII movies…it’s un-American to not support baseball, mom and apple pie….
This is not good for baseball. Owners should step in and take away his team. They won’t. It’s clear now that Fischer wants to develop that Coliseum property as he owns 50%. He never had plans to stay.
He can’t develop it and he can’t sell that 50% share without the city of Oakland’s permission. Oakland gets to choose who buys that from Fisher.
Boycott the Tampa/SF Giants!!!
The SF Backstabbers were saved for SF Bay Area fans by former A’s Owner Walter Haas Jr with an assist from Dodgers Owner O’Malley.
The SF Backstabbers were “loaned” the A’s share of the Santa Clara County/San Jose territory in the SF Bay Area to use it to secure a New Giants stadium in San Jose/Santa Clara County.
A’s Owner Hass Jr,. stated publicly that the A’s expected their share of the territory that they temporarily LOANED TO SF GIANTS) back after the Giants built their new stadium in Santa Clara County/San Jose.
Giants built their new stadium in downtown San Francisco
and then refused to give the A’s back their Santa Clara County/San Jose territory as agreed when the A’s helped save the Giants for the SF Bay Area.
No reason for the Giants to refuse to give the A’s back their territory
and to block numerous new A’s stadium deals in the SF Bay Area over the years/
Commissioners Selig and Manfred also have very “dirty hands”
in SABOTAGING THE A’s in the SF Bay Area.
The way MLB has allowed John Fisher to destroy the Oakland Athletics franchise and crap on all of its fans is a black stain on the sport that will not be soon forgotten. Any municipality that is clamoring for a team should step back and think long and hard about getting involved with MLB.
No city moniker. Lol. Fisher didn’t even bother to hire a brand strategist for the interim.
Right….like he couldn’t get that road Sacramento gray jersey sold. Whats he thinking not maxing the grift?
Fisher will run the Las Vegas A’s like the Washington Generals. They’ll be the patsy for whatever team is coming to town for the tourists/fans of visiting teams. Showed no desire to compete in Oakland, and now will do it in a hot summer city with MASSIVE night life options.
I’m not sure they get to Vegas to be very real. I could see this team stalling out in Sacramento and being foisted on citizens of Salt Lake City, Portland, or perhaps even Sacramento. We’re a LONG way from first pitch in Vegas.
This whole A’s situation is embarrasing for MLB. The situation in Tampa isn’t much better. The NFL would not tolerate this, but then their leadership makes Rob Manfred and his cronies look pathetic and weak.
St. Petersburg (not in Tampa proper) will soon be devoid of a baseball franchise, much like Oakland.
Rob Manfred and his cronies ARE pathetic and weak
The support gambling and soccer and are.part.of a conspiracy to ruin baseball and upend American leadership esp WASPs.
This is just a sad, sad end to a once proud organization.
The boot, licking moron, who hosts the A’s post game radio show advise the fans today to forget about what John Fisher has done to them, and just be happy. He told them to move on and smile. His suggestion was the equivalent of a husband who has cheated on her wife, telling her to just relax, and forget about the fact that he had destroyed their family, it’s not worth getting a stroke over. it never ceases to amaze me how bad actors always claim their victims anger towards them is unreasonable.
Can’t even pay 20m per year with 5-6k fans in the stands…I saw the attendance and just started laughing….more like a HS Team.
Former A’s Owner Walter Haas Jr actually gave his young star players contract extensions, signed some free agents, had his GMs make some competitive trades and put pennant contending teams on the field.
The A’s broke a regular season attendance record for one game with over 56,000 fans in a regular season game and in a playoff game.
“If you build a competitive team and keep your stadium up to par and “fan friendly”, then the fans will come to watch winning baseball in Oakland.
SF Bay Area has very many entertainment options.
Your business, beit MLB baseball, Warriors basketball, NFL football must field a competitive team to be successful in the major, lucrative markets.
They should just move to Borrow,AK.
That way, the Tigers will have a place to trade Javier Baez to…..
Major league black eye for MLB.
A’s Owner Fisher is worse than former Dodgers Owner Frank McCourt
and “hands down” the worst team owner in MLB and pro sports.
MLB Commissioners Manfred and Selig have been WEAK and COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT MISMANAGING the A’s situation FOR DECADES.
If the Owners would HIRE A COMPETENT MLB Commissioner, then Fisher would never have been approved as an MLB Owner.
OR, if MLB could admit it made a very bad mistake with Fisher
and forced him to sell the team to one of the many well funded, billionaires in the SF Bay Area then the A’s would have had a New stadium in the SF Bay Area long ago..
MLB did this to themselves,’
The decisions to hire Selig and then Manfred were bad decisions.
It lead to a train wreck of errors and bad decisions by MLB Commissioners and Owners with regards to the Oakland A’s New stadium proposals and the A’s economic viability in the SF Bay Area.
Fisher, Selig and Manfred have cost MLB and Owners 100’s of millions in revenue sharing dollars and, perhaps, a similar amount of money in deflated revenues.
And. Selig, Manfred and MLB Ownership have DAMAGED THE MLB BRAND
the way they completely mismanaged the Oakland A’s situation.
This A’s FIASCO is not on Oakland, not on California officials. The full blame rests on MLB, Commissioners, Fisher and the SF Giants.
Numerous New, professional sports stadiums have been built in California while M:LB, Commissioners and Owners have, REPEATEDLY, MISMANAGED the A’s situation and have REPEATEDLY “DROPPED THE BALL/COMMITTED INEXCUSABLE ERRORS”
AND/ OR INTENTIONALLY SABOTAGED THE A’s VIABILITY AND SUCCESS IN OAKLAND AND IN THE SF BAY AREA.
NEW CALIFORNIA STADIUMS AND ARENAS BUILT WHILE MLB FUMBLED NUMEROUS A’S SF BAY AREA NEW STADIUM PROPOSALS
1) Petco Park MLB (Padres San Diego) private/public partnership
2) Levis Stadium NFL (49ers Santa Clara private/public partnership).
(Raiders offered “shared stadium deal, turned it down)
3) Oracle Park MLB (SF Giants downtown SF) privately financed
4) Golden 1 Center NBA (Sacramento Kings moved from KC)
(private/public partnership)
5) SOFI Stadium NFL (LA Rams & Chargers (SOFI stadium privately
financed)
6) Chase Center NBA (Warriors downtown SF privately financed)
7) Intuit Dome NBA (LA Clippers privately financed)
8) Paypal Center MLS Soccer (San Jose Earthquakes 100% private financing and Lew Wolfe former A’s partnership Owner with Fisher agreed to pay 100% stadium maintenance)
9) BMO (Bank of Montreal) Stadium MLS (Soccer LA private financing
10) Snapdragon Stadium San Diego State football
(former Qualcomm stadium site self financed with revenue bonds)
11) Crypto Com Arena NBA (formerly Staples Center private/public partnership: 82% private funds (pro teams) 18 % public funds )
Paypal Stadium San Jose (Soccer) was constructed privately with no public money provided by the city of San Jose. Additionally, Lewis Wolff, owner of the San Jose Earthquakes, offered to pay for the maintenance of the stadium for a 55-year time span.
Lewis Wolfe was Fisher’s former A’s Ownership Partner with the A’s who sold out his interest to Fisher who tanked the A’s and sabotaged A’s stadium deals in the SF Bay Area.
The stadium was constructed privately with no public money provided by the city of San Jose. Additionally, Lewis Wolff, owner of the San Jose Earthquakes, offered to pay for the maintenance of the stadium for a 55-year time span.
Lew Wolfe was Fisher’s former partner with the A’s who sold out his interest to Fisher.
Did Fisher “purposely” “tank the A’s like Major League the Movie
to move the franchise and “flip it” for a financial windfall?!
Lew Wolfe (Fisher’s ex A’s Partner) agreed to pay 100% maintenance for SJ Soccer team in their new stadium
It certainly looks like Fisher acted completely in “bad faith”
and was not negotiating in “good faith”.
It appears Fisher’s plan was to drive down the expenses while increasing the value of the A’s as much as possible, fire sale all the great young star A’s players, spend way below the minimum in maintenance costs for the roster and the Oakland Coliseum maintenance, pad his bank account with MLB revenue sharing in one of the top TV markets in the country
and then move the A’s to LV for huge windfall profits when he
flips the A’s to local Las Vegas Ownership in a few years.
Fisher even suckered MLB Commissioner and Owners
to waive the customary MLB “relocation fee” of 400M + to move an MLB team to a new city.
What a guy!
What do the Oakland A’s look like over the past 50 years without PEDs? Organization has been a non-stop nuisance to MLB. FIFTY YEARS!!!
Hey “cheap shot” ,
The Dynastic A’s of won 3 straight World Series Titles in 72-73-74 in Oakland.
And, the A’s won another Championship during the “Earthquake Series”. for a total of 4 A’s World Series Titles in Oakland during that time.
Their Rivals the SF Giants won zero titles during that time period,
but, later they won 3 Titles in the SF Bay Area.
MLB teams with the Most Wins from the 1970’s to 2024
1) Yankees
2) Dodgers
3) Red Sox
4) Cardinals
5) Braves
6)Athletics
MLB Teams that have won 3 or more World Series in a Row:
1) New York Yankees
three in a row ’98-‘2000
four in a row ’36-’39
five in a row ’49-’53
Oakland Athletics
3 in a row ’72-’74
MLB Teams with the Most World Series Titles in MLB History
1) New York Yankees 27
2) St. Louis Cardinals 11
3) TIED Athletics 9
3) TIED Red Sox 9
5) Giants 8
6) Dodgers 7
7) TIED Pirates 5
7) TIED Reds 5
9) TIED Tigers 4
9) TIED Braves 4
10) TIED White Sox 3
10) TIED White Sox 3
10) TIED Twins/Senators 3
10) TIED Orioles 3
10) TIED Cubs 3
The Athletics /A;’s are one of the most storied franchises in MLB history.
Are you working for Selig?! Manfred?!, MLB Commissioners Office?!
The SF Giants?!
Or are you just an ignorant Troll?!
The Performance Enhancing supplements/steroids era affected all MLB teams,
It was up to Commissioner Bud Selig (at that time), Owners and MLB Club officials to crackdown on abuses, tighten rules,
enforce existing MLB Rules on performance enhancing supplements and drugs.
The Commissioner’s office, Team Owners, Team officials, players all knew what was going on during that “Steroids Era.
But, it was after the strike, attendance was down,
Unfortunately, nothing was done about it.
Commissioner’s Officer (BUD SELIG)and Owners wanted to get attendance and revenues back up after the baseball strike and many fans had drifted away from watching and attending games
So, BUD SELIG “looked the other way” and let players “juice up” , increase, home runs, scoring etc…
It was not the fault of the Oakland A’s of that era since all teams were doing for that short, steroids era time.
” Because there was no testing or repercussions for using PEDs until 2003, many players used them in the 1990s. This era became known as The Steroids Era.
Baseball was struggling in 1994, as the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) went on strike when the teams’ owners attempted to install a salary cap”
THE BUD SELIG STEROIDS ERA WAS A BLACK EYE ON MLB
AND CAUSED GREAT SCANDAL IN MLB.
IT WAS NOT THE FAULT OF THE OAKLAND A’s.
IT HAPPENED THROUGHOUT MLB.
1976-2024. 49 seasons, I was off by one season.
Your “facts” are way off!
The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seasons and then to the San Francisco Bay in Oakland, California, in 1968.
Re Read posts above.
A’s won 3 Straight World Series Championships IN OAKLAND
in ’72, ’73, ’74.
You are stating that the A’s moved to SF Bay Area/Oakland in ’76?! Do some fact checking!
Your statements blaming the A’s for all of MLB’s problems
ARE EQUALLY FALSE, MISLEADING AND DO NOT PASS FACT CHECKING/
IS THAT YOU BUD SELIG OR MANFRED?!
The Oakland A’s have been a disgrace for the last 49 seasons. They were terrible during those 49 seasons except for the time that they were on steroids. Time to move this team that has been terrible for the last 49 seasons to another market. Let’s call the last 49 seasons #postreggie if that is helpful in remembering how awful the Oakland Athletics have been for the past 49 seasons off illegal drugs.
YOU AND YOUR POSTS ARE A DISGRACE TO THIS FORUM.
590 comments and most of them are not fooled by you John, Fisher, Dave Kaval, Bud Se;lig, Rob Manfred or your paid trolls.
Smart baseball fans have bullsheet detectors that light up and blink wildly when your disgraceful posts and comments are added to the many very intelligent, insightful, well researched and well informed comments on this forum, for the most part.
Your comments prove that you have not read the vast majority of comments here and that your comments are completely irrelevant to this discussion and just flat out wrong and that you are too lazy to fact check your completely absurd comments.
IT IS LOOKING LIKE THE A’S LAS VEGAS STADIUM FUNDING MAY BE PUT ON THE BALLOT.
LAS VEGAS AND NEVADA VOTERS ARE POLLED AS REJECTING PUBLIC FUNDS FOR A NEW BASEBALL STADIUM IN LAS VEGAS BY 60%.
THE PUBLIC FUNDING BALLOT INITIATIVE FOR THE MLB ROYALS AND 2X in a row Super Bowl Champion KC Chiefs
FAILED BY OVER 60%.
IT IS NOT JUST OAKLAND AND/OR THE SF BAY AREA.
THE MAJORITY OF THE COUNTRY DOES NOT SUPPORT CORPORATE WELFARE FOR BILLIONARE SPORTS TEAM OWNERS..
IF YOU HAVE A BILLION DOLLARS, THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE THE CASH AND CREDIT TO BUILD YOUR OWN
BUILDING FOR YOUR SPORTS TEAM.
“GET A CLUE”!
IT IS INCREDIBLE THAT THEY HAVE THE GALL TO
ASK NON BASEBALL AND BASEBALL FANS TO PAY FOR THEIR CORPORATE BUILDING.
“SOCIALIZE THE RISK AND PRIVATIZE THE GAINS?!
NO T HANKS!
Note well: The A’s did not win any World Series Titles during
MLB’s 1990’s “Steroids Era”.