The Athletics announced that Marc Badain will be the club’s new president, per Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Badain is most notable for having previously been president of the NFL’s Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas in his time in that job. He will replace Dave Kaval, who announced his resignation from the position in December. Sandy Dean was named interim president when Kaval stepped down but will now serve as vice chairman.
“We are excited to welcome Marc to the Athletics,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “His vast experience, particularly his work on the opening of Allegiant Stadium and overseeing the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, makes him a great addition to our team at this pivotal moment. His leadership, commitment to the community, and ability to oversee transformative projects will be key as we look to build a strong and successful future in Southern Nevada.”
Badain served as president of the Raiders from 2013 to 2021. At the start of that time frame, the Raiders played their home games in Oakland Coliseum, sharing the facility with the Athletics. Looking for a new stadium, the Raiders started to explore the possibility of moving to Las Vegas in 2015. Those plans gradually became reality and the move was approved in 2017, though the Raiders stayed in Oakland through the end of the 2019 NFL season, moving into their new stadium in Vegas in 2020.
Badain then resigned in 2021. Per a report from Daniel Kaplan and Tashan Reed of The Athletic in October of 2021, Raiders owner Mark Davis said that “accounting irregularities” prompted the resignation. He said the team “overpaid our taxes…we paid more than we owe,” a matter that “may have started in Oakland.” Badain has since been working with the Oak View Group, trying to build a hotel and casino complex with a venue capable of hosting an NBA team.
Controversial finish aside, there are some clear parallels between his Raiders tenure and the current state of the Athletics. The A’s are in a similar position to where the Raiders were a few years ago. The baseball club is planning to play out of a new stadium in Vegas starting with the 2028 season. They failed to work out a deal to stay in Oakland beyond the end of their 2024 lease of the Coliseum, so they are going to play out of Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons. That is normally the home of the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants. The A’s and River Cats plan to share the park for the next three years.
The detour to West Sacramento is a notable difference, but the journey of the two franchises is otherwise quite similar. Since Badain has already steered one franchise from the Oakland Coliseum to a new facility in Las Vegas, the A’s seem to be banking on his experience to guide them through the process in the coming years.
“I’m honored to join the Athletics and help guide the team into a new era of success,” Badain said in the news release. “Las Vegas is a city that celebrates innovation and excellence, and I’m excited to work alongside the team, the fans, and the community to create something extraordinary.”
Visionary on how to run an organization further into the ground…
As the only guy in the room with experience with dealing with Nevada infrastructure i guess Fisher thought he’s the best option. Unfortunately the better headline/story would have been “Athletics put up for sale”…
There is always hope…and someday Fisher will. Just hope not in 5-10 years as expected but much sooner.
Marc Badain: “And I should know. I’m an expert in organizations that lack honesty and professionalism in attempting to (and successfully) abandoning the city of Oakland for Las Vegas.”
2023.
I don’t think I made this clear enough, this is a REAL QUOTE. Not satire. Look it up!
Badain even said last year that the Oakland A’s lacked “honesty and professionalism” in the relocation process per a Sports Illustrated article, too.
FJF!
Fresh JellyFish
Forever John’s Friend….maybe it’s not that one either /s
When was the last time John Fisher been out in public?
“Out in public”…That’s a fairly creepy question my friend. You don’t mind answering a few questions down at the station do you? You have some ID on you?
Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?
John Fisher attended most of the San Jose Earthquakes (a team he also owns) home games, despite the Quakes finishing at 6 wins – 3 draws – 25 losses last season in MLS
He attended just 3 home matches in 2024. There was even 2 articles about it in the Mercury News in November along with the fact that they had declined the options on key players like Ebobisse, Marcinkowski, Thompson, and Yarbrough and stated that the stadium was outdated and threatened to move the team. Have we seen and heard this from him before?
I guess my email pitch to become the As next President that I couldn’t possibly do worse wasn’t what they wanted, so they got someone who could do worse.
Good to know that even though the A’s look like they’re going to have a better baseball team, the organization is still just as rotten on the inside as before, if not more so.
Whatever helps with the goal of moving the A’s further away from the roaches in Oakland.
Isn’t Fisher going with them to Vegas?
Mitchy is a well-known Oakland hater on this website for some reason.
Sure, to a much less valuable area in NV
Is that you Bud Selig?!
Haven’t you done enough damage to MLB?!
Not satisfied with being the MLB Commissioner during
its most disgraceful and dishonest cheating
“STEROIDS AND DOPING ERA?!
You were hellbent on destroying Oakland A’s baseball in the Bay Area
by sabotaging multiple attempts to buy the A’s by multi billionaires and build the A’s a New State of the Art Stadium either in San Jose, the suburbs of Oakland/SF Bay Area or Oakland proper.
Warriors Owner Joe Lacob offered to either partner with John Fisher and buy/build the A’s a New stadium with his own cash and credit
OR buy the A’s himself and build the A’s a new stadium on the site of the Coliseum or somewhere else in the SF Bay Area.
Other SF Bay Area billionaires made similar offers always blocked
by John Fisher, Bud Selig, Rob Manfred and Owners of the SF Giants/
Yes, Reggie Jackson, along with Bill Gates, Paul Allen, and John McCaw, reportedly tried to buy the Oakland Athletics (A’s) in the early 2000s, but their bid was allegedly blocked by then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Reggie Jackson’s Claim: Jackson, a former Oakland A’s and New York Yankees star, claims that he and his ownership group, which included Bill Gates and Paul Allen, were willing to pay more than anyone else for the team.
Ownership Group:
Jackson assembled an ownership group that included Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, and former Vancouver Canucks owner John McCaw. (Owner of McCaw Wireless and Cellular Communications)
Alleged Block by Selig:
Jackson claims that then-MLB commissioner Allan “Bud” Selig blocked his attempt to purchase the Oakland Athletics in the early 2000s.
Jackson’s Reasoning:
Jackson believes Selig and the league’s owners colluded to keep him from their ranks, and he even had plans to sue but backed off for fear of retaliation.
(Jackson was allegedly told that if he sued MLB on the A’s deal that he would be “blacklisted” form Major League baseball and they would make sure he would never work for MLB or any of its teams ever again).
A’s Ownership:
The A’s were eventually sold to Lew Wolff, which Jackson believes was a result of Selig’s interference.
Instead Bud Selig allegedly engineered a “back door” purchase of the A’s without a public bidding process steering the A’s to his former College Fraternity brother Lew Wolfe and John Fischer.
Yes, Lew Wolff, who partnered with John Fisher to buy the Oakland Athletics in 2005, was a college fraternity brother of then-MLB commissioner Bud Selig at the University of Wisconsin.
Here’s a more detailed breakdown:
Fraternity Connection:
Lew Wolff and Bud Selig were both members of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity at the University of Wisconsin.
A’s Ownership:
In 2005, Wolff and his partner, John Fisher, acquired the Oakland Athletics.
Selig’s Role:
Selig’s fraternity connection to Wolff is seen as a factor in the sale of the A’s, as he was involved in the process and steered the sale towards Wolff and Fisher.
Sale Details:
Wolff and Fisher invested $100 million and assumed $80 million in debt to acquire the team.
Joe Lacob’s Bid:
Joe Lacob, owner of the Golden State Warriors, had a verbal agreement to buy the A’s but the deal fell through, with the team being sold to Fisher and Wolff instead.
And, Golden State Warriors Owner Joe Lacob circled back with an “Open Offer” to buy the A’s (for the last 15+ years), Keep the A’s in the SF Bay Area and build them a New stadium in the SF Bay Area in any of many locations:
San Jose, SF/Oakland suburbs, Santa Clara County (Silicon Valley)
and even in the Oakland Coliseum parking lot with the A’s playing in the old stadium until construction of the new stadium was complete
and then, (like the Mets) moving to the New A’s Coliseum stadium and tearing down the old stadium.
It appears that Major League baseball has capitulated and sold out its integrity to the Las Vegas Gambling Industry.
It is very IRONIC that major League baseball was ALMOST DESTROYED BY GAMBLING INTERESTS AND THE BLACK SOX SCANDAL.
Now, MLB is prostituting its name and reputation to cash in on and go all in on expanding gambling in major league baseball.
Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis must be rolling over in his grave about these very odd developments.
Kenesaw Mountain “The Judge” Landis. As baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis helped restore confidence in the game following the Black Sox scandal.
If the A’s need a new Manager or Coach, better get Pete Rose on the speed dial.
It is a “New Era” in MLB and A’s baseball and not for the better.
Selig also (along with Bill White) kept the Giants from moving to Tampa in 1994 by voiding a deal that was already in place to move them and stalled while they looked for ownership groups in California. As much as I loathe Selig for this, he’s still not as bad as Manfraud.
False!
The Tampa Giants Deal was already in place. Dodgers Owner O’Malleys and A’s Owner at the Time Walter Haas Jr (Levis) worked hard to save the Giants for the SF Bay Area. They lined up New Well Funded Ownership (McGowen from Safeway), they lined up MLB Owners to Vote No on the relocation in both the NL and AL and much more. They had the votes to block the Giants moving after extensive work and lobbying of MLB Owners. Selig was employed by Owners .The moves made by A’s Owner Haas and Dodgers Owner O’ Malley were instrumental in blocking the Giants move to Tampa. . Anything Selig did at the end was by direction of the Owners after they blocked the Giants move to Tampa. Selig WAS NOT INSTRUMENTAL IN SAVING THE GIANTS FOR SF… FACTS MATTER!.
Former A’s Owner Walter Haas Jr also, very generously. “loaned the A’s share of the Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley “shared territory” 50% each to the Giants to help them build a New Stadium in Santa Clara County/San Jose. Haas/The A’s FULLY EXPECTED THEIR 50% SHARE OF THAT TERRITORY TO BE RESTORED TO THE A’s by the Giants and MLB. Giants did not build their new stadium in Santa Clara County San Jose area. They went back and built their new stadium 50 miles away in downtown San Francisco. So, the territory should have reverted back to the A’s 50%. SELIG SPENT MOST OF HIS TENURE BLOCKING THE A’s fFROM GETTING BACK THEIR 50% OF THE SILICON VALLEY TERRITORY BACK FROM MLB AND THE GIANTS AND DESTROYING THE A’S ECONOMIC VIABILITY IN THE SF BAY AREA IN THE PRICESS BY BLOCKING THEIR MOVE FROM OAKLAND TO SILICON VALLEY SAN JOSE THE SAME AREA THE 49 ers Moved to much later..
See Lawsuit by City of San Jose challenging MLB from blocking their move to San Jose to relocate the A’s and build a New Stadium…TREACHERY BY SF GIANTS AND MLB AGAINST THE A’S. MLB subsidized the A’s to the tune of 1.2 Billion dollars and blocked them from building a New Stadium in San Jose that would have stopped their subsidies of 100M per year to the A’s?! VERY FISHY, STINKING DEALINGS BY MLB, SELIG,MANFRED THE SF GIANTS IF YOU ASK MOST FANS,
cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/general/2014/01/29/…
More Roaches in LV bigger roaches in suits.
Steve Fisher will go unnoticed there.
Essentially, the “accounting irregularities” become a strategic tool, not necessarily a failure. It becomes a pre-built narrative that can be used to navigate the very difficult process of moving a professional sports franchise.
Why are players like Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler so loyal to this organization?
Stock·holm syn·drome [/ˈstäkˌhō(l)m,ˈstäkōm ˈsinˌdrōm/] noun
feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor.
A 10X jump in games played + 200 point jump in OPS while playing in the cavernous Coliseum.
From what it seems to me, they are only loyal as far as the fans and the fact they are forced to stay there. So getting paid more on guaranteed contracts then they can enter Free Agency with far less stress knowing they’ve been paid.
They are very smart to take care of their families.
If they have a freak, career changing or ending injury,
then at least they set themselves and their families up
for a future without worries if the income is invested wisely.
A den of thieves.
2 professional teams playing in minor league ballparks. Who’d a thunk it?
My dream matchup for the ALCS.
Vegas residents don’t even want the A’s here.
Don’t worry, now they come with an “accounting irregularities” president. He will be a fine steward for all of that Nevada taxpayer money and credits.
‘Commitment to the community’, really? Still ‘accounting irregularities’ sound more like it. If there’s worse people in baseball than Fisher and those he’s hiring I’d be shocked.
With Fisher’s bad name and reputation, maybe he couldn’t get any top level professional with an excellent reputation to work for him
and his sheetshow.
Moving from Kaval the soulless liar to Badain the soulless thief and liar. What is next Fisher? How low can you sink?
Fisher is in it for a pump and dump type deal.
That is how bottom feeding vulture capitalists operate.
Expect, Fisher to try to driven up the value as high as he can in Las Vegas
then “flip” the A’s to corporate Las Vegas types for a healthy profit.
Will Lifetime SF Giants fan Fisher move back to SF and rejoin the SF Giants Ownership group now that he has successful removed the Giants local competition and made the SF Bay Area a “monopoly market” for the SF Giants?!
It would not surprise a lot of people.
Many Sports Journalists have written that Bud Selig’s tenure as Commissioner was a “black mark” on Major League Baseball
AND THAT SELIG DOES NOT BELONG IN THE HALL OF FAME AND SHOULD BE BOOTED OUT OF THE HALL OF FAME.
4 Major Reasons Bud Selig Should be Kicked out of The Hall of Fame:
1) Commissioner During the Steroids & Doping Era
Muscle bound players looking like cartoon characters and vastly inflated hitting and pitching stats.
Even Stevie Wonder could see that steroids and doping was rampant for a good chunk of time during Selig’s time as Commissioner.
Selig never “willful ignorance did not fool anyone. Selig was willing to sacrifice MLB’s integrity for more profits at any cost.
The Steroids Era Commissioner, Owners and Managers turning blind eyes to it is the worst MLB scandal since the Black Sox scandal.
Owners gave Selig sweeping and massive powers in MLB, Selig abused his extraordinary powers as MLB Commissioner during the Steroids and Doping era and with other actions.
2) Players who used steroids and other enhancement drugs were punished and many of the Hall of Fame deserving players will only get into the Hall of Fame unless they buy a ticket.
Selig gets a complete pass and get out of jail free card for his gross negligence in: seeing the massive and rampant doping in MLB, letting the doping go on and continue (in the name of corporate profits) and for not cracking down hard to fine, suspend and ban players who were doping.
Money and New TV deals because of illegally inflated stats were more important to Selig than the Integrity of the game.
3) Bud Selig’s documented knowledge of and involvement in criminal collusion conspiracy and his responsibility for the cancellation of the 1994 World Series. Owners intentionally colluded against players to deflate salaries and it has been documented in the Congressional Report and in lawsuits by MLBPA,
4) Selig’s dishonest and deceitful actions regarding the Oakland A’s.
Selig was instrumental in destroying the Oakland A’s economic viability in the SF Bay Area by rejecting numerous new stadium proposals, but not forcing the sale of the A’s to local Bay Area Ownership where billionaire sports enthusiasts are plentiful, by not honoring former A’s Owner Haas’s
SPECIFIC STIPULATION that the Santa Clara County territory shared 50/50 Giants-A’s) that Haas “:loaned” to the SF Giants to save the Giants from moving to Tampa in the 1990’s the A’s 50% Territory in Santa Clara County . And that it was agreed that the A’s Silicon Valley 505 territory would REVERT BACK TO THE A’s once the Giants New Stadium was built in the Bay Areas.
Thereafter, Selig continuously and consistently BLOCKED THE A’s from getting back their 50% Santa Clara County Territory.
It basically KILLED A NEW A’s Stadium in Downtown San Jose the Capitol of the Silicon Valley and with huge numbers of highly paid tech owners, investors and employees in that region.
Selig, Manfred and the SF Giants INTENTIONALLY, RECKLESSLY AND REPEATEDLY KILLED THE A’s ECONOMIC VIABILITY IN THE BAY ARE by blocking numerous viable Oakland and SF Bay Area New A’s stadium proposals.
Despite a SF Bay Area Yearly GDP Larger than most countries and States and an area that was perfectly suitable to support an NL and AL franchise and make big profits if a COMPETENT, SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSMAN HAD PURCHASED THE A’s instead of the Fraternity Bro connection of Bud Selig
Wolfe and Fisher.
(LA, Chicago, NY) all successful support both NL and AL franchises in their markets.
Anther telling sign of Selig’s complicity in TANKING the Oakland A’s economic viability in the SF Bay Area was Selig’s statements
loudly and unapoligetically crowing about
how happy he was to move the A’s out of the SF Bay Area and how the A’s should have never been allowed to move to the SF Bay Area.
Yeah Bud, perhaps the Seattle Pilots should have either stayed put in Seattle or moved to Vancouver or South Carolina or Nashville instead of Milwaukee?!
What a bunch of self serving bullsheet!
Selig tarnished MLB by his actions.