The Athletics have officially left Oakland; How are the fans doing?

 By: Tessa Roznovsky

OAKLAND, Calif. On April 27, 2024, news about the Oakland Athletics shattered the hearts of thousands of die-hard fans. The team released a statement in which they announced their intention to play the next few seasons in Sacramento, marking the end of an incredible 57 years at the Oakland Coliseum. The final Oakland home game would take place on Sept. 26, 2024. A majority of fans did not take well to this news and spoke out about their strong dislike for the team’s owner, John Fisher.

The Athletics’ lease at the Coliseum was due to expire at the end of the 2024 MLB season, so Fisher had been discussing plans of a new ballpark with the city of Oakland for several years. They went back and forth on deals but ultimately could not finalize any of them. Instead, Fisher decided to relocate the team to Las Vegas. 

The 30 MLB team owners voted unanimously in favor of relocation, presumably so that they would receive the same grace if they decide to make a controversial decision, such as this one, in the future. The MLB commissioner, Rob Manfred, had the power to stop this move. He could have forced a sale to an investor, one who wanted to keep the team in Oakland under the “best interests in baseball” clause. However, he decided not to, thus keeping the move in motion. 

In order to convince his fans that the failure to stay was not for lack of trying, Fisher released a statement shortly before the final game, where he says, “When Lew Wolff and I bought the team in 2005, our dream was to win the world championships and build a new ballpark in Oakland. Over the next 18 years, we did our very best to make that happen.” He claims that they “proposed and pursued five different locations in the Bay Area.” Since they could not get this done, in 2021 they decided to relocate to Las Vegas.

The plans to move to Las Vegas have not gone as smoothly as Fisher had hoped. His lack of commitment is proving to be a problem, as he finds it difficult to provide the necessary funding for a new ballpark. He has the money; he just doesn’t want to spend it, a concept with which A’s fans are all too familiar, as they’ve watched him trade star players and keep the payroll as low as possible. Fisher is looking for investors in Las Vegas, supposedly so that he does not have to pay much, if anything. This uncertainty around funding has led residents of Sacramento to raise their hopes of a permanent team in their city, since many people do not think Fisher can manage to get the Athletics to Las Vegas.

Oakland fans, of course, are not happy with the situation. Many have spoken up about how John Fisher has mistreated and disrespected them, leaving them to feel abandoned. They are not ready to part ways with “baseball’s last dive bar,” a common nickname for the Coliseum, due to its lack of renovations when compared to other Major League ballparks. Melissa Lockard, a journalist for the New York Times and an Oakland Athletics fan, wrote that “It’s been 30 years since Oakland A’s fans were treated respectfully, but none of them appeared ready to say goodbye.” The past 30 years she’s referencing have been filled with disappointment across the fan base. The franchise’s unwillingness to develop and pay upcoming star players led to them being traded for nothing significant in return or them walking in free agency for a team that would actually pay them. The team has not been out of the bottom 10 in payroll across the league since 2007, when they were only 17th. 

Since the team was making no improvements while simultaneously increasing the price of tickets, the crowds began to shrink. Fans became increasingly furious while they had to watch their favorite franchise crumble to pieces. The lack of attendance, sometimes with games attracting as little as 2,900 people, according to ABC7 San Francisco, is what many people pin as the cause for the move to Las Vegas. Other fans around the league often accuse A’s fans of not caring about their team and claim that’s the reason for the relocation. However, Athletics fans argue that John Fisher is the one who does not care, not them. They sought to prove this point as they sold out the final game, with over 46,000 people in attendance, wishing their beloved A’s farewell.

There are no current plans to introduce a new MLB team to Oakland, though many baseball fans have made jokes about the Tampa Bay Rays moving for the 2025 MLB season. As a result of Hurricane Milton, the Rays’ ballpark, Tropicana Field, lost its roof and will most likely not be ready by the start of the season. While it is unlikely that the Rays will actually move to Oakland, even temporarily, some fans hold out hope anyway. 

Residents of Oakland and the general Bay Area mourn the loss of a historical franchise, which once used the slogan “rooted in Oakland.” Lifelong fans are unsettled by the sudden removal of their favorite team, which has been a source of community in the city for 57 years. After losing the Warriors to San Francisco and the Raiders to Las Vegas, all in the span of five years, Oakland sports fans are struggling to stay positive.