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With the Oakland Athletics on the road to relocating to Las Vegas while their fans are begging the team to stay put, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred addressed the situation.
Billionaire owner John Fisher won a Nevada Senate vote passing a $380 million bill for a new stadium on the site of the Tropicana Hotel on the Las Vegas strip.
Fans, on the other hand, ran a "reverse boycott" Tuesday night at Oakland Coliseum, packing seats that have been empty all season with one message: Sell the team.
Manfred said he does "feel sorry" for A’s fans in Oakland. However, he doesn’t seem too apologetic about the relocation being imminent.
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Oakland Athletics fans fill RingCentral Coliseum during a reverse boycott game against the Tampa Bay Rays June 13, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. (Brandon Vallance/Getty Images)
"I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do," Manfred explained, via The Athletic. "I think the real question is, what is it Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. OK? They never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. And it’s not just John Fisher. … The community has to provide support. At some point, you come to the realization it’s just not going to happen."
Oakland’s Mayor, Sheng Thao, told ABC7 recently that a waterfront project at Howard Terminal site has momentum, saying, "We are very close to a deal." But the caveat is Fisher would have to sell the team.
So, after hearing Manfred's comments, the Mayor's Office barked back.
"This is just totally false," it said in a statement, via ABC7. There was a very concrete proposal under discussion and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize approvals. The reality is the A’s ownership had insisted on a multibillion dollar, 55-acre project that included a ballpark, residential, commercial and retail space. In Las Vegas, for whatever reason, they seem satisfied with a 9-acre leased ballpark on leased land. If they had proposed a similar project in Oakland, we feel confident a new ballpark would already be under construction. Oakland showed it’s commitment to the A’s and that is why the A’s belong in Oakland."
Fans have been trying their hardest to keep the team in Oakland, but MLB owners do plan to authorize the A’s relocation plan to Vegas as long as it goes through the Nevada Assembly, per ESPN.
That assembly, made up of a 42-person group, will need a majority vote to send the bill through to Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has been a proponent of bringing another professional sports franchise to Sin City, to set it into law.
Oakland Athletics fans display signs during a game against the Tampa Bay Rays at the A's ballpark June 13, 2023, in Oakland, Calif. (Brandon Vallance/Getty Images)
Fans packed Oakland Coliseum Tuesday, chanting, "Sell the team!" Fans wore T-shirts that said "Sell" on the front, and signs hung over the railings urging the team to sell.
While fans arrived in droves this time, Oakland has had the lowest MLB attendance per game this season, and it’s not even close. They were at 8,555 fans per game prior to the reverse boycott.
NEVADA SENATE APPROVES BILL TO FUND A'S LAS VEGAS STADIUM ON NIGHT FANS RUN ‘REVERSE BOYCOTT’
Since losing in the ALDS during the shortened 2020 campaign, the A’s have been on a rollercoaster descent that doesn’t seem to be ending anytime soon. They went 86-76 in 2021, the final year under Bob Melvin after he spent a decade as the team’s manager.
Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred speaks to the media prior to a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and the San Francisco Giants at American Family Field May 25, 2023, in Milwaukee. (Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
The A’s, who have an MLB-low $60 million payroll, own the worst record in baseball at 19-51 despite a recent win streak
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Fisher, the son of Gap Inc. founders Donald and Doris Fisher, has a net worth of $2.2 billion.