Oakland A's to play in Sacramento for a few years while Las Vegas stadium is built

[KevFu]

It's a bad overall result, but it's good that there is a result.

The FANS of Oakland deserved far better.

But the City of Oakland had DECADES to make a deal for a new stadium. The A's proposed a plan/site in 2001, and the City of Oakland sold the land to someone else.

Howard Terminal was the SEVENTH proposed cite for an A's stadium within the City of Oakland (plus the Fremont and San Jose attempts). City did nothing -- they even pre-emptively sold land for one site to someone else.

Oakland's on like 12 administrations, lost the Raiders and Warriors, and still didn't get a deal done.

I totally understand the City of Oakland saying they have more important needs than a baseball stadium, because they do, but a baseball stadium does help with urban redevelopment, as about 10 other cities have decided during the time period where Oakland has needed a new baseball stadium.


MLB needs to put a return clause in, that despite Oakland leaving, the Giants can't block a second team in the area, provided it's (a) in the American League, and (b) not in SF or San Jose.

Watching this unfold stinks. I HATE bad ownership. Just crushes fanbases.

This is the third owner the City of Oakland hasn't built a baseball stadium for.

 

[MMC]

 

[BattleBorn]

A's should be a decade or so into their San Jose era. The fact that the league couldn't work that out with the Giants is crazy to me.

 

[LadyStanley]

Las Vegas A’s: MLB team to move to Southern Nevada

While Clark County issued a statement Thursday saying it’s ready to welcome the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao expressed disappointment, saying the city had gone &#8…

www.8newsnow.com

Clark county welcomes A's. Oakland mayor disappointed.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Man, screw this.

Oakland deserves better.

Maybe they'll get an expansion team in the future. Ideal nickname is Oaks after the old PCL team.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

My proposal is that the stadium for the MLB expansion team in Oakland be built where the Coliseum currently sits. It would be similar to how the old stadium for the Cleveland Browns was replaced by a new stadium on the same site while the team was on hiatus.

 

[KevFu]

Maybe they'll get an expansion team in the future. Ideal nickname is Oaks after the old PCL team.

Not gonna happen unless MLB forces a rider into the relocation terms that the Giants can't stop an AL team returning to the East Bay without compensation.

Oakland is not a healthy or attractive city. No one is going to want to go back there any time in the near future. And MLB already screwed up royally and accidentally gave San Jose to the Giants.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Not gonna happen unless MLB forces a rider into the relocation terms that the Giants can't stop an AL team returning to the East Bay without compensation.

Oakland is not a healthy or attractive city. No one is going to want to go back there any time in the near future. And MLB already screwed up royally and accidentally gave San Jose to the Giants.

The mayor of Oakland has already implied his intentions to bring an MLB expansion team to Oakland.

 

[KevFu]

A's should be a decade or so into their San Jose era. The fact that the league couldn't work that out with the Giants is crazy to me.

The whole thing with San Jose was A TYPO, but since both teams signed CBAs and purchase agreements that included the typo, it was legally binding.

After the 1989 Earthquake, California was doling out money to rebuild, the Giants wanted stadium money as part of that. But because San Jose wasn't San Francisco, the AL had to approve of it with 75% agreeing in a vote.

Because the California funding bill was on a deadline, and baseball needed a new CBA and a new commissioner after Giamatti's heart attack; Oakland signed a letter saying that San Jose is part of the Bay Area market which the Giants had the right to; so a vote wasn't necessary.

Where it got screwed up was that the AL and NL merged into "Major League Baseball" in 1999, and re-wrote their constitution; that re-write listed San Jose as exclusive Giants territory, which it should not have. But both the A's and Giants had been sold to new owners since 1989, and they signed the new constitution.

 

[KevFu]

The mayor of Oakland has already implied his intentions to bring an MLB expansion team to Oakland.

Sure, but the poorly written MLB constitution gives territorial rights to the Giants.

Like I've said over and over about GTA/Hamilton getting an expansion team: The first owner of the team isn't going to make money, but the second one is. The buy in is far too steep, which makes it better for relocations/expansions to go to untapped markets without territorial rights.

MLB has to grandfather an AL team into the Bay Area as part of the Athletics moves, or the Bay Area will be a one-bid market forever.

 

[KevFu]

Also, if Oakland is serious about building a ballpark for an expansion team... uh, just do it anytime in the last 30 years and they'd keep the As. That's lip-service from Oakland.

Blaming anyone other than the City of Oakland is just wrong:

It's the cheap owner! This is their THIRD OWNER who's tried to get stadium deals done in Oakland. Haas, Schott and Wolfe.

It's the Fans! The fans have been jerked around by 32 years of this non-sense. They're not watching a terrible team in a terrible stadium. The Coliseum has been terrible this whole time.

They've watched 37 new stadiums open while playing in the Coliseum. Seattle, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Houston, San Diego, Atlanta and Texas have gotten TWO.

Howard Terminal is the SEVENTH proposed ballpark inside Oakland -- not counting San Jose and Fremont -- with the first being proposed in 1991. Haas said in 1990 that the A's would leave by 1995 if the Raiders return and we don't get a new stadium.

 

[Bucky_Hoyt]

My proposal is that the stadium for the MLB expansion team in Oakland be built where the Coliseum currently sits. It would be similar to how the old stadium for the Cleveland Browns was replaced by a new stadium on the same site while the team was on hiatus.

Many people, including myself, have been expecting this move for years.

I honestly doubt MLB comes back to Oakland or anywhere in California. 4 teams is plenty. That said, it'd be interesting to see if the NFL uses the Bay Area as a possible relocation site in the futute.

 

[HisIceness]

This has to be a gut-punch to the people of Oakland, first the Raiders and now the As, not to mention the Warriors now play in San Francisco.

 

[Big Z Man 1990]

Many people, including myself, have been expecting this move for years.

I honestly doubt MLB comes back to Oakland or anywhere in California. 4 teams is plenty. That said, it'd be interesting to see if the NFL uses the Bay Area as a possible relocation site in the futute.

I want to see a major league version of the PCL as part of a four-league alignment starting with the existing Mountain/Pacific Time teams, then expansion of all of MLB to 40 would add Oakland and Portland, and decades after that, expansion to 48 would add Sacramento and Salt Lake City. This would put the new major league version of the PCL (whose minor league version would hence be renamed) in all the cities that had PCL teams during its heyday, in which the minor PCL aimed to be a major league of its own right, dreams that were ended when the Dodgers and Giants moved west in 1958.

 

[Mightygoose]

Must be a very difficult thing for the fanbase to go through. Plus they still have one season left on the lease though I understand there is a buyout.

Has a city ever lost 2 major league teams to the same city?

 

[mouser]

Must be a very difficult thing for the fanbase to go through. Plus they still have one season left on the lease though I understand there is a buyout.

Has a city ever lost 2 major league teams to the same city?

San Diego Clippers and Chargers immediately pops to mind.

 

[KevFu]

Must be a very difficult thing for the fanbase to go through. Plus they still have one season left on the lease though I understand there is a buyout.

Has a city ever lost 2 major league teams to the same city?

Uh, the A's themselves were already kind of part of this. The Philadelphia Athletics and Philadelphia Warriors played in the same Oakland parking lot for decades.

 

[ponder719]

Must be a very difficult thing for the fanbase to go through. Plus they still have one season left on the lease though I understand there is a buyout.

Has a city ever lost 2 major league teams to the same city?

The original Milwaukee Brewers became the St. Louis Browns (1902), and the Milwaukee Hawks became the St. Louis Hawks (1955). The San Diego Clippers and Chargers both moved to Los Angeles.

Not quite same city to same city, but the Warriors and As were both originally Philadelphia teams, both of whom left, had an intermediate stop (San Francisco and Kansas City), then ended up in Oakland (and both have left/are leaving). Also, Kansas City lost two teams to California: the As to Oakland and the Kings to Sacramento.

 

[KevFu]

I wonder how hard it would be for the Las Vegas Athletics and Oakland Aviators to happen for next season?

 

[Fenway]

 

[Headshot77]

Sure, but the poorly written MLB constitution gives territorial rights to the Giants.

Like I've said over and over about GTA/Hamilton getting an expansion team: The first owner of the team isn't going to make money, but the second one is. The buy in is far too steep, which makes it better for relocations/expansions to go to untapped markets without territorial rights.

MLB has to grandfather an AL team into the Bay Area as part of the Athletics moves, or the Bay Area will be a one-bid market forever.

I don't think it's necessarily bad for the Bay to just have one of each sports league. Right now it has one of everything, plus a second NBA franchise in the Sacramento Kings not far away. You'll probably never see any of these leagues try to stuff a second team into the Bay at this point. Too many legislative headaches, land acquisition costs that are too expensive, and your fanbase is at best cut by 50%.

 

[LadyStanley]

A’s have agreement to play at Las Vegas Ballpark

The Las Vegas A’s will have a temporary home in southern Nevada ahead of the construction of a billion-dollar baseball stadium west of the Las Vegas Strip, Dave Kaval, president of the Athlet…

www.8newsnow.com

The A's will be playing out of the MiLB stadium until the new stadium is finished. That means this is the last season in Oakland.

 

[Bucky_Hoyt]

I wonder how hard it would be for the Las Vegas Athletics and Oakland Aviators to happen for next season?

Honestly, it may not be that bad of an idea. Hell, maybe they need to try and move within this season. 10k a night is better than the 4k they were getting and God knows what they're going to draw now. I can only imagine how ugly this year is going to be for the team and for the city of Oakland.

I completely agree that Oakland fans deserved far better than this. At any rate, at least announce this at the end of the season and not 3 weeks into it.

Fisher and co. absolutely dismantled this team and it's an embarrassment to the game.

I'm sure if not an outright swap, there's an ex-MiLB stadium that could take the aviators since they culled a huge number of teams a few years ago. Still sucks all around.

 

[MMC]

 

[KevFu]

I don't think it's necessarily bad for the Bay to just have one of each sports league. Right now it has one of everything, plus a second NBA franchise in the Sacramento Kings not far away. You'll probably never see any of these leagues try to stuff a second team into the Bay at this point. Too many legislative headaches, land acquisition costs that are too expensive, and your fanbase is at best cut by 50%.

That's the entire point. The Bay Are is WAAAAAAAAAAAAY too big to leave to one team, who can become a financial powerhouse without the competition.

San Francisco/Oakland is the 13th biggest market... but there's ELEVEN top 125 markets in the Bay Area region that gets San Franciso Giants games on TV.

FIVE PERCENT of all MSAs in the United States are in the Bay Area TV footprint. (Which the TV footprints are a much better indicator of team's financial prowess than market size).

Nashville and Charlotte are expansion candidates, and the Giants TV territory has more population than the states of North Carolina and Tennessee combined.


MLB would be absolutely foolish to not make an addendum that an MLB team can return to the Bay Area (just not in San Francisco or Santa Clara county) without the Giants getting territorial rights fees.