Oakland Athletics relocation to Las Vegas thread: Move to Vegas approved by MLB owners - Will play in Sacramento for 3-4 years

Nogatco Rd

Pierre-Luc Dubas
Apr 3, 2021
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5,406
Great eulogy in the local paper


An excerpt:

On a quiet night in Alameda, when I open up the windows, walk the dog, or sit out on the porch, and if the wind is just right and the schedule aligns, I can hear it.

Bum nah nah nah.

Bum nah nah nah.

It’s the recorded organ undercurrent to the best chant in the world, echoing from five miles away, carrying over the estuary waters and serenading me at home. It’s the ever-so-often soundtrack of my summers, and every time I hear it, I can’t help but play along:

Let’s Go Oak-land.

Let’s Go Oak-land.

The A’s are not my childhood team. You can’t consider me a diehard Green and Gold fan. My relationship with the team is one born solely of proximity — it stems from a decade of living in and loving the East Bay.

But it still hit me like a ton of bricks as that dulcet bass line crept into my living room again and again these past few nights. Much like the organ music reverberating over the water, the truth was inescapable:

We’ll probably never hear that chant at a big-league game again.

As I write this, the digital photo frame in my office rotated to a picture of me, my wife, and our then six-month-old daughter at her first baseball game — April 16, 2023. The A’s played the Mets at the Coliseum that day, and Lottie was generally unamused.

Last Friday, we took out-of-town friends to see the A’s play the Yankees. As I carried her through the insane traffic of the Coliseum concourse, she pointed to the field below us and yelled, “Baseball!”

The A’s might not have been my team, but they were supposed to be her team.

And it angers me to no end that they’ll never end up being our team.
 

Naych_PHX

Feeling Salty
Jun 14, 2004
6,862
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phoenix
Baseball was my first sport I liked, and the A's were my first favorite team as a kid. Then hockey came along. It may not be equal but as a Coyotes fan I hate relocation so I can relate in a way. Oakland fans didn't deserve to lose two teams in such a short amount of time.
 

Terry Yake

Registered User
Aug 5, 2013
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Considering 3 professional teams have left Oakland in the last decade, maybe the problem is with the city itself?
the city hasn't been perfect through all of this, but they were willing to give fisher what he wanted for the howard terminal ballpark and he bailed to vegas once he realized oakland was actually being serious. fisher/MLB were never serious about staying in oakland

the raiders left because davis couldn't afford a new stadium without public funding and vegas was willing to provide that while oakland wasn't. if i recall, the raiders wanted to redevelop the coliseum site but weren't able to because the A's had signed a new lease

warriors have always been a bay area team, not specifically oakland's team. they went back to SF because there was simply more money to be made playing there
 

BB79

🇺🇲
Apr 30, 2011
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apparently they'll only be known as "the athletics" while playing in sacramento

of course, ownership went ahead and trademarked "sacramento athletics" and "sacramento A's" anyways because they know vegas isn't happening
I'm hoping it falls through and they have to go crawling back to negotiating with the city of Oakland for a new ballpark. But realistically they would probably just stay in Sacramento before they swallowed their pride. By "they" I mean their absentee owner
 

John Price

Gang Gang
Sep 19, 2008
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They're blowing up the Trop soon but financing for Vegas is on shaky ground so it's certainly no guarantee

I'm hoping it falls through and they have to go crawling back to negotiating with the city of Oakland for a new ballpark. But realistically they would probably just stay in Sacramento before they swallowed their pride. By "they" I mean their absentee owner
they'll never go back to oakland. that bridge is burned
 
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BB79

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Apr 30, 2011
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They're blowing up the Trop soon but financing for Vegas is on shaky ground so it's certainly no guarantee


they'll never go back to oakland. that bridge is burned
I can see the clueless mayor of Oakland allowing them to come back and play temporarily until they move elsewhere. I'd only allow them back if it was to be permanent, otherwise they can go pound sand. You made your bed, now lie in it.

That said, in that situation the commish would probably blackmail them with "if you don't allow them to come back, you'll never be considered for expansion" type crap though so who knows how it'll play out. Vegas doesn't even sound like a sure thing, the taxpayers don't want to have to fund any new stadium and frankly should never have to.
 

Terry Yake

Registered User
Aug 5, 2013
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I can see the clueless mayor of Oakland allowing them to come back and play temporarily until they move elsewhere. I'd only allow them back if it was to be permanent, otherwise they can go pound sand. You made your bed, now lie in it.

That said, in that situation the commish would probably blackmail them with "if you don't allow them to come back, you'll never be considered for expansion" type crap though so who knows how it'll play out. Vegas doesn't even sound like a sure thing, the taxpayers don't want to have to fund any new stadium and frankly should never have to.
MLB has been done with oakland for years now and there's zero chance they'll ever be considered for an expansion franchise. coliseum was sold to a development group recently anyways. i believe a USL soccer team is going to be playing there next year

if (when) they become stuck in sacramento and vegas is officially off the table, the league will force fisher to sell and the team will probably end up in a city like nashville or portland
 

GKJ

Global Moderator
Feb 27, 2002
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Now that they’re out of Oakland, going back there does nothing for them because it doesn’t expand their footprint, unless it blows up to be the size of LA or something, or they magically become the only ones who can put a stadium together.
 

John Price

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Sep 19, 2008
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Still some hoops to go through to finalize the move there, but odds are they will most likely end up in Vegas
 

Quid Pro Clowe

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Dec 28, 2008
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[MOD]

Can’t believe some of you are STILL f***ing stupid enough to believe Oakland could have done something different about this. Fisher moved both the A’s and the Raiders not because he had to, because he wanted to. That’s the only thing his worthless fat ass will ever be remembered for.
 
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Quid Pro Clowe

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Now that they’re out of Oakland, going back there does nothing for them because it doesn’t expand their footprint, unless it blows up to be the size of LA or something, or they magically become the only ones who can put a stadium together.
Baseball has killed the sport in cities like Oakland ever since they thought buying islanders and other foreigners for Pennie’s on the dollar was better for the game than developing guys like Rickey Henderson, Joe Morgan, Reggie, Dave Stewart (Oakland born). Baseball is a dying sport in most inner cities because baseball wanted it this way.
 

John Price

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Sep 19, 2008
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I hope every single person involved in this sham loses someone very close to them very soon. Karma is a bitch, just like Doris Fisher.

Can’t believe some of you are STILL f***ing stupid enough to believe Oakland could have done something different about this. Fisher moved both the A’s and the Raiders not because he had to, because he wanted to. That’s the only thing his worthless fat ass will ever be remembered for.
Guessing you won't see them in Sacramento
 

Jack Straw

Moving much too slow.
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Jul 19, 2010
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the city hasn't been perfect through all of this, but they were willing to give fisher what he wanted for the howard terminal ballpark and he bailed to vegas once he realized oakland was actually being serious. fisher/MLB were never serious about staying in oakland

the raiders left because davis couldn't afford a new stadium without public funding and vegas was willing to provide that while oakland wasn't. if i recall, the raiders wanted to redevelop the coliseum site but weren't able to because the A's had signed a new lease

warriors have always been a bay area team, not specifically oakland's team. they went back to SF because there was simply more money to be made playing there
The Warriors actually started as the SF Warriors after leaving Philadelphia. After about 10 years they became the Golden State Warriors.
 

EpochLink

Canucks and Jets fan
Aug 1, 2006
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The Warriors actually started as the SF Warriors after leaving Philadelphia. After about 10 years they became the Golden State Warriors.

Yeah the Warriors first started in San Francisco but the Cow Palace wasn't an ideal arena. Then they moved to the Oakland Arena where the Seals played up until the Chase Centre was open.

I've been to both the Oakland Arena and the Chase Centre, the upper deck in Oakland was very cramped and slanted but you can see the entire court.
 
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John Price

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Sep 19, 2008
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I never seen the Coliseum up close but I once rode in a car to Oakland and drove by it during the Browns - Raiders game which was in OT :(
 

Quid Pro Clowe

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Dec 28, 2008
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Guessing you won't see them in Sacramento
I’m not sure. I saw them in July in Anaheim and got a bunch of Trout bobbleheads.

If they happen to be playing somewhere I’m at (was at Disneyland before realizing they were playing in Anaheim that weekend), I may watch. If I get a free ticket in Sac I may go, but I refuse to put money directly into Fisher’s pocket.
 
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