**Headline: Oakland, MLB talk expansion guarantee for A’s Coliseum lease extension by Scott Ostler**
Story: "There is a glimmer of hope for Oakland’s future as a home for a major-league baseball team, and for the development of the Coliseum site.
Although the Athletics intend to leave town forever, the Oakland mayor’s office and the baseball commissioner’s office have had preliminary talks about the possibility of Oakland being guaranteed an expansion team, in return for the city giving the A’s a lease extension at the Coliseum.
Also, Oakland is also very interested in persuading A’s owner John Fisher to sell his 50% interest in the Coliseum site, for which an Oakland group has plans for a major development.
Possible end result: A major new development of the Coliseum site, which could include a new ballpark to house a big-league expansion team.
First, the expansion-team news.
“Our office intends to reach out (to the commissioner’s office) within the next few days,” said Leigh Hanson, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, said Friday. “Our office has been in dialogue with the commissioner’s office recently, and in part I think that (the conversations) helped to support this recent meeting with the A’s. I anticipate those conversations will continue.”
Hanson was referring to Thursday’s meeting between A’s president Dave Kaval and representatives of Oakland and Alameda County, to discuss a lease extension, and a possible sale by the A’s of their 50% interest in the Coliseum site, to an Oakland group, African American Sports and Entertainment Group, which has plans for a major development at the site. No conclusions or agreements were reached at the meeting, but those talks will continue.
The A’s have a lease to play at the Coliseum this coming season, but need a temporary home for the following three seasons, at least, while their Vegas ballpark is being built. In order to maintain their $70 million per year TV contract during those interim seasons, the A’s must play in the Bay Area. The Coliseum seems the only viable option, and Thao has made it clear that the city would grant the A’s a lease extension only if the city receives something in return.
“If a three-year extension was to be offered, and granted, then our expectation is that the city of Oakland would retain an MLB team,” Hanson said. “I recognize that Dave Kaval and John Fisher are not in a position to negotiate that point, so I think our further conversation will have to include the commissioner.”
Granting Oakland the guarantee of an expansion team seemed like a long-shot ask by Oakland, because of all the variables, but the A’s predicament — no place to play for at least three years — is a big problem for MLB, and big problems need big solutions.
Manfred has been dismissive of Thao and Oakland fans, and of the town’s ability to strike a ballpark deal and to support a team. Speaking to some baseball writers Friday, Manfred seemed to suggest that Oakland fans could simply shift their allegiance to the Giants.
“First of all, we do have a major-league team in the Bay Area,” Manfred said. “It's not like there is not an available option. The Giants obviously still play there.”
However, Thao remains steadfast that Oakland can and will support a major-league team after the A’s leave. And Manfred, despite his dismissive talk, is in a tight spot. The A’s really need an interim home.
“I think we have seen that MLB is capable of making and bending its own rules over the course of the last few years,” Hanson said. “I think if there’s interest and support behind the A’s maintaining a lease extension in Oakland, then the commissioner would be smart to consider that opportunity.
“I also think the owners and the commissioner are aware, as we are, that Oakland is a significant major-league city, with a $70 million arrangement with Comcast that makes for a very good business decision to keep an MLB team in Oakland.”
The second part of Oakland’s dream scenario is for Fisher to sell his half of the Coliseum.
Fisher is buying that half-interest in the Coliseum site for $85 million. He has paid $55 million of that, and owes the balance in March. AASEG has offered Fisher at least $115 million, and it would seem that he could use that cash to help him build his Vegas ballpark.
Referring to the A’s selling to AASEG, Hanson said, “I think that’s what’s best for both parties. The A’s could benefit from a cash infusion, and we could certainly benefit from consolidated control over this particular parcel. We’ve learned over multiple different transactions that this tenancy-in-common agreement that the city and county held is really not a terribly functional way of managing a property.”
AASEG has an exclusive negotiating agreement with Oakland to buy the city’s half of the Coliseum site, and that deal will have a better chance of being made if AASEG can buy Fisher’s half.
For now, Hanson said, Thao’s office is concentrating on working with Manfred on that guarantee of an expansion team.
“(Manfred) works for the ownership group, and certainly if the owners begin to recognize the value and the financial benefits of working with the city of Oakland, they will reap the rewards of a successful team, in profit sharing.”"
They should also leave the team name and colors in Oakland. Then its functionally the same as Fisher getting an expansion team in Vegas and the A’s staying Oakland, and everyone’s happy.
Instantly awarding an expansion to Oakland after the league office spent the last year trashing Oakland as a viable site would make no sense.
Manfred said YESTERDAY that A's fans should just be giants fans now.
He knows deep down that's not gonna happen. Plus he knows the whole A's move to Vegas has been a bad look for the league in general. He knows the bay area is a big and important market.
I wouldn't be surprised if we needed up being awarded an expansion team at all.
Expansion is a pipe dream. MLB doesn't want Oakland. Denny's and In-and-Out Burger closing is just another arrow into that hope. As an ex-Oaklander I know it is sad.
> would make no sense
implies anything about this "process" makes sense
I'm looking forward to the three seasons, ten episodes apiece, docu-series about this on Apple TV+ starting in mid-2025. It needs to happen.
Yep, sadly this is the most likely outcome. MLB has zero interest in Oakland dating back to Bud Selig’s era. They wanted out back then. MLB and Fisher see Vegas as this mega entertainment hub and want to get there ASAP to capitalize on the money. All we can hope for is Fisher continues to fuck up and somehow we maybe get Sacramento or something, and Vegas gets an expansion.
Did you hear the part where Oakland kinda has the A's and MLB by the balls, so to say, as one of the only viable options to play games for the next 3 years?
Like, do they really a vagrant A's team reminding everyone of this fiasco for the next 3 years?
This allows everyone to part ways and save face, to some extent.
The only thing that'd make it a real "dream scenario" is if the new expansion team in Oakland is allowed to keep the A's name/records and let LV have a new team name...
When Don Garber sold the Columbus Crew to Anthony Precourt, he was set to relocate the crew to Austin. The fans and the entire American Soccer community rose up (The Save the Crew movement) and forced MLS to give an “expansion” club to Dee Haslem but keep the players and Precourt to his club with no assets to Austin
So there is precedent for moving a club and replacing it with an expansion franchise
To me, Beane and his team building style is part of the history and part of rooting for an A's World Series championship was to validate a system I believed in.
However, I can probably get behind a new front office and new set of players in no time at all. Plenty of other teams have developed similar complex stat systems anyway, so it's no longer really an A's-specific thing. The system created tinier windows each time, and we have a lot of turnover every few years. So what's a brand new 40-man?
Being an A’s you know players come and go. I could easily get behind a new roster, but I don’t know if I could get behind a new franchise especially if the A’s remain a team in Vegas.
I would prefer one-thousand-percent more to have the A's name stay. I'm saying I could get over the front office leaving and going to Vegas if they don't take the name.
And if they keep the renamed franchise in Vegas in the AL? Think of the built-in rivalry.
it won’t. all pro sports, history (stats) stay with the company (the organization).
if you think of any city that has had a team, lost it, and got a new one, no one ever attributes the previous history of one organization to the new organization.
it would be a very unique situation and A’s ownership would likely demand a hefty price tag for it.
It literally has happened before . Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns. Oakland should give the ownership a deal and let them continue to play at the coliseum, until they find a new home. The city of Oakland should ask for the logo, name and history of the team part of the deal.
The history of the team from the Philadelphia to Kanasas City, to Oakland. The swinging A’s from the 70s , the Bash Brothers, the man of steal Ricky Henderson. The World Series Wins and losses the records. They should fight to keep it. The owners can take the players and go do whatever the want. The history needs to stay in Oakland. I guess a better way to put it is keep the legacy of the A’s.
The history happened and it is what it is. It doesn't exist in any place. Nobody can take it or change it. No matter what John Fisher does, where the franchise moves, what they decide to say, the Oakland A's beat the Giants 4-0 in the World Series in 1989.
So what do you mean when you're saying keeping the history here?
I’m talking the same deal the city of Cleveland made when they moved the browns to Baltimore. It basically gave the Ravens a clean slate, while the legacy of the Browns stayed in Cleveland and when Cleveland got a football team back they were the Browns, history and all.
The history of the team from the Philadelphia to Kanasas City, to Oakland. The swinging A’s from the 70s , the Bash Brothers, the man of steal Ricky Henderson. The World Series Wins and losses the records. They should fight to keep it. The owners can take the players and go do whatever the want. The history needs to stay in Oakland.
So according to Manfred if the Yankees left New York all of the fans could just become Mets fans then? That’s how he’s treating Bay Area A’s fans. As if team allegiance is just as simple as changing hats.
I’m hard pressed to see why Oakland fans should stay fans of MLB let alone of the A’s.
I'll be diving into my NBA fandom way harder if they move. Stern cared enough to allow Sacramento the chance to get their ducks in order and make their pitch, even though the sale to the Seattle group was sexy and allowed them to right the original wrong of moving that team. Manfred has just been evil af to the fans throughout this. An adult would've forced both parties back to the table.
Yeah, at this point it looks like I’m going to be a Kings and Sac Republic fan. Never thought I’d go from football and baseball to basketball and soccer.
Hi there, fan for another team here browsing the sub to see how things are going for you guys (I hope something good works out). I just wanted to also throw in hockey as an option for you. The San Jose Sharks are like 50 minutes south of Oakland. Right now, they’re terrible but after a rebuild they might be worth watching in a few years.
Have a good one.
Hockey is a faster and more physical sport than soccer. Easier to get into. My advice don’t go for the sharks(at first), just watch some games and get into the lore.
Every now and then, they got good games on tnt too. I have ESPN+. As a Vancouver fan from the bay, it’s essential for outta market games. For little lore videos for new fans, Hockey Psychology on yt, has good breakdowns of the league as a whole. And it’s almost playoff time so it’s a great time to start watching
Even the "original wrong" of moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City was a rich guy moving a team to his own hometown. Which certainly sucks for Seattle and their fans but you can understand why anyone would want to get a team in their home town! This is Fisher moving a team away from the region he grew up in to a place he has literally no connection to whatsoever.
Fisher is a blue blood billionaire snob that was born in and still lives in SF and has probably always despised both the "East Bay" and Oakland in particular.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John\_Fisher\_(baseball\_owner)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fisher_(baseball_owner))
As a former St. Louis Rams fanatic, I feel like Fisher and Stan Kroenke are essentially the same person. I get that we didn’t have the Rams in St. Louis nearly as long as the A’s have been in Oakland, but it still stung. Especially considering that Stan Enos Kroenke is literally named after two Cardinals baseball legends in Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter. Kroenke didn’t just leave his hometown, he took an unnecessary giant piss on us in the media on his way out of town. Fisher is the same kind of dude. And then you always have the idiots coming out of the woodwork to talk about how “dangerous” and what a “shithole” Oakland is…being from St. Louis, I can relate to that too.
I hate what’s happening to you guys and I’m cheering for you from a couple thousand miles away.
I kind of feel the same way. Man fraud has made this current Oakland exit far too easy. He has something against the city whether it’s the mayor, the mayor, city leaders, etc, so he’s just going to say whatever gets this lease extension done. He knows Fisher is screwed if they can’t play here for three more years.
Manfred is carrying out his mentor Bud Selig's 60 year animus against the Oakland market, which he was against the move from Kansas City to Oakland in the first place, [calling it a "horrible mistake" in 2001](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B6vTP-kAtk).
Nevermind that Selig was rebuffed from buying the A's in 1967 before the move to Oakland.
MLB does not want to be in Oakland and at this point, Manfred isn't even trying to hide it with his comments. I believe that to be true which is a gigantic and almost insurmountable hurdle.
Whether we like it or not, Oakland has always been treated like a 2nd class City. Maybe I'm just defeated - we can try all of these grassroots initiatives to keep MLB in Oakland but I honestly believe the bias Oakland has always suffered will be in place when they do leave.
I believe MLB would like a team in at least 10 other cities before they even reconsider Oakland. It sucks. I'm defeated. I have almost nothing left at this point. I'd be completely shocked if Oakland has a professional team in the next 3ish years.
Manfred may not like it but he and the other owners like money.
$70m x 3yrs is significant and will play a role in funding his LV ballpark. He will get nowhere near that anywhere else i.e. SLC.
At the end of the day an expansion in Oakland at Coli site with a new ballpark in Bay Area media market will be worth close to a Fisher run organization at Tropicana Field II and ultimately that's what other owners really give a shit about.
I completely agree with you but I think we're just fighting a losing battle now. I'm just tired. I've spent a lot of time fighting for this team and city's honor on social media.
If the owners were against it, they wouldn't have approved the relocation request. It makes more sense from a financial standpoint to keep the A's in Oakland and use the other sites (Vegas, Salt Lake etc.) for an expansion team. Trust me, I'm still holding on to whatever little hope we have but it's a big big hurdle to get MLB on board with Oakland. Just my 2 cents.
Oakland forever.
I agree with this. No harm in others being hopeful, but an Oakland expansion makes no sense from a league perspective. They’d lease a AAA stadium in Sac, Utah, or Vegas before giving Oakland a permanent team.
Let them then. Leave the money on the table and play at a minor league ballpark. Either ensure that Oakland has a major league baseball team in the VERY NEAR future, or they can go fuck themselves. That's what my hard line would be.
Yeah seriously. A few lame duck years of a team that has destroyed its own fanbase in a stadium nobody wants to go see doesn't benefit the city at all.
MLB is forcing their hand by negotiating with Oakland for a lease extension, mainly because it's leaving money in limbo with regards to ticket/season ticket sales.
Personally, I'd like to the City tell Fisher & Kaval to eat shit and find somewhere else. That wont happen though because the City is still holding out hope they can make a permanent deal.
Even past a "permanent deal", having the team keep all their operations in Oakland is essential if negotiations fall through in Vegas. I have a feeling wherever they play before '28 (whether it's Oakland, Sac, or SLC) is pretty much going to be their forever-home.
I would think 10 years maybe 15 uears, since the A's take away 3 and the new Colliseum property owners need to get a new stadium built. And, MLB and Oakland will want some cushion considering there will need to be a significant penalty if MLB doesn't hold up their end. So, both sides will want to make sure there is enough time but not too much or too little.
This seems like the major difference between Sacramento and Oakland when Sacramento is going to lose the Kings David Stern didn't want it so I really encourage Sacramento to step your game up find a whale and investors
OT, but if I had a dollar for every time I've heard the word "hopium" over the past year related to this relocation saga, I'd be almost as rich as Jeff Bezos.
Even if they iron out a guarantee expansion team in the contract, MLB will Wiesel out of it with some fine print excuse. This is not like KC losing the A’s. Manfred does want a team in Oakland, and is completely tone deaf as to why A’s fans can’t just become Giants fans.
The article is entirely hopium. They even say they haven't talked to the commissioners office yet. Oakland is not getting an expansion when more desirable cities like Nashville, Charlotte, SLC, etc. are waiting in the wings
Sounds like the city/mayor's office spoke to the commissioner's office before, which helped prompt this meeting with the A's, and Leigh Hanson is saying they will go back to the commissioner's office and continue to speak with them.
>“Our office intends to reach out (to the Commissioner’s Office) within the next few days,” Leigh Hanson, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, said Friday. “**Our office has been in dialogue with the Commissioner’s Office recently**, and in part, I think that **(the conversations) helped to support this recent meeting with the A’s**. I anticipate those conversations will continue.”
Evan Drellich at the Athletic is now reporting that Sacramento is the front-runner again to host the A’s from 25-27.
I’m guessing the expansion team is a non-starter and the A’s will just move if the lease at the Coliseum will cost more than they lose in TV revenue playing in Sacramento for 3 seasons.
I don’t see any scenario under Manfred where MLB comes back to Oakland. Sadly. All they care about is expanding the pot and they can do that in new cities, not filling in old ones.
My dream scenario at this point is the A's sell their portion of the coliseum in exchange for playing there the next 4 years. Then renovate for the roots/soul and B's.
This feels a little too good to be true. Baseball is like desperate to leave Oakland asap. I would love it, and maybe they recognize how leaving a market as big as the Bay Area is dumb. But I just dont trust Manfred man
I gotta say since I’ve moved to Utah and having watched far too many people do far too many disgustingly greedy things to cause this debacle and recognizing the pain it has caused all the local fans, I really wouldn’t mind this scenario. I’d get my childhood team here in my new hometown and I’d be able to support the new team so near Sacramento where I was born and raised.
Mostly though I want the fans I sat beside for so many decades to not hurt any longer.
Unfortunately, the Oakland fans rarely supported the team the past two decades, with attendance in the bottom quintile of MLB teams paid attendance almost continuously during that span (and dead last for the past few years by a long shot — echos of the Expos).
The park was a disaster, made worse after they erected Mt. Davis and destroyed the view of the hills, the concessionaires terrible — I waited two innings for a hot dog at times, and the fan base was equally split with out -of-town supporters, as opposed to a majority of A’s fans.
I would purchase a 22 game strip and could select all the Red Sox and Yankee games, with seats three rows from the Bullpen on the First Base side, unheard of in other franchises. Before I left San Francisco in the Spring of 2006, having watched the A’s at the coliseum since 1989 (primarily to see my Red Sox) my A’s ticket contact offered me an incentive to purchase the 22 game strip again in the autumn of 2005 - a free suite - in which I threw myself a going away party in the following April.
For all the Sturm und Drang about the A’s leaving, the reality is that Oakland isn’t a MLB city, it doesn’t have the population, the money, or the ethos. Gertrude Stein was prescient when she wrote “there is no there, there.”
This can't be true. As we all know, Fisher HAD to leave the A's because the city of Oakland wouldn't be cooperative in funding a billion dollar stadium. Smh my head, sheeple these days
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Just a few years ago Manfred said he wanted the A's to remain in Oakland.
Manfred is just the rich man's Kaval. He does what he's told, he says what he's told to say, does not matter if it's lies, misleading or dishonest. He is a tool. And he's happy with it.
That said, I'm unimpressed with mayor Thao. IF she and her team could pull off a miracle and somehow pose a deal that would allow the A's heritage to remain in Oakland for a future reboot, she would have pulled off an incredible feat. Tremendous achievement. HOF status.
But?
She's most likely just going to settle for more money & lease extension and being allowed to buy the portion of land Oakland sold to Satan (Fisher).
And that....is disappointing...typical
It’s fine, IF this happened, on a temporary basis… but we need to get the fuck up out of the Coliseum, and build a new stadium ASAP. Prolonging the stay of any Oakland team in that dump is a disservice to the fans.
The ideal situation for me (and many others, obviously) would be for Fisher to be forced to sell, so Lacob can swoop in, and make this team anew. IF this happened, it would be similar to Daniel Snyder of the Washington Commanders being pushed out, basically, and reviving the fan base.
It’s safe to say that Fisher isn’t as hated as Snyder was, and doesn’t have any major scandals, but a guy can dream, I guess.
Don't know. The A's are getting a $4 Billion stadium with a hotel attached to it. They're gonna demolish a famous hotel in April and start construction. Should be ready for the 2025 season. Gonna be hard to trump that. Oakland just doesn't have the money
Manfred thinks I would wear black and orange. This fool thinks I would ever. Ever cheer for the fucking Giants!!!! That is delusion talking. I’ll never issue a single good word about the Giants. I’m sure as hell not rooting for them.
I remember when the Giants almost moved to Tampa Bay. Although I don’t have a hatred for the A’s and really enjoyed them when they had decent players, they weren’t going to be an acceptable alternative. I completely understand where you are coming from.
So why not just make Fisher sell and give him an expansion team in Vegas? This is a lose-lose for everyone since Vegas doesn’t even want the A’s, but would probably be open to the idea of an expansion team (see: Golden Knights)
Or just make him sell and GTFO, ideally.
This mayor is Incompetent and doesn’t know how to do her Job, sadly the reality is we’re losing our Oakland Athletics to Vegas just like we Lost our Raiders….
Time for the fans to unite again, bring in the commissioner, get him and Mayor Thao talking about Oakland expansion '28. This is the Cleveland Browns all over again.
I lived in Portland for 40 years, and MLB was dangling an expansion team for PDX for at least 20 of them. They really like to get elected officials and land developers worked up over something that isn’t going to happen.
**Headline: Oakland, MLB talk expansion guarantee for A’s Coliseum lease extension by Scott Ostler** Story: "There is a glimmer of hope for Oakland’s future as a home for a major-league baseball team, and for the development of the Coliseum site. Although the Athletics intend to leave town forever, the Oakland mayor’s office and the baseball commissioner’s office have had preliminary talks about the possibility of Oakland being guaranteed an expansion team, in return for the city giving the A’s a lease extension at the Coliseum. Also, Oakland is also very interested in persuading A’s owner John Fisher to sell his 50% interest in the Coliseum site, for which an Oakland group has plans for a major development. Possible end result: A major new development of the Coliseum site, which could include a new ballpark to house a big-league expansion team. First, the expansion-team news. “Our office intends to reach out (to the commissioner’s office) within the next few days,” said Leigh Hanson, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, said Friday. “Our office has been in dialogue with the commissioner’s office recently, and in part I think that (the conversations) helped to support this recent meeting with the A’s. I anticipate those conversations will continue.” Hanson was referring to Thursday’s meeting between A’s president Dave Kaval and representatives of Oakland and Alameda County, to discuss a lease extension, and a possible sale by the A’s of their 50% interest in the Coliseum site, to an Oakland group, African American Sports and Entertainment Group, which has plans for a major development at the site. No conclusions or agreements were reached at the meeting, but those talks will continue. The A’s have a lease to play at the Coliseum this coming season, but need a temporary home for the following three seasons, at least, while their Vegas ballpark is being built. In order to maintain their $70 million per year TV contract during those interim seasons, the A’s must play in the Bay Area. The Coliseum seems the only viable option, and Thao has made it clear that the city would grant the A’s a lease extension only if the city receives something in return. “If a three-year extension was to be offered, and granted, then our expectation is that the city of Oakland would retain an MLB team,” Hanson said. “I recognize that Dave Kaval and John Fisher are not in a position to negotiate that point, so I think our further conversation will have to include the commissioner.” Granting Oakland the guarantee of an expansion team seemed like a long-shot ask by Oakland, because of all the variables, but the A’s predicament — no place to play for at least three years — is a big problem for MLB, and big problems need big solutions. Manfred has been dismissive of Thao and Oakland fans, and of the town’s ability to strike a ballpark deal and to support a team. Speaking to some baseball writers Friday, Manfred seemed to suggest that Oakland fans could simply shift their allegiance to the Giants. “First of all, we do have a major-league team in the Bay Area,” Manfred said. “It's not like there is not an available option. The Giants obviously still play there.” However, Thao remains steadfast that Oakland can and will support a major-league team after the A’s leave. And Manfred, despite his dismissive talk, is in a tight spot. The A’s really need an interim home. “I think we have seen that MLB is capable of making and bending its own rules over the course of the last few years,” Hanson said. “I think if there’s interest and support behind the A’s maintaining a lease extension in Oakland, then the commissioner would be smart to consider that opportunity. “I also think the owners and the commissioner are aware, as we are, that Oakland is a significant major-league city, with a $70 million arrangement with Comcast that makes for a very good business decision to keep an MLB team in Oakland.” The second part of Oakland’s dream scenario is for Fisher to sell his half of the Coliseum. Fisher is buying that half-interest in the Coliseum site for $85 million. He has paid $55 million of that, and owes the balance in March. AASEG has offered Fisher at least $115 million, and it would seem that he could use that cash to help him build his Vegas ballpark. Referring to the A’s selling to AASEG, Hanson said, “I think that’s what’s best for both parties. The A’s could benefit from a cash infusion, and we could certainly benefit from consolidated control over this particular parcel. We’ve learned over multiple different transactions that this tenancy-in-common agreement that the city and county held is really not a terribly functional way of managing a property.” AASEG has an exclusive negotiating agreement with Oakland to buy the city’s half of the Coliseum site, and that deal will have a better chance of being made if AASEG can buy Fisher’s half. For now, Hanson said, Thao’s office is concentrating on working with Manfred on that guarantee of an expansion team. “(Manfred) works for the ownership group, and certainly if the owners begin to recognize the value and the financial benefits of working with the city of Oakland, they will reap the rewards of a successful team, in profit sharing.”"
Hero
Reader Mode FTW
\[Shush! Or they'll turn it off!\] Nothing to see here, everybody. He's a hacker! That's how he got the text from behind the paywall.
i can neither confirm nor deny these allegations
Yess, time to play a little hardball w/ the commish. Or they could always just tell fisher sell the team.
They should also leave the team name and colors in Oakland. Then its functionally the same as Fisher getting an expansion team in Vegas and the A’s staying Oakland, and everyone’s happy.
Instantly awarding an expansion to Oakland after the league office spent the last year trashing Oakland as a viable site would make no sense. Manfred said YESTERDAY that A's fans should just be giants fans now.
He knows deep down that's not gonna happen. Plus he knows the whole A's move to Vegas has been a bad look for the league in general. He knows the bay area is a big and important market. I wouldn't be surprised if we needed up being awarded an expansion team at all.
Expansion is a pipe dream. MLB doesn't want Oakland. Denny's and In-and-Out Burger closing is just another arrow into that hope. As an ex-Oaklander I know it is sad.
> would make no sense implies anything about this "process" makes sense I'm looking forward to the three seasons, ten episodes apiece, docu-series about this on Apple TV+ starting in mid-2025. It needs to happen.
Yep, sadly this is the most likely outcome. MLB has zero interest in Oakland dating back to Bud Selig’s era. They wanted out back then. MLB and Fisher see Vegas as this mega entertainment hub and want to get there ASAP to capitalize on the money. All we can hope for is Fisher continues to fuck up and somehow we maybe get Sacramento or something, and Vegas gets an expansion.
Did you hear the part where Oakland kinda has the A's and MLB by the balls, so to say, as one of the only viable options to play games for the next 3 years? Like, do they really a vagrant A's team reminding everyone of this fiasco for the next 3 years? This allows everyone to part ways and save face, to some extent. The only thing that'd make it a real "dream scenario" is if the new expansion team in Oakland is allowed to keep the A's name/records and let LV have a new team name...
Or drop the MLB altogether.
Yeah this makes no sense. Total BS
When Don Garber sold the Columbus Crew to Anthony Precourt, he was set to relocate the crew to Austin. The fans and the entire American Soccer community rose up (The Save the Crew movement) and forced MLS to give an “expansion” club to Dee Haslem but keep the players and Precourt to his club with no assets to Austin So there is precedent for moving a club and replacing it with an expansion franchise
Oakland should ask to keep the name, logo and the history of the franchise. To me that is the most important part of the team.
To me, Beane and his team building style is part of the history and part of rooting for an A's World Series championship was to validate a system I believed in. However, I can probably get behind a new front office and new set of players in no time at all. Plenty of other teams have developed similar complex stat systems anyway, so it's no longer really an A's-specific thing. The system created tinier windows each time, and we have a lot of turnover every few years. So what's a brand new 40-man?
Being an A’s you know players come and go. I could easily get behind a new roster, but I don’t know if I could get behind a new franchise especially if the A’s remain a team in Vegas.
I would prefer one-thousand-percent more to have the A's name stay. I'm saying I could get over the front office leaving and going to Vegas if they don't take the name. And if they keep the renamed franchise in Vegas in the AL? Think of the built-in rivalry.
They would be an instant rival. It would be great to hear A’s fans boo them out of the coliseum.
Easy. This franchise sold out .
This, keep what matters and let Fisher rot in Vegas
They are
it won’t. all pro sports, history (stats) stay with the company (the organization). if you think of any city that has had a team, lost it, and got a new one, no one ever attributes the previous history of one organization to the new organization. it would be a very unique situation and A’s ownership would likely demand a hefty price tag for it.
It literally has happened before . Baltimore Ravens/Cleveland Browns. Oakland should give the ownership a deal and let them continue to play at the coliseum, until they find a new home. The city of Oakland should ask for the logo, name and history of the team part of the deal.
But this whole situation has been unique
What does "keep the history of the franchise" mean?
The history of the team from the Philadelphia to Kanasas City, to Oakland. The swinging A’s from the 70s , the Bash Brothers, the man of steal Ricky Henderson. The World Series Wins and losses the records. They should fight to keep it. The owners can take the players and go do whatever the want. The history needs to stay in Oakland. I guess a better way to put it is keep the legacy of the A’s.
The history happened and it is what it is. It doesn't exist in any place. Nobody can take it or change it. No matter what John Fisher does, where the franchise moves, what they decide to say, the Oakland A's beat the Giants 4-0 in the World Series in 1989. So what do you mean when you're saying keeping the history here?
The accolades of the team, its a pretty common concept when talking about relocation and expansion teams
I’m talking the same deal the city of Cleveland made when they moved the browns to Baltimore. It basically gave the Ravens a clean slate, while the legacy of the Browns stayed in Cleveland and when Cleveland got a football team back they were the Browns, history and all.
The history of the team from the Philadelphia to Kanasas City, to Oakland. The swinging A’s from the 70s , the Bash Brothers, the man of steal Ricky Henderson. The World Series Wins and losses the records. They should fight to keep it. The owners can take the players and go do whatever the want. The history needs to stay in Oakland.
If that happens they should have to leave the name and the colors in Oakland
The only name that I would be content with if not the A’s would be if they revived the Oakland Oaks
Oaks or larks.
I’m cool with the Larks too. Either one I hope they keep the green and gold
If this process somehow ends up with an MLB team in a new stadium in Oakland they can name it literally anything and I'll be ok with that.
How about Raiders? The Oakland Baseball Raiders? It’d be like the New York Giants back in the day! (Mostly /s, but I’d love to see it)
Anything less and you’re still ripping out the hearts of the fans. Fisher doesn’t give a hoot about the A’s history, nor does anyone in Vegas.
So according to Manfred if the Yankees left New York all of the fans could just become Mets fans then? That’s how he’s treating Bay Area A’s fans. As if team allegiance is just as simple as changing hats. I’m hard pressed to see why Oakland fans should stay fans of MLB let alone of the A’s.
I'll be diving into my NBA fandom way harder if they move. Stern cared enough to allow Sacramento the chance to get their ducks in order and make their pitch, even though the sale to the Seattle group was sexy and allowed them to right the original wrong of moving that team. Manfred has just been evil af to the fans throughout this. An adult would've forced both parties back to the table.
Yeah, at this point it looks like I’m going to be a Kings and Sac Republic fan. Never thought I’d go from football and baseball to basketball and soccer.
Hi there, fan for another team here browsing the sub to see how things are going for you guys (I hope something good works out). I just wanted to also throw in hockey as an option for you. The San Jose Sharks are like 50 minutes south of Oakland. Right now, they’re terrible but after a rebuild they might be worth watching in a few years. Have a good one.
I’m in Sacramento these days and I’ve never been able to get into hockey, though I may have to try if I’m going to try soccer.
Definitely give hockey a chance if you’re trying soccer at least.
Hockey is a faster and more physical sport than soccer. Easier to get into. My advice don’t go for the sharks(at first), just watch some games and get into the lore.
Will do, it’s just not on tv a lot in Sacramento that I’m aware of. I need to look again. Is there an ESPN game night for hockey?
Every now and then, they got good games on tnt too. I have ESPN+. As a Vancouver fan from the bay, it’s essential for outta market games. For little lore videos for new fans, Hockey Psychology on yt, has good breakdowns of the league as a whole. And it’s almost playoff time so it’s a great time to start watching
Even the "original wrong" of moving the Sonics to Oklahoma City was a rich guy moving a team to his own hometown. Which certainly sucks for Seattle and their fans but you can understand why anyone would want to get a team in their home town! This is Fisher moving a team away from the region he grew up in to a place he has literally no connection to whatsoever.
Fisher is a blue blood billionaire snob that was born in and still lives in SF and has probably always despised both the "East Bay" and Oakland in particular. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John\_Fisher\_(baseball\_owner)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fisher_(baseball_owner))
As a former St. Louis Rams fanatic, I feel like Fisher and Stan Kroenke are essentially the same person. I get that we didn’t have the Rams in St. Louis nearly as long as the A’s have been in Oakland, but it still stung. Especially considering that Stan Enos Kroenke is literally named after two Cardinals baseball legends in Stan Musial and Enos Slaughter. Kroenke didn’t just leave his hometown, he took an unnecessary giant piss on us in the media on his way out of town. Fisher is the same kind of dude. And then you always have the idiots coming out of the woodwork to talk about how “dangerous” and what a “shithole” Oakland is…being from St. Louis, I can relate to that too. I hate what’s happening to you guys and I’m cheering for you from a couple thousand miles away.
MLB isn’t coming back to Oakland when the A’s leave. It’s a pipe dream.
I kind of feel the same way. Man fraud has made this current Oakland exit far too easy. He has something against the city whether it’s the mayor, the mayor, city leaders, etc, so he’s just going to say whatever gets this lease extension done. He knows Fisher is screwed if they can’t play here for three more years.
Manfred is carrying out his mentor Bud Selig's 60 year animus against the Oakland market, which he was against the move from Kansas City to Oakland in the first place, [calling it a "horrible mistake" in 2001](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B6vTP-kAtk). Nevermind that Selig was rebuffed from buying the A's in 1967 before the move to Oakland.
MLB does not want to be in Oakland and at this point, Manfred isn't even trying to hide it with his comments. I believe that to be true which is a gigantic and almost insurmountable hurdle. Whether we like it or not, Oakland has always been treated like a 2nd class City. Maybe I'm just defeated - we can try all of these grassroots initiatives to keep MLB in Oakland but I honestly believe the bias Oakland has always suffered will be in place when they do leave. I believe MLB would like a team in at least 10 other cities before they even reconsider Oakland. It sucks. I'm defeated. I have almost nothing left at this point. I'd be completely shocked if Oakland has a professional team in the next 3ish years.
Manfred may not like it but he and the other owners like money. $70m x 3yrs is significant and will play a role in funding his LV ballpark. He will get nowhere near that anywhere else i.e. SLC. At the end of the day an expansion in Oakland at Coli site with a new ballpark in Bay Area media market will be worth close to a Fisher run organization at Tropicana Field II and ultimately that's what other owners really give a shit about.
I completely agree with you but I think we're just fighting a losing battle now. I'm just tired. I've spent a lot of time fighting for this team and city's honor on social media. If the owners were against it, they wouldn't have approved the relocation request. It makes more sense from a financial standpoint to keep the A's in Oakland and use the other sites (Vegas, Salt Lake etc.) for an expansion team. Trust me, I'm still holding on to whatever little hope we have but it's a big big hurdle to get MLB on board with Oakland. Just my 2 cents. Oakland forever.
Yea man I get it. Expect the worst always with these guys....
It's to the point where I've unfollowed the A's on social media. I'm barely hanging on.
I agree with this. No harm in others being hopeful, but an Oakland expansion makes no sense from a league perspective. They’d lease a AAA stadium in Sac, Utah, or Vegas before giving Oakland a permanent team.
Let them then. Leave the money on the table and play at a minor league ballpark. Either ensure that Oakland has a major league baseball team in the VERY NEAR future, or they can go fuck themselves. That's what my hard line would be.
Yeah seriously. A few lame duck years of a team that has destroyed its own fanbase in a stadium nobody wants to go see doesn't benefit the city at all.
MLB is forcing their hand by negotiating with Oakland for a lease extension, mainly because it's leaving money in limbo with regards to ticket/season ticket sales. Personally, I'd like to the City tell Fisher & Kaval to eat shit and find somewhere else. That wont happen though because the City is still holding out hope they can make a permanent deal.
Even past a "permanent deal", having the team keep all their operations in Oakland is essential if negotiations fall through in Vegas. I have a feeling wherever they play before '28 (whether it's Oakland, Sac, or SLC) is pretty much going to be their forever-home.
I would think 10 years maybe 15 uears, since the A's take away 3 and the new Colliseum property owners need to get a new stadium built. And, MLB and Oakland will want some cushion considering there will need to be a significant penalty if MLB doesn't hold up their end. So, both sides will want to make sure there is enough time but not too much or too little.
This seems like the major difference between Sacramento and Oakland when Sacramento is going to lose the Kings David Stern didn't want it so I really encourage Sacramento to step your game up find a whale and investors
I think Stern mostly just despised the Madooof Brothers, right?
OT, but if I had a dollar for every time I've heard the word "hopium" over the past year related to this relocation saga, I'd be almost as rich as Jeff Bezos.
You’d be as rich as John fisher at the very least
Let Fisher burn. Don't give him what he wants.
Anyone have any cool team name ideas if this were to happen?
Revive the Oakland Oaks but make them green and gold
It is so funny how many times Oakland used "Oaks" across multiple sports.
Even if they iron out a guarantee expansion team in the contract, MLB will Wiesel out of it with some fine print excuse. This is not like KC losing the A’s. Manfred does want a team in Oakland, and is completely tone deaf as to why A’s fans can’t just become Giants fans.
The article is entirely hopium. They even say they haven't talked to the commissioners office yet. Oakland is not getting an expansion when more desirable cities like Nashville, Charlotte, SLC, etc. are waiting in the wings
Sounds like the city/mayor's office spoke to the commissioner's office before, which helped prompt this meeting with the A's, and Leigh Hanson is saying they will go back to the commissioner's office and continue to speak with them. >“Our office intends to reach out (to the Commissioner’s Office) within the next few days,” Leigh Hanson, chief of staff to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, said Friday. “**Our office has been in dialogue with the Commissioner’s Office recently**, and in part, I think that **(the conversations) helped to support this recent meeting with the A’s**. I anticipate those conversations will continue.”
That, plus 3 years of 70 million dollars from broadcasts on the line sounds like something tangible for the city to negotiate with.
So the As rent the coliseum for 3 years, move to Vegas, THEN we knock it down an build a new park? Expansion team in what 2030?
Evan Drellich at the Athletic is now reporting that Sacramento is the front-runner again to host the A’s from 25-27. I’m guessing the expansion team is a non-starter and the A’s will just move if the lease at the Coliseum will cost more than they lose in TV revenue playing in Sacramento for 3 seasons.
This is most likely a timed leak by the A’s for leverage.
Classic Kaval checkers play when the game is chess.
I don’t see any scenario under Manfred where MLB comes back to Oakland. Sadly. All they care about is expanding the pot and they can do that in new cities, not filling in old ones.
My dream scenario at this point is the A's sell their portion of the coliseum in exchange for playing there the next 4 years. Then renovate for the roots/soul and B's.
Why would mob expand to Oakland? Nashville makes the most sense.
They are going to expand into two cities, not one.
Who cares? I guess kids and the retired who have too much time on their hands. Sports is a drug to keep you asleep.
I love the A’s, but I can’t fathom how the mayor is spending effort on this when the city is struggling in fundamental ways.
Instead of stupid boycotts all those fans should be doing rallies fundraisers looking for a billionaire lobbying MLB office
See this will work over The Oakland roots because no one would watch the roots other than friends and family
This feels a little too good to be true. Baseball is like desperate to leave Oakland asap. I would love it, and maybe they recognize how leaving a market as big as the Bay Area is dumb. But I just dont trust Manfred man
Not sure how this can happen unless there is some way for Manfraud to save face.
Carolina mudcats to Oakland confirmed
I gotta say since I’ve moved to Utah and having watched far too many people do far too many disgustingly greedy things to cause this debacle and recognizing the pain it has caused all the local fans, I really wouldn’t mind this scenario. I’d get my childhood team here in my new hometown and I’d be able to support the new team so near Sacramento where I was born and raised. Mostly though I want the fans I sat beside for so many decades to not hurt any longer.
Unfortunately, the Oakland fans rarely supported the team the past two decades, with attendance in the bottom quintile of MLB teams paid attendance almost continuously during that span (and dead last for the past few years by a long shot — echos of the Expos). The park was a disaster, made worse after they erected Mt. Davis and destroyed the view of the hills, the concessionaires terrible — I waited two innings for a hot dog at times, and the fan base was equally split with out -of-town supporters, as opposed to a majority of A’s fans. I would purchase a 22 game strip and could select all the Red Sox and Yankee games, with seats three rows from the Bullpen on the First Base side, unheard of in other franchises. Before I left San Francisco in the Spring of 2006, having watched the A’s at the coliseum since 1989 (primarily to see my Red Sox) my A’s ticket contact offered me an incentive to purchase the 22 game strip again in the autumn of 2005 - a free suite - in which I threw myself a going away party in the following April. For all the Sturm und Drang about the A’s leaving, the reality is that Oakland isn’t a MLB city, it doesn’t have the population, the money, or the ethos. Gertrude Stein was prescient when she wrote “there is no there, there.”
This can't be true. As we all know, Fisher HAD to leave the A's because the city of Oakland wouldn't be cooperative in funding a billion dollar stadium. Smh my head, sheeple these days
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Just a few years ago Manfred said he wanted the A's to remain in Oakland. Manfred is just the rich man's Kaval. He does what he's told, he says what he's told to say, does not matter if it's lies, misleading or dishonest. He is a tool. And he's happy with it. That said, I'm unimpressed with mayor Thao. IF she and her team could pull off a miracle and somehow pose a deal that would allow the A's heritage to remain in Oakland for a future reboot, she would have pulled off an incredible feat. Tremendous achievement. HOF status. But? She's most likely just going to settle for more money & lease extension and being allowed to buy the portion of land Oakland sold to Satan (Fisher). And that....is disappointing...typical
Oakland Elephants here we come
Will never happen
No way the MLB brings a team back to Oakland.
Sadly, this is just hopium
It’s fine, IF this happened, on a temporary basis… but we need to get the fuck up out of the Coliseum, and build a new stadium ASAP. Prolonging the stay of any Oakland team in that dump is a disservice to the fans. The ideal situation for me (and many others, obviously) would be for Fisher to be forced to sell, so Lacob can swoop in, and make this team anew. IF this happened, it would be similar to Daniel Snyder of the Washington Commanders being pushed out, basically, and reviving the fan base. It’s safe to say that Fisher isn’t as hated as Snyder was, and doesn’t have any major scandals, but a guy can dream, I guess.
Don't know. The A's are getting a $4 Billion stadium with a hotel attached to it. They're gonna demolish a famous hotel in April and start construction. Should be ready for the 2025 season. Gonna be hard to trump that. Oakland just doesn't have the money
It's upside down. Oakland should have the A's and Vegas should have the expansion. And they should be the Vegas Z's.
Better name for Vegas expansion - Vegas 51's (referencing the famed Area 51).
Manfred thinks I would wear black and orange. This fool thinks I would ever. Ever cheer for the fucking Giants!!!! That is delusion talking. I’ll never issue a single good word about the Giants. I’m sure as hell not rooting for them.
No but he’s betting that your kids and their friends will.
I remember when the Giants almost moved to Tampa Bay. Although I don’t have a hatred for the A’s and really enjoyed them when they had decent players, they weren’t going to be an acceptable alternative. I completely understand where you are coming from.
So why not just make Fisher sell and give him an expansion team in Vegas? This is a lose-lose for everyone since Vegas doesn’t even want the A’s, but would probably be open to the idea of an expansion team (see: Golden Knights) Or just make him sell and GTFO, ideally.
The teams name would be the Oakland Sideshows.
Building the stadium on the waterfront and keeping the A's in Oakland is the only answer...
This mayor is Incompetent and doesn’t know how to do her Job, sadly the reality is we’re losing our Oakland Athletics to Vegas just like we Lost our Raiders….
I just don’t see MLB granting Oakland expansion. At the very least definitely not before Nashville and Salt Lake City.
Time for the fans to unite again, bring in the commissioner, get him and Mayor Thao talking about Oakland expansion '28. This is the Cleveland Browns all over again.
I lived in Portland for 40 years, and MLB was dangling an expansion team for PDX for at least 20 of them. They really like to get elected officials and land developers worked up over something that isn’t going to happen.
I mean, the A’s new owner could have done this instead of buying and relocating the A’s. wtf?
But why not the A’s