Oakland Athletics' Las Vegas relocation approved by MLB owners

[TMC]

Former A’s owner Wally Haas blasts John Fisher, calls moving team instead of selling ‘unforgivable’

By John Shea,
National Baseball Writer
Sep 11, 2024

The glory days of the Oakland Athletics came under the Haas family’s ownership of the franchise, not just because of the high-powered teams but because of the fan-friendly atmosphere the Haases helped create. It’s a far cry from John Fisher’s tenure as he prepares to pull the A’s out of Oakland, which would have been inconceivable during the Haas family’s 15-year run that ended in 1995.

“It’s been very difficult for me to watch this unfold,” former A’s CEO Walter J. “Wally” Haas said of the move. “Our family had a much different philosophy in owning and operating the team than what is happening with the current ownership.”

The Chronicle reached out to Haas for reaction to Fisher moving the team to Las Vegas via Sacramento, and he responded on behalf of himself, his family and A’s fans by calling the decision “frankly unforgivable,” “hard to watch” and “indefensible.”

Oakland Athletics’ Lawrence Butler and Brent Rooker celebrate Rooker’s 2-run home run in 9th inning of Seattle Mariners’ 6-4 win in MLB game at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Thursday, September 5, 2024.
Haas, 74, is the son of Walter A. Haas Jr., who saved the A’s from moving to Denver when he bought the club from Charlie Finley in November 1980. The Haas ownership inherited a skeleton staff and farm system, hired smart, creative and community-minded people and achieved three World Series appearances and record attendance numbers with competitive spending.

The younger Haas used to meet Fisher for lunch before every season, at least until the pandemic. Haas recalls asking him why he simply doesn’t sell the team. Fisher didn’t want to hear it.

In July 2022, Joe Lacob said he had a verbal agreement to buy the A’s from Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann for $180 million, but the team was instead sold for the same price to Fisher and Lew Wolff, the latter a former fraternity brother of then-commissioner Bud Selig. Denied by MLB, Lacob turned his attention to the NBA, ultimately partnering with Peter Guber to buy the Golden State Warriors in 2010 for $450 million; the Warriors are now valued at $7.7 billion. Lacob has said he had a standing offer to buy the A’s.

Haas said he has heard of others in the Bay Area interested in purchasing the team. Fisher has been adamant that he’ll remain owner.

“I think what makes it so difficult for me and obviously a lot of others to watch is the fact that, unlike my father being the last hope at the time in Oakland, it sure sounds like John has had a number of groups -- I know that he has – approach him to buy the team and keep it here, one in particular, which was pretty public and certainly viable, is, of course, Joe Lacob and his group,” Haas said.

“Here's a group that checked all the boxes already. He's proven he can build a privately funded facility in modern times here in Northern California. He had championship aspirations and results and, as importantly, would have made John a much more substantial profit on his investment than he or his father (Don) had contemplated when they decided to buy the team.

“And for those reasons, I think John's decision to move the team is frankly unforgivable.”

According to Haas, his father initially balked at the opportunity to purchase the A’s. A Finley representative warned him that if he didn’t, Marvin Davis would buy it and move the team to Denver. Oakland business executives told the elder Haas that an A’s departure, coming as the Raiders prepared to move to Los Angeles, would have further hurt Oakland and the Bay Area.

That paved the way for the Haas ownership.

“Although my father was a multigenerational San Franciscan and even a Giants fan, he cared deeply about all of the communities in the Bay Area, its residents and their quality of life,” Haas said. “At the end of the day, he had a change of heart. I think it really framed how we viewed ourselves in running the team. We saw the A's as having the potential of being a really important community asset, and we viewed our role more as stewards of this asset than just owning another business and tried to run the team that way.

“We felt that the best way we could make it as strong a community asset as possible would be to do whatever we could to bring a world championship to Oakland, which eventually we were fortunate enough to be able to do.”

Fisher has run the A’s longer than the three previous ownerships and alienated fans more than any of them. He claimed to have spent $100 million on the Howard Terminal pursuit and added some nice features to the Coliseum over the years, but he’ll forever be remembered for terminating the Oakland A’s, forcing trades of star players, slashing payroll and raising ticket prices. The Haases paid top dollar for their stars and led the majors in payroll in 1990, the year they drew 2.9 million fans, still a franchise record.

“I appreciate that John went out and made a huge investment in trying to find the real estate to build the stadium,” Haas said, “but here’s where John made a mistake: He made it very clear he wasn't going to invest in the team until he had a stadium, and I think that he got that backwards. I believe he needed to build community support that would have influenced some of those local politicians who were slow-playing or undecided or even against the stadium.

“Investing in the team rather than saying no to Marcus Semien and trading the two Matts (Olson and Chapman) and others, my point is, fans would have gotten behind that team, but he let the team go and raised ticket prices. I mean, that's not a great combination when you're trying to get support to build a stadium locally. I think it was a huge missed opportunity and big mistake.

“It made it even easier for Major League Baseball to get behind all of this. I was very disappointed baseball allowed this to happen. They got impatient with how long it was taking for a stadium to get built, but it didn’t have to be, if John had just made that investment at the same time as he was investing in the stadium.”

Commissioner Rob Manfred said in July 2018 that he didn’t think there was another market with the “upside potential that Oakland has, and I think we would regret leaving Oakland if we did that.” However, Manfred ultimately joined the relocation bandwagon, and MLB owners approved the move in a 30-0 November vote.

“You're giving up on a community where fans, for valid reasons, have stayed away,” Haas said. “I wish baseball could have done more. I know with the right ownership, the A’s could thrive in this region.”

Haas noted how the impact of the team’s departure affects so many people in the Bay Area including employees of the team and Coliseum workers who are losing their jobs. The Haas family viewed the team’s community impact differently.

“It coalesces communities. It brings strangers together. It gives people that emotional hook or glue that they can use as a positive diversion from the grind of their daily lives,” Haas said. “We've seen it over and over with the success of other teams in the Bay Area. The Warriors, the Giants, the 49ers etc. It inspires and motivates kids. We used to get letters from seniors thanking us for our radio broadcast team that was their companions every day for six months. It provides families with memories that can last a lifetime.

“It’s terrible losing a business, but losing a sports team impacts a community, in this case Northern California and certainly Oakland. That's what makes this, frankly, so hard to watch and indefensible for me.”

The elder Haas was so respected that in September 1995, on what Oakland mayor Elihu Harris declared Haas Family Day, a gold jersey was unveiled on the right-field wall with Haas’ name and the A’s logo during an hourlong dedication. Barbara Boxer read a letter from President Clinton calling his ownership “inspirational” with a “genuine concern for the fan.”

A few days later, Haas died. The jersey remained on the wall through the Schott-Hofmann years, but it was removed along with numbers of A’s Hall of Famers during the Fisher ownership, partly to clear space for advertisements. Haas and the Hall of Famers now are honored with plaques hanging from the second deck.

The younger Haas shared a story about his dad watching an A’s game from his suite with Reggie Jackson on a beautiful weekend afternoon. The Coliseum was full, 40,000-plus.

“Reggie looks to my dad and goes, ‘Walter, look at all the people here. You must be making a lot of iron today,’ the baseball term for money,” Haas said. “My dad turned to Reggie and says, ‘Reggie, you don't get it. It’s not about that. Look at all the people here, families and kids and people enjoying themselves, and to think we had a small part in their enjoyment today.’ That just said it all for who he was and how he viewed what we were trying to do.”

That was when the Coliseum was a far more baseball-friendly venue, in the years before Mt. Davis was built at the start of the Schott-Hofmann ownership. Schott and Hofmann wanted to build a ballpark in Santa Clara, on the site where the 49ers eventually erected their stadium; Fisher and Wolff also pursued San Jose.

However, Selig sided with the Giants’ claim to South Bay territorial rights, a gift from the A’s in 1990 when Giants owner Bob Lurie received permission from Walter A. Haas Jr. to take over Santa Clara County – previously shared territory. Voters rejected Lurie’s ballpark referendums in Santa Clara in November 1990 and San Jose in June 1992, but the South Bay never reverted to shared territory. Last year, the Chronicle obtained minutes from a June 1990 MLB owners meeting that laid out the rights shift. Language in the minutes clearly suggested the Giants’ right was contingent on a ballpark being built in Santa Clara.

In retrospect, the territorial rights should have gone back to being shared. The A’s could have insisted. In MLB’s other two-team markets – Los Angeles, Chicago and New York – the teams share the territory. Only the Bay Area is divided by counties.

“I’ll say this, my father was really surprised and disappointed – and obviously, he wasn't there for when this all came up – with the partnership of owners,” Haas said. “He understood teams were going to be super competitive on the field, but he couldn’t understand why this group of owners wasn't more of a partnership off the field, doing what was best for baseball.

“He was really disappointed how ownerships would only care about their own self interests. He felt at the time when Bob Lurie came to him with this request that it was in the best interest of baseball and in Northern California to allow him to put this on the referendum in San Jose. We were never going to move to San Jose.”

Haas isn’t the lone family member disappointed with Fisher. His daughter, Charlotte, posted pictures on social media this summer that were a hit with A’s fans – in the background, spots like Amsterdam and Botswana; in the foreground, her baseball cap with three words: “SELL THE TEAM.”

[TMC]

Fisher apologizes to A's fans for failing to keep team in Oakland

To our Oakland Athletics Fans:

This upcoming series with the Texas Rangers will be the final games of the A's storied 57 years in Oakland. And while the A's previously played in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Oakland has been home for the greatest era in the franchise's more than 123-year history.

Four World Series Championships. Six pennants and 17 division titles. Seven Baseball Hall of Famers. Charlie Finley and his mule. Billy Ball. Reggie and his incomparable swagger. Rollie and his handlebar mustache. Dave Stewart and the stare. Bill King's "Holy Toledo." Rickey, the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history. The list goes on and on.

Triumphs, near misses, the 1989 Loma Preita earthquake in Game 3 of the Bay Bridge Series, the 20-game win streak, a Hollywood movie, and an unmatched cast of players, coaches, and fans. We've had it all.

And that, I know, is what makes our departure so very hard.

The A's are part of the fabric of Oakland, the East Bay, and the entire Bay Area. When Lew Wolff and I bought the team in 2005, our dream was to win world championships and build a new ballpark in Oakland. Over the next 18 years, we did our very best to make that happen. We proposed and pursued five different locations in the Bay Area. And despite mutual and ongoing efforts to get a deal done for the Howard Terminal project, we came up short.

Only in 2021, after 16 years of working exclusively on developing a home in the Bay Area and faced with a binding MLB agreement to find a new home by 2024, did we begin to explore taking the team to Las Vegas.

There are millions of dedicated and passionate A's fans, in Oakland and around the world. Countless dedicated staff members and Oakland Coliseum employees have poured their hearts into this team, and their efforts have meant so much to our community. I know there is great disappointment, even bitterness. Though I wish I could speak to each one of you individually, I can tell you this from the heart: we tried. Staying in Oakland was our goal, it was our mission, and we failed to achieve it. And for that I am genuinely sorry.

Looking ahead, I hope you will join our beloved A's as we move forward on this amazing journey. I hope I will see you again sporting the Green and Gold. And I hope we will make you proud.

John Fisher

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

Fisher apologizes to A's fans for failing to keep team in Oakland

LANGUAGE WARNING

With the A's down to just three games left to play in Oakland, team owner John Fisher finally addressed and apologized on Monday for the team's departure from Oakland. ABC7 Sports Director Larry Beil gives his passionate reaction to the letter. https://abc7ne.ws/3XTUi77

In this clip, a dramatic reading of John Fisher's letter to A's fans, followed by reaction by the Foul Territory crew and Ken Rosenthal.

Chapters:

• 0:00 - Dramatic reading
• 2:50 - FT Reaction Part 1
• 12:27 - Orgain ad
• 13:33 - FT Reaction Part 2
• 20:34 - Ken Rosenthal's reaction
• 23:25 - Outro

John Fisher has attempted to ease some of the anger of A's fans before the final home game in Oakland. He released a letter to fans on Monday, but it has been met with scorn and ridicule. None of this is surprising. Fisher and his cronies have been notably terrible at public relations and gauging the attitude of fans. Damon Amendolara reads through the letter and deconstructs it as only he can, mixing pointed critique, rising anger, with a bucket of sarcasm throughout. Listen as D.A. offers a rebuttal to Fisher's hollow olive branch to fans a letter that probably was written by someone else. D.A. points out the hypocrisy dripping throughout the letter.

D.A. will host a postgame show on YouTube as soon as the final out is recorded on Thursday and open it up to A's fans everywhere.

Dan Patrick and the Danettes react to the Oakland A's owner John Fisher's letter to fans regarding move from Oakland ahead of the team's final series to be played in the city.

Writer Jason Burke, former host of Locked on A's, returns to the show to talk about the insanity of the letter than John Fisher claimed he wrote. It was probably A.I. generated.

[TMC]

The Oakland A's are a team going through some massive changes.

For the past 56 years, they've called Oakland their home, winning 4 World Series Rings and establishing themselves as a top competitive force in the MLB.

But their time in Oakland is soon coming to a close, thanks to poor management from A's Owner John Fisher.

Since acquiring the team in 2005, John Fisher has done nothing but sabotage the franchise's hope of winning, selling off top players before they earn a massive contract from another team.

This pattern of John Fisher's management has resulted in abysmal ticket sales, forcing the A's to jump ship for a larger market... Vegas Baby!!!

...leaving the fans in Oakland in the dust.

Here's how we got to that point.

• Greg Papa bids emotional farewell to A’s, Oakland Coliseum: ‘Like closing the casket on your mom or dad’
  
• How visiting broadcasters have paid tribute to the Oakland A’s and the Oakland Coliseum
  
• Larry Beil on viral rant about Oakland A’s owner: ‘I was just trying to express the frustration’
  
• Vince Cotroneo, Ken Korach approach final Oakland Athletics games: ‘It’s hard to say goodbye — for everybody’
  
• Larry Beil literally rips apart John Fisher letter to A’s fans
  
• [Passan] The Oakland A’s were killed by greed. Do not allow the people responsible for this to spin it any other way. John Fisher did not have to move this team. Major League Baseball and its owners did not need to be complicit in it. This was a choice. A wrong one. History will sneer.
  
• Oakland A's Epilogue: My Take

[TMC]

Originally Posted by TMC

• Greg Papa bids emotional farewell to A’s, Oakland Coliseum: ‘Like closing the casket on your mom or dad’
  
• How visiting broadcasters have paid tribute to the Oakland A’s and the Oakland Coliseum
  
• Larry Beil on viral rant about Oakland A’s owner: ‘I was just trying to express the frustration’
  
• Vince Cotroneo, Ken Korach approach final Oakland Athletics games: ‘It’s hard to say goodbye — for everybody’
  
• Larry Beil literally rips apart John Fisher letter to A’s fans
  
• [Passan] The Oakland A’s were killed by greed. Do not allow the people responsible for this to spin it any other way. John Fisher did not have to move this team. Major League Baseball and its owners did not need to be complicit in it. This was a choice. A wrong one. History will sneer.
  
• Oakland A's Epilogue: My Take

LANGUAGE WARNING

Why are the A's moving? Why would MLB and Rob Manfred waive the relocation fee? Did A's fans not show enough support? Why couldn't A's ownership get a stadium deal done? Why is Las Vegas a better destination? How much blame should John Fisher get? Why is D.A. so invested in this saga? There are plenty of questions swirling around Oakland and the baseball world as the A's prepare to play their final home game in the Bay Area. Damon Amendolara has been as vocal about the situation as anyone at the national level. He patiently answers all the pertinent questions ahead of the move to Sacramento and Las Vegas.

John Fisher has attempted to ease some of the anger of A's fans before the final home game in Oakland. He released a letter to fans on Monday, but it has been met with scorn and ridicule. None of this is surprising. Fisher and his cronies have been notably terrible at public relations and gauging the attitude of fans. Damon Amendolara reads through the letter and deconstructs it as only he can, mixing pointed critique, rising anger, with a bucket of sarcasm throughout. Listen as D.A. offers a rebuttal to Fisher's hollow olive branch to fans a letter that probably was written by someone else. D.A. points out the hypocrisy dripping throughout the letter.

The letter from John Fisher to the A's fanbase was met with scorn and ridicule. Not surprising, but probably not what the A's intended. It's just the latest, and greatest, example of the team's disastrous public relations in this final season in Oakland. Veteran sportscaster Damon Amendolara lays out a dating metaphor for how this is unfolding, and gives a step-by-step plan about how the A's should have handled this. D.A. lists ways to engage the fans, lean on popular former players, and create financial opportunities by catering to the Oakland diehards. But instead it's been one PR nightmare after another. Here's why it didn't have to be this way.

John Fisher releases a new letter explaining to fans how much he tried to get a deal done, but despite his immense deal-making & negotiation prowess, he was unable to bring this one home. Don't worry fans, it he tried!

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:03 The Situation
• 2:43 The Letter
• 4:51 The Breakdown
• 12: Conclusion

[biffbronson]

From the letter:

"And while the A's previously played in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Oakland has been home for the greatest era in the franchise's more than 123-year history."

5 championships while in Philly, 4 in Oakland

[TMC]

National media angry, nostalgic after Athletics’ finale in Oakland

"Shame on you MLB, all the owners, the Athletics and most of all John Fisher and Rob Manfred."

• A’s Oakland finale local broadcast saw remarkable emotional moments, from Dallas Braden to Bip Roberts
  
• ESPN MLB insiders Jeff Passan, Buster Olney blast MLB for ‘debacle’ of Athletics leaving Oakland

[TMC]

The end of baseball in Oakland is the story of greed and little else, says Ann Killion, who says the responsibility falls solely on John Fisher.

CHAPTERS:

• 00:00 - Intro
• 00:40 - Last Game Experience
• 05:22 - John Fisher's letter
• 09:01 - Mint Mobile
• 10:02 - Leaving Oakland in Dust
• 11:56 - Future for the A's
• 14:22 - Fan Reactions
• 17:51 - Conclusion and Thanks

• John Fisher Murders the Oakland A’s, Demonstrating How Billionaires Are Leeches on Society
  
• The Day Oakland Athletics Died
  
• [Drellich] Politicians across this entire country killed the Oakland A’s. John Fisher could have fully funded a stadium in Oakland. But he—and every other owner—feels entitled to hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars. To free money. Your officials everywhere keep proving them right.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Everybody said goodbye to Oakland Athletics baseball in their own way Thursday afternoon.

After 57 seasons at the Coliseum -- and decades of indecision and vitriol swirling around the team's future -- the A's played their final game in Oakland in front of a massive crowd on a bright and gorgeous Bay Area afternoon.

The crowd was raucous, the mood festive and the fans engaged from the first pitch. The afternoon started early. The parking lot, scheduled to open at 8 a.m. -- more than 4½ hours before first pitch -- instead opened at 7 a.m. after the line of cars waiting to get into the stadium backed up traffic on I-880.

Read More: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/...-sellout-crowd

The fans gathered in the lots to cook breakfast, drink beer and alternate chants of "Sell The Team" and "Let's Go Oakland." A man who has made a side hustle of impersonating A's president Dave Kaval roamed the parking lot in a suit and tie, never breaking character. Fans, if they chose, could have purchased a margarita or psychedelic mushrooms from the small-business popups on the pedestrian bridge connecting BART to the Coliseum.

"People who have never been here will look at this scene and be surprised," said longtime A's fan Jorge Leon, the president of the Oakland 68s, a community-based fan group. "To those of us who have been coming here since we were kids, this is just what it's always been before everybody got tired of being lied to."

[TJ]

Growing up in the late 1970s and early 1980s, my brother was an A's and Raiders fan. He had their helmets. It's sad for Oakland fans to lose their teams.

It's an end of an era. They have a terrible owner. It's too bad they couldn't get a new owner and stadium.

The LAST Oakland A’s Game At Oakland Coliseum -Goodbye To Athletics Ballpark Forever / Final Moments



FINAL OAKLAND A’S GAME AT THE OAKLAND COLISEUM

[TMC]

LANGUAGE WARNING

As the Oakland A's are forced out of Oakland and relocated to Las Vegas (and a quick pitstop in Sacramento), I dive into the real problems within the franchise (it's not Moneyball).

• Intro: 0:00-1:07
• Moneyball Era A's 1:08-3:13
• What Went Wrong 3:14-6:32
• 2024 Season 6:33-8:22
• A's Leaving Oakland 8:23-11:20
• Outro 11:21-12:05

[TMC]

David Sampson on John Fisher trying to sell 25% for $500 million



[NY Post] Exclusive | Oakland A’s shop $500M minority stake in deal that values Vegas-bound team at $2B: sources

[TMC]

In this episode of Locked On A's, we dive deep into the Oakland A’s journey from the Bay Area to a future that could land them in Las Vegas by 2028. Host Bunni, a lifelong A’s fan, explores the impact of ownership’s decisions on the A’s fanbase and the roadblocks, broken promises, and power plays that led to this potential move. With the A’s currently playing in a Sacramento minor league stadium, fans are left wondering if the franchise still has a place in Oakland or if Las Vegas will embrace them as its own.
We’ll also discuss why MLB commissioners and city politics have shaped the A’s fate over the years, pushing the team further away from its Oakland roots. Tune in to understand how MLB’s influence and the A’s ownership affected this once-beloved team’s standing in the Bay Area and what lies ahead for A's fans.

CONTENTS OF VIDEO:

• 00:00 – INTRODUCTION
• 05:49 – PRIZEPICKS
• 06:09 – STEVE SCHOTT
• 11:56 – PRIZEPICKS
• 13:40 – LEO WOLFF
• 24:47 – FANDUEL
• 25:44 – JOHN FISHER

[TMC]

Topics:

• 0:00 What TWITTER voted
• 1:52 What YOUTUBE voted
• 3:00 Twitter responses
• 4:10 Twitter responses... part 2
• 5:40 YouTube responses
• 6:40 My Takeaways

[TMC]

EPILEPSY WARNING 35:28 PLEASE SKIP TO 35:40 IF YOU ARE AT RISK

The team now formerly known as the Oakland Athletics (now just the Athletics and possibly eventually the Las Vegas Athletics) played their final game at the Oakland Coliseum on September 26th, 2024. A venue nationally recognized as one of the worst in MLB, but one that's embraced by its locals. How did a team with a rich history amidst its city get stripped from their home? Give me about 50 minutes of your time and I will tell you.

Research Assistance - Mitchell Barbee
_____________________________________________
Goofs

• Yes I can spell Alameda, but it is in fact spelled wrong in the Google Earth Graphic.
• I state Seth Brown is the owner of the final homer at the Coliseum. I should've clarified that he is the Athletics player with the final homer. They actually didn't hit a homer as a team in their final 8 games at the Coliseum which is kind of insane.
• On the Every Team Relocation Since 1961 page, you'll see the Twins (who moved from Washington before the 1961 season) are notably absent. This was done intentionally (keyword being SINCE) as in my mind they were the last of the east coast franchises who moved west. Still, felt a need to clarify here.

[TMC]

Former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has been indicted on corruption charges, raising questions about whether Major League Baseball (MLB) was aware of her alleged misconduct before it became public. In this episode, we explore the possibility that MLB insiders knew about the pay-to-play scheme involving Thao, her partner Andre Jones, and the Duong family, and whether this knowledge influenced the decision to relocate the A’s to Sacramento and eventually Las Vegas. We break down the timeline of events, the financial implications, and why MLB may have viewed Thao’s administration as a roadblock to keeping the team in Oakland.

We also dive into how this scandal impacts the A’s organization and their future, touching on the team's bullpen moves and offseason developments. With the 2025 season on the horizon, the A’s are poised to field one of the strongest bullpens in baseball, led by key additions like José Leclerc and returning stars such as Mason Miller. Despite the off-field drama, the team is focused on competing at a high level and preparing for their temporary stay in Sacramento.