Oakland community, A's fans express frustration, lament move to Sacramento
OAKLAND – A's fans and Oakland community members who held out hope that the team would stay expressed sorrow and outrage after owner John Fisher announced the team is heading to Sacramento before going to Las Vegas.
"People are upset. They're angry. They're disappointed," said Brian Johansen of the Last Dive Bar.
His love of the Green and Gold is more than skin deep.
"I can't ever get away from this," Johansen said, showing his tattoo Thursday. "This is never coming off."
Like many fans, Johansen knew that the end was coming. The team has had a wandering eye for a while, having set its sights on Las Vegas.
Last year, the Nevada legislature approved public funding for a ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip, and MLB team owners unanimously approved the team's relocation.
It's been a difficult couple of years for fans of East Bay professional sports teams. The Raiders relocated to Las Vegas, leaving the Bay Area for the second and presumably last time. And the Warriors built a brand-new arena in San Francisco.
The A's will be the last sports franchise of the four major men's professional sports leagues to abandon Oakland, but for Christopher Dobbins the team was always the first in his heart.
"It's devastating," said Dobbins, co-founder of Save Oakland Sports. "The A's have been here since '68. My whole lifetime. It is very, very sad. I didn't cry, but I was really torn up this morning."
His group along with the Last Dive Bar helped organize a boycott in the stadium parking lot during last week's season opener against the Cleveland Guardians. The reported attendance on opening night was 13,522 and only 45,000 attended the seven-game homestand to start the season.
Even though the A's will play in Sacramento next year, it still leaves the awkward question of the current baseball season.
"Most A's fans are pretty obsessed about their fandom. And as the weeks go on, we'll figure out what we're going to do collectively as a fan base," Johansen said.
Business and community leaders also lamented the A's impending move.
"Oakland offered a deal that was fair to the A's and was fiscally responsible for our city," Mayor Sheng Thao said, referencing a five-year lease extension offer. The team rejected the deal following a meeting on Tuesday.
"We wish the A's the best and will continue our conversations with them on facilitating the sale of their share of Coliseum site." Thao went on to say.
Former Mayor Jean Quan said on X, formerly Twitter, "Today's announcement that the #Oakland #Athletics will play in 10,000 seat stadium in muggy Sacramento for the next 2-3 seasons is sad. Loss of TV and ticket revenues make little financial sense,"
Unite Here Local 2, which represents food and beverage workers, said Thursday, "It is shameful that Fisher and Major League Baseball are abandoning these workers, this community, and the City of Oakland, one of America's most diverse baseball cities. Every time a billionaire team owner leaves or threatens to leave a host city in order to line their pockets with hundreds of millions of public dollars, workers and communities are hurt."
The union said it would help affected employees find new jobs after the season and "continue to stand up to the billionaires and corporations who exploit working people and our communities."