The polls have closed, and it’s time to check in on the voting on what you all think will be the endgame of Oakland A’s owner John Fisher’s attempts to move his team to Las Vegas. There were 576 responses, and the final results are:
TOTAL 576
That’s a pretty strong expression of faith (35.76% total) in Joe Lacob riding to the rescue and keeping the A’s in Oakland, which seems high to me, honestly, given that Fisher clearly doesn’t want to sell, and though Lacob keeps saying he’d be interested in buying, he hasn’t said at what price. Though given the state of Fisher’s Las Vegas stadium progress (going backwards, if anything), the other options don’t seem that likely either, which is probably why “A’s set to wander earth forever” placed second. And definitely why Fisher’s current preferred plan finished dead last, ahead of only the winner of the Nevada Republican presidential primary.
Anyway, the whole point of this exercise was to set betting lines, so let’s grab a conversion table and get to work:
- A’s move to Las Vegas: +312
- A’s stay in Oakland: +137
- A’s move somewhere else: +711
The people have spoken! The most likely ultimate location for the A’s is Oakland, though even then you’d be better off betting on the field. Maybe we needed more options, like “A’s become a permanent road team” and “Vegas stadium finally starts construction, only to be interrupted by the end of baseball as a competitive sport in 2042.”
Fisher is a clown and a terrible owner. But Nevada ought to do anything they can to keep the A’s from playing three seasons in a third location like Sacramento that could easily end up keeping the team permanently, once everyone admits that the Tropicana site is unworkable.
If Nevada really wants the A’s, they ought to offer a subsidy to help the A’s play three seasons at the AAA ballpark in the Vegas area while someone smarter than Fisher finds a viable ballpark site. OTOH, if they don’t want the team that badly, just let the Tropicana plan fail and watch the team crawl back to Oakland or go somewhere else.
Unless they do an LA Coliseum type field inside Allegiant Stadium (which the Raiders wouldn’t permit) there are no temporary options in the state of Nevada. It’s just too hot (even at night) for outdoor baseball in the summer.
Read th sfgate article about how poorly Allegiant Stadium is doing first. Nevada will be better off without the A’s and not throwing $600,000,000 down a rathole, and then offer endless subsidies like Glendale did.
Call them the ehs? And move them to Montreal.
Some of your comments are despicable. Understanding the horrible situation that the Athletics are in they still deserve respect. They are a tremendous cornerstone to the history of MLB. Fielding hall of famers year after year as well as world series champions…. Back to back. They are a massive piece of the history of baseball. In a good way!
Giant Fan
I’m an A’s fan and I think this is hilarious. Gallows humor is all we have at this point. John Fisher has turned the A’s into baseball’s The Aristocrats, and as long as that jagoff continues to own them, I say they should be mocked mercilessly.
Athletics ownership does not deserve respect. They have taken a once proud franchise and made it a laughing stock. As a kid I watched the world championship teams of the early 70s (who, without the meddling of Charlie Finley, could have won four or five in row instead of three). This is not that team. This is not that organization.
I think most people feel bad for the players that have to suit up for an organization like this, but then, that is part of the reason they cannot attract good free agents (along with the desire to have a payroll below the league minimum for a 40 man roster…)
The draft picks (who do not have to sign, btw) may have limited or no choice. Everyone else does.
The answer to the obvious question (would YOU turn down an MLB paycheck to make a point?) is that Fisher for the most part doesn’t offer legitimate MLB paychecks anyway.
It is franchise ownership that has betrayed this organization, not the fans and not the players.
Portland A’s anyone?
If a deal can’t be reached then the team needs to move to Portland.
Who would buy them and where would they play? MLB can’t just move teams around on a whim.
How about the A’s and Coyotes go in together with a new baseball/hockey/real estate rip off, I mean TIF enterprise zone?
I like it. I like it alot.
I believe John Fisher should sell the team to the fans much like the situation for the Green Bay Packers. The city of Oakland needs to step up tear down Mount Davis and re-tool the Colosseum and keep the A’s in Oak.
Agreed, renovate the Coliseum to it’s early 70s appearance (implode Mt Davis first) add some nice video effects, and the Oakland Hills as a background again, the Coliseum wouldn’t be that bad. It would be alot better than a sardine can in Las Vegas.
Hmmmn. I guess our collective “wishful thinking” was on display in the voting… I am guilty of that certainly. But it is interesting that virtually none of the nearly 600 votes cast have any confidence in the A’s “current” plan.
Is that evidence of it’s impossible nature or just an expression of hatred for Fisher and his flunkies?
FWIW I think the Lacob talk is a little premature. Sure, he has expressed interest. But we don’t know how much and under what circumstances he would be interested (if any). Sometimes people make public pronouncements for reasons other than the stated ones. Even people not named Fisher or Kaval.
You’d have to think with everything else that is going on with Fisher’s other failson flops, a good offer that reflects the current value of the A’s plus a couple hundred million would be seriously considered.
So, if there is as much interest in buying the A’s and keeping them in Oakland as Thao (and others) say, why isn’t there an offer on the table in the $1.5-$2bn range?
There could be one, of course, and it just hasn’t become public yet. Maybe prospective owners are waiting for the Vegas plan to fail and the asking price to drop… But I have my doubts…
Traditionally, the North American sports leagues really dislike it when a wannabe owner makes a public bid for a club that is not for sale. It’s viewed as a pressure move to force a league’s hand and is often a publicity stunt from an unserious bidder. Fellow owners don’t like one of their own getting shown up, either. I somewhat understand it, as a league hasn’t had the chance to vet someone’s finances when they do an end-around proposal like that. From Donald Trump to Mark Cuban, loud outside bidders find themselves on the outs.
That said, prospective owners can, and often do, quietly contact teams to gauge their interest in a sale and make it known how much they’re willing to pay. For example, the Miller family made a big deal of putting the Utah Jazz under an “untouchable” trust about a decade ago. They reiterated that stance to local billionaire Ryan Smith when he privately inquired about buying them out back in 2019, but then sold the team to him – without even public bidding – after COVID wrecked the family business of car dealerships and commercial real estate. Point being, I am very confident that an MLB team without a stadium in one of the richest markets in America has attracted plenty of cold calls. I also wouldn’t be surprised if some of those rich and connected folks let the city of Oakland know about their interest too, given there’s hundreds of millions in public subsidies, and potentially billions of dollars worth of West Oakland real estate, on the table. But there’s nothing to gain by showing their cards now.
Absolutely true, Ian.
And the smart bet would be to contact the league first to express interest (if you are an outsider… if you already own a small share of an existing team, well, you are in!) in becoming an owner.
It’s how most leagues operate (the NHL being the obvious case in point, but there are others). That said I don’t think anyone who has indicated interest in the A’s could be accused of trying to bully their way in… they’ve been pretty circumspect about their interest(s).
If Vegas plan 7B fails and Fisher’s other inherited businesses continue to “achieve suboptimal outcomes” I could easily see him taking on an equity “partner” in Oakland while he plans out another move, only for the ‘other’ move to be to sell to his new partner down the road.
It’d be very ironic if it ended up that way, as that’s how Fisher became the face of A’s ownership. He was the money man when Lew Wolff, San Jose real estate developer (and former fraternity brother of then-Commissioner Bud Selig), bought the team. When Selig’s “blue ribbon commission” wasted everyone’s time and said the Giants have the rights to San Jose until the sun dies, Wolff sold off his interest to Fisher.
The other factor to consider is that MLB owners are uniquely weird about who they let into their club because the sport doesn’t have a salary cap. They openly whined about George Steinbrenner singlehandedly raising contract values when he ran the Yankees, and have equally chafed about the Dodgers and Mets’ owners. They don’t want owners who are indifferent about profits and will spend a gazillion dollars to win at any cost because it pushes to ceiling higher. From the way they’ve stiff-armed Mark Cuban and other would-be owners of the smaller market teams (including Andy Dolich and Rob Puccini for the A’s back at the turn of the century), they REALLY don’t want a free spender to own a club like the Brewers, A’s, Royals, et al because it’d completely undermine their excuses for not spending while demanding for more subsidies. Part of why I think there hasn’t been as much support for Joe Lacob’s bid is precisely because they know he’d be willing to spend a boatload of money. For someone like Bob Nutting, the last thing they want to hear is “well the A’s are willing to drop $150 million in payroll, why can’t you?” At least when the Mets or Dodgers drop a crazy amount of money on a free agent, they can blame their market size. Less so when the Peter Seidler’s of the world give up the facade and show that a 30th ranked DMA like San Diego can field a top payroll club.
For the other major sports leagues, a new free-spending owner like Steve Cohen is welcomed with open arms. In baseball, they’re regarded with disdain. The owners can’t collude to depress salaries like they did in the 80s, but the next best option is to have a bunch of cheap colleagues who’ll do the same thing in effect.
I imagine there are $1.5- 2 billion offers out there. But I’m also pretty sure that Fisher and MLB thought these teams were worth a lot more before the Orioles sold for $1.7 billion.
Fisher should sell the team. Then build in Las Vegas and get an expansion team there. Ends Oakland s problem. They can look at a new team in 2028 2029
If Fisher can build in Las Vegas, why would he need to sell the A’s?
I don’t think Fisher is part of the OP’s equation. Have him sell the team, then grant an expansion franchise to an ownership group in Vegas that’s actually from there and knows what the hell they’re doing.