I understand Vegas is a great city and probably a better market but now Oakland has lost all their teams in a matter of just a few years.
In: Other
Greed
Oakland offered the owner of the A’s $770+ million and land down by Downtown on the water to build a new stadium. It would have been an amazing location and would have revitalized the city.
The A’s owner then decided to pull out and tell the city he was looking at land in Las Vegas, apparently in an attempt to get more out of Oakland, a city already budget strapped.
Oakland couldn’t afford to give more than what it offered (again, 3/4 of a billion in subsidies) and the billionaire owner Fisher decided to move to Vegas.
Beyond all that, Fisher and his partner owned 50% of the previous stadium and never upgraded or renovated in the time they had it. Instead they let it degrade and used it as a bargaining chip for new city subsidies.
They did the same thing with the A’s roster, letting talent go and refusing to pull in anyone exciting even though they had the money. Fisher never did shit for the A’s or the city and expected Oakland to carry the weight.
You can’t shit all over your market and then get mad when the market doesn’t “organically” support you.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/sep/26/oakland-athletics-final-game-john-fisher
https://www.siliconvalley.com/2024/09/25/kurtenbach-billionaire-john-fisher-stole-oaklands-major-league-future-and-blamed-as-fans-on-his-way-out-the-town/amp/
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