It’s official- 2024 will be the final season of Athletics baseball in Oakland. And probably the final season of professional baseball in Oakland. Period.
Last week the Athletics announced they will play in Sacramento at Sutter Health Park, home to the AAA Sacramento River Cats, while their proposed stadium in Las Vegas is built, if it even is built. The decision came only a couple days after Oakland officials and the Athletics met for a third time on renewing the Oakland Coliseum lease, of which the benefits would have been: team employees keep their jobs for a few more years, the players continue to play in a facility adequate enough for Major Leaguers, and should (or rather, when) things fall through in Las Vegas, the team would still have a home.
Shockingly, the team negotiated in bad faith- again. When the A’s first proclaimed their move to Las Vegas, Oakland was blindsided as city officials thought they were about to finalize terms on a new stadium deal. This time around, there was no indication the team met with Sacramento officials prior to last week, with the River Cats President/COO, Chip Maxson, telling the press he wasn’t aware of the Athletics plans.
The River Cats president also mentioned, and I quote, “This [Sutter Health Park] was not built to be a Major League Stadium.” End quote.
The max capacity of Sutter Health Park is roughly 14,000, which, sure, is more than the A’s currently draw- but that’s due to Oakland fans protesting ownership. A Major League facility is also the work environment for the labor that generates the team and league’s wealth. The ballpark is to a player what an office or warehouse is to an average worker.
Athletics players voiced concerns about the facility in Sacramento regarding the size and location of the clubhouse, the training room, batting cages, and stadium lighting. Trevor Hildenberger, who pitched for the River Cats in 2023, noted on twitter that the stadium had “no family room, no mother’s room, no shade or bathrooms in the bullpens, only 1 shared batting cage..If you thought the coliseum facilities were lacking …”
The Oakland Coliseum isn’t exactly a model stadium but it has everything a Major League team needs. This isn’t a half-season or lone season situation where a team has no option other than a Minor League facility, a la the Toronto Blue Jays playing in Buffalo’s AAA park due to COVID. This is a conscious choice from an owner to provide a subpar work environment for three-plus years, with Major League Baseball’s stamp of approval. And is now a good time to mention the Athletics owner, John Fisher, is pals with the River Cats owner, Vivek Ranadivé?
In every step of the process Commissioner Rob Manfred and the league office have bent over backwards for Fisher, going so far as to waive the $300million relocation fee teams must pay the league to relocate. Sure, the job of the commissioner is to protect the owners. But in placating Fisher’s every move, rather than forcing him to sell the franchise, MLB’s mask is fully off when it comes to giving a shit about the game itself and not cold hard cash. This naked money-grab scam might be desirable in the short run, but it’s hard to see anything other than disastrous long-term consequences for the sport. When the music ends, will the billionaire owners be left holding the bag?
At this point I’m stuck in an infinite loop when it comes to MLB as a microcosm of America. Corporations have one single mission- accumulate as much capital as possible-labor, consumers, and the product be damned. The Athletics and their pathetic relocation to Las Vegas is the same old story.
Oakland, after twenty some-odd years of trying to get Athletics ownership to commit to the city, is left empty-handed. No team, no promise of a future expansion team, and no agreement that the Athletics brand needs to stay in Oakland. Just one last stab in the back to the fans and employees.
Oh, yeah, one more thing happened last week. Jackson County, MO voters rejected a sales tax extension that would have handed the Kansas City Royals $1billion in public funds for a new stadium. Who's ready to do this all over again?
