Oakland Athletics will 'most likely' move to Las Vegas, says MLB commissioner: Troubled Bay Area team is ranked dead last in ballpark attendance while lease on Coliseum is up in 2024 and plans for new stadium have come and gone

UK Daily Mail ^ | October 31, 2022 | James Gordon

[C19fan]

It's a safe bet that the Oakland Athletics baseball team will leave the city for Las Vegas, according to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred.

Manfred said in an interview Friday with Sirius XM that he is no longer optimistic that the A's will stay in Oakland.

'It just doesn't look like it's going to happen,' Manfred said.

[texas booster]

Shibe Field as originally constructed, before the expansion that made it a boxed square:

[SamAdams76]

I’m sure the new indoor stadium in Las Vegas will be connected to the casinos by tunnels. That way you can legally bet on the game and then go see the actual game in person without having to even see the scorching Las Vegas sun or dodge the Mexicans handing out hooker cards.

[Dr. Franklin]

For those interested in the significance of the the first steel and concrete baseball stadium, I highly recommend To Every Thing a Season : Shibe Park and Urban Philadelphia, 1909-1976 by history professor Bruce Kuklick. He also mixes in the history of the Philadelphia Athletics, which to date remains the Philadelphia sports team with the most championships. The "white elephant" which is still used sometimes by the A's as its mascot was a poke at NY Giants manager John McGraw who said that the A's where a "white elephant" because owner Ben Shibe had spent so much money to attract talent from the older National League.

[New Perspective]

I'm old enough to remember the A's winning the World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974. Reggie Jackson, Catfish Hunter, Rollie Fingers, Joe Rudi... they had great teams. What memories!

I attended a couple of A's games in the early 70's when I was 8. In those days it was much less expensive but we still have to set aside some money for the occasional game. The days of the average family attending and are long gone and so are the opportunities for the average kid to have life long memories of attending a pro baseball game.

[Verginius Rufus]

I also saw one of the World Series games there in 1974. Like you I would take BART there and walk on the overpass over to the stadium. Normally I would pay $2 for a bleacher seat. Some day games were poorly attended (2,000 or so fans).

[glennaro]

When the A’s traded away nearly all of their starting players at the start of this season, I knew then I was watching the stage-play version of “Major League”.

[1Old Pro]

without having to even see the scorching Las Vegas sun or dodge the Mexicans handing out hooker cards.

Don't forget the drive by shootings.

[Dan in Wichita]

The days of the average family attending and are long gone and so are the opportunities for the average kid to have life long memories of attending a pro baseball game.

Sad, isn't it? I fondly remember back in the early to-mid 1970s my family driving up to KC every summer to watch the Royals play. General admission tickets were $1.25 each.

Every day I miss the country of my youth.

[Lisbon1940]

You can still BART to Howard Terminal, or you can walk over from downtown.

[Alberta's Child]

I know Pennsylvania well. Half the people I know in the Philadelphia metro area are fans of NY/NJ teams.

Before they got Bryce Harper a few years ago, the Phillies were usually in the bottom third of the major leagues in payroll. They never seemed to be in the hunt for the top free agents at any given time -- the Gerritt Cole, the Alex Rodriguez, the Manny Ramirez, the Jason Giambi, the Max Scherzer, etc.

Sometimes size doesn't mean as much in the context of specific sports. Montreal is one of the biggest markets for hockey but failed miserably as a MLB market. St. Louis is a huge baseball market but can't keep an NFL team for its life. And for years, Los Angeles seemed to be a giant market for every sport EXCEPT the NFL.

[csvset]

My brothers and I would ride the bus from the East Bay to Candlestick and back , (aprox 30 miles one way). That was an adventure in itself, as Candlestick was in Outer Bumphuk , also surrounded by ghettos, lol.

It took several transfers . We’d get to Oakland and transfer to get across the bridge to the bus terminal in SF, then it took I believe another transfer , (it’s been 50+ years ago). There were four of us ranging from 14-8 , we always felt safe, safety in numbers.

I recall coming home from one game, the Giants had won, and on our trip home we saw them dropping off newspapers at the news kiosks with the headlines saying the giants had won, hot off the presses. Chronicle , Examiner, Oakland Tribune . Not sure if any of those papers survive in paper copy.

[Dr. Franklin]

I know Pennsylvania well. Half the people I know in the Philadelphia metro area are fans of NY/NJ teams.

No you don't. Try showing up in the parking lot of an Eagles game with a New York Giants shirt on and see what happens to you.

[FatherofFive]

I'm old enough to remember the A's winning the World Series in 1972, 1973, and 1974.

And I remember sneaking portable radios into grade school, with an ear piece wire running up the shirt sleeve.

Just don’t watch baseball anymore.

[shotgun]

When I was in grade school and the teacher would wheel in the TV cart and turn the game on but with no sound. That was the heyday of the Baltimore Orioles and my favorite player of all time Brooks Robinson

[Dan in Wichita]

And I remember sneaking portable radios into grade school, with an ear piece wire running up the shirt sleeve.

Yep, back in the years when all World Series games were played during the daytime.

[Verginius Rufus]

I drove to one game at Candlestick Park because they were playing the Braves and I wanted to see Hank Aaron hit a home run. The Giants’ pitcher had a no-hitter going for quite a while so I was hoping for two contradictory things, to see a no-hitter and an Aaron home run. In the end did not see either, but Aaron did hit a double.

[frog in a pot]

Who wants to take the family to a ballpark that has a high probability of some sort of crime being perpetuated against them?

There is certainly that aspect.

IMO, there is a also blend of local politics and local economics - see for instance, SF and Oakland. Both features negatively impacted the interest of sports audiences.

(It may be coincidence, but traditional communist countries never had national sports teams. Has California continued to deemphasize sports at the elementary school level as it did several decades ago?)

Add to that, of course, the COVID shutdown impacting those still interested.

A peak, in large measure, was the kneeling and its intimidation of coaches, owners and even public officials at both professional and college levels. That was an in-your-face experience for many in the national viewing audience

Much of that audience generally responded with a "FU, I will find my enjoyment in sports elsewhere".

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. There are more than 5.7 million people in the Philadelphia metro area. You’re going to tell me that the 70,000 nitwits who attend an Eagles game are representative of the region as a whole?

[Dr. Franklin]

LOL. There are more than 5.7 million people in the Philadelphia metro area. You’re going to tell me that the 70,000 nitwits who attend an Eagles game are representative of the region as a whole?

Go walk into a bar in Philly wearing a NY Giants jersey sometime and test your thesis. Come back and tell us all how it went.

[V_TWIN]

“Much of that audience generally responded with a “FU, I will find my enjoyment in sports elsewhere”

Not enough to suit me.

If white folks would quit living their lives vicariously through a team or player(s) professional sports leagues would be brought into line as what they really are, nothing more than one more form of entertainment.

I also find it interesting that the black community is upset because blacks are the minority in major league baseball.......they being the majority in the nfl and nba though......is A-ok. SMH