The owners of the Oakland Athletics rejected a local minor league team’s request to play a game in the Oakland Coliseum even though the A’s are abandoning the town’s fan base in a few short years.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that the minor league Oakland Ballers, who were formed in response to the news that Athletics owner John Fisher will be moving the A’s to Las Vegas in 2028, had a deal to play a June game in the Coliseum until the A’s blocked it.
B’s owner Paul Freedman told The AP he had secured a contract with ASM Global, who operate the ballpark on behalf of the Coliseum Authority, to play a special game there in June.
After placing over 70 emails to ASM, Freedman claims he had a signed contract and even placed a deposit, according to The AP. (RELATED: Oakland A’s Fans Loudly Chant ‘Sell The Team’ In Reverse Boycott, Delaying MLB Game)
But then, suddenly, the A’s yanked the rug out from under the B’s.
Under the Athletics’ agreement with the Coliseum Authority, they are the exclusive rights holders to baseball in the building, according to The AP.
The Athletics decided to exercise that right, barring the Ballers from playing just a few weeks before they were set to start selling tickets.
The Ballers posted a promotional video to their YouTube page that was originally slated to be released on Jan. 4 to promote the June game. The video, entitled “The Oakland Coliseum #LetUsPlay” opens with the message “The Oakland Coliseum belongs to Oakland.”
I guess taking away Oakland’s Major League team isn’t enough for ownership, they have to deprive the town’s fans of any enjoyment of baseball within city limits.
I mean seriously, how bitter do you have to be? The team is notoriously cheap, and owner John Fisher is hated by fans and players alike, but this is a no-cost, no-brainer move.
I can’t fathom any legitimate reason to not let the B’s play. They were giving away tickets to local Babe Ruth and softball teams, for goodness sake!
One local organizer thinks the Athletics, who had historically low attendance in 2023, didn’t want to get shown up.
“I think the A’s are in a position of embarrassment and again I’m not surprised because I think we would have outdrawn them,” Jorge Leon, President of the Oakland 68s non-profit, told The AP. “We would have filled that place up and I think they’re worried and that’s why they had to cancel. They had to force their hand.”