Late on Wednesday night in California, reports came out that the Oakland Athletics were close to a deal that would allow them to build a new stadium in Las Vegas.
Not long after, the A’s issued a statement confirming the news.
The statement, which was shared by Casey Pratt of the Bay Area’s ABC Affiliate, ABC7, confirmed the news. It also attempted to express sympathy with the longtime fans of the A’s in Oakland and the greater Bay Area.
“The A’s have signed a binding agreement to purchase land for a future ballpark in Las Vegas. We realize this is a difficult day for our Oakland fans and community,” the statement said.
It continued, detailing that the hopes of building a new stadium in Oakland hadn’t progressed enough in recent years.
“For more than 20 years, the A’s have focused on securing a new home for the Club, and have invested unprecedented time and resources in the past six years to build a ballpark in Oakland. Even with support from fans, leaders at the city, county, and state level, and throughout the broader community, the process to build a new ballpark in Oakland has made little forward progress for some time. We have made a strong and sincere effort to stay here.”
“We recognize that this is very hard to hear. We are disappointed that we have been unable to achieve our shared vision of a waterfront ballpark. As we shift our focus to Vegas, we will continue to share details about next steps.”
Statement from the A’s: pic.twitter.com/kWKWxo8DrG
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) April 20, 2023
Shortly after the deal with Vegas was announced, Oakland’s mayor, Sheng Thao, issued a statement, accusing the A’s of using the negotiations with Oakland as a way to get a better deal in Vegas.
Despite the team’s claims to the contrary, a lot of people agreed.
IF YOU ARE READING THIS OUTSIDE OAKLAND DO NOT BUY INTO THIS NOTION THE A’s AND FISHER DID EVERYTHING THEY COULD TO STAY IN OAKLAND https://t.co/5lpflmJ8AW
— sick public transit, gloria (@seungylee14) April 20, 2023
“We have made a strong and sincere effort to stay here” https://t.co/UAoVQHITdw pic.twitter.com/RBnLJ71VSA
— Dan (@GrandpaKersh) April 20, 2023
https://twitter.com/BenRossTweets/status/1648928472084119553
Imagine being generationally wealthy and deciding to use that wealth to buy a community’s sports team.
And then, just because you can, you rip away their beloved team to get slightly more generationally wealthy. https://t.co/Fwcs44Cy9e
— Andy Donohue (@add) April 20, 2023
I feel terrible for the fans in Oakland.
They deserve so much better than this. https://t.co/vDjMpOVLdO— Matthew Searle (@searlebaseball) April 20, 2023
Pretty wild: Athletics making a statement in the overnight hours that they've got a binding agreement to move to Vegas. https://t.co/bCOCRE22Ct
— John Fanta (@John_Fanta) April 20, 2023
