As the MLB’s Oakland Athletics took their last swing of the season on Thursday, and finished their 2024 campaign, the Athletics’ fans officially said goodbye to professional sports in Oakland.
Baseball fans in Oakland grew to call the Athletics’ their own during the 57 year tenure that the team spent in Oakland Coliseum, the home stadium for the Athletics.
“This is my 40th season here. I was hoping for 50 but it didn’t happen,” Oakland Coliseum security guard, Roy Tesconi, said.
The struggle to keep baseball in Oakland was caused by a lack of legal agreement between the Athletics and the city of Oakland, on a lease extension that would allow the Athletics to remain in Oakland. The Athletics provided several proposals for a renovated stadium in Oakland that would also provide the city with additional housing as well as additional retail space. However plans came to a halt due to Covid-19, and the two parties would not be able to come to any new terms. The city of Oakland would also eventually propose their own extension deal, that the Athletics would in turn reject, which put both sides in a stalemate.
“What happened? There’s no real explanation for it. And any explanation that you give, it doesn’t cover the impact, and it doesn’t cover all the details of what really took place, for the Oakland A’s to be leaving this city,” Former Athletics pitcher Dave Stewart said.
In the Absence of a venue in Oakland, the Athletics will call Sacramento home for the next three years. Just a one and a half hour drive north east, the Athletics will share a stadium with the San Francisco Giants minor league affiliate team, the Sacramento River Cats.
“That is good for the community. It is good for the economy. Sports is a big part of it, not the only part, but a big part of it,” Sacramento mayor, Darrel Steinberg said.
Once the three year stint in Sacramento comes to a close at the cessation of the 2027 MLB season, the Athletics will begin play in their new stadium in Las Vegas – which is currently under construction. Not much more than a rendering of the stadium has been released to the public, but all that Athletics fans can hope for is that Las Vegas will be a worthy new home of their historic franchise.
