The Oakland Athletics have less than two months remaining in Oakland, and it’s shaping up to be one of the least graceful exits from a city in sports history.
Athletics owner John Fisher and the rest of the stakeholders in the move have caught endless flak over their plans to shift the team to Sacramento and then, hopefully, land in Las Vegas by 2028. The team is still waiting for the demolition of the Tropicana Casino where they plan to build an opulent stadium, and still negotiating with local leaders over public money.
Los Angeles Dodgers broadcaster Stephen Nelson, who also works as a “SportsCenter” anchor, joined the chorus of critics during the Dodgers’ game against the A’s on Sunday. He did not hold back as he questioned both the execution and morality of the move:
“It’s hard to believe this is happening, but you understand that this does happen, right? Relocations are a part of the business of sports. It’s the third move when they go to Sacramento, a fourth will be the one to Vegas, if that actually happens. The Dodgers franchise knows relocations happen, but the way this one happened is shameful. It should be, anyway, because the people running it are apparently shameless. They are experiencing no embarrassment in any facet. You slash payroll 50%, boost season ticket prices 30% and you wonder why people aren’t showing up? No, they don’t wonder. It was seemingly intentional, insidious in fact.
“You tell fans ‘If you think you had it bad, I had it worse.’ Really? What about the hundreds of families, the thousands of people that will be impacted by the work that will be lost from this move? Using the wrong logo for promotional video, every step of the way, this thing has been fumbled.”
Nelson proceeded to note to color commentator Jessica Mendoza that one of their colleagues, former All-Star Dontrelle Willis, grew up in the area and considers the A’s as pivotal to his MLB career.
It’s not often you see a team broadcaster go that hard against the leadership of another team, but the A’s have caused no shortage of unusual situations while doing this. The criticism figures to get louder as the A’s approach their end in Oakland, with plenty of ways for all of this to go even more south.
The Dodgers beat the A’s 3-2 in Sunday’s game.