MLB commissioner Rob Manfred gaslit Oakland Athletics for their reverse boycott game to protest the team moving to Las Vegas.
It seems like a foregone conclusion that the Athletics will be moving to Las Vegas. On Wednesday, the Nevada state legislature approved $380 million in taxpayer funds to help build a new baseball stadium for the A's, which will cost a total of $1.5 billion. All that's left to approve is for Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo to sign the bill, and for the majority of MLB owners to approve the move from Oakland to Las Vegas.
A's games have been sparsely attended this season, due in part to the fanbase's anger towards owner John Fisher's unwillingness to spend money and field a major league-quality baseball team. Add the fact that he wanted to move to Las Vegas to mix, you get fan apathy. But the fanbase gathered together on Tuesday for a reverse boycott, to show Fisher and MLB that Oakland is passionate enough to have a baseball team. Not to mention, they let their feeling be known that they wanted Fisher to sell the Athletics.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred fielded questions from reporters on Thursday after the league owners' meetings in New York. When asked about the reverse boycott game set up by the Athletics fanbase, Manfred said "It is great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night."
Rob Manfred speaks on the Athletics reverse boycott game
Manfred did speak on the city of Oakland on the verge of losing the team. Manfred did say that the league's preference is for a team to stay put, but claimed Oakland did not provide an offer for a stadium, and said that "the community has to provide support."
"Look, believe me, and I hear from 'em, I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland," said Manfred, h/t The Athletic's Evan Drelich. "I do not like this outcome, I understand why they feel the way they do. I think that the real question is, what is it that Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer, OK? They never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. And it's not just John Fisher. You don't build a stadium based on the club activity alone. The community has to provide support and you know, at some point, you come to the realization, it's just not going to happen."
Julie Edwards, a spokesperson for Oakland mayor Sheng Thao, released a statement in response to Manfred's comments, calling them "just totally false." In the statement below, courtesy of Drellich, Edwards said that there was a "very concrete proposal under discussion," and that the Athletics were looking for a "multibillion dollar, 55-acre project that included a ballpark, residential, commercial and retail space." Edwards said that now the Athletics "seem satisfied with a 9-acre leased ballpark on leased land."
Athletics fans have normally averaged a little over 8,000 fans a game this season, the worst among all MLB teams by a significant margin. But on Tuesday, 27,759 fans packed into Oakland Coliseum to cheer for the team and chant for Fisher to "sell the team."
Sadly for Athletics fans, it looks as though the team will be moving to Las Vegas, as it has a much clearer path after getting approval from the Nevada state legislature.
