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OAKLAND, Calif. (KRON) – Oakland city leaders are asking Major League Baseball owners to keep the A’s in Oakland. MLB team owners are expected to vote on the A’s potential move to Vegas next week.
Mayor Sheng Thao was adamant on Tuesday that the fight is not over and that leaders and the community need to send a message that the A’s should stay in East Bay.
A’s fans filled the Oakland city council chambers Tuesday to show their support for Oakland’s last major professional sports team.
“We have lost almost every sports team,” said Craig Imlock, an A’s fan since the 1970s. “We have lost the Raiders, we have lost the Warriors. We need someone in Oakland. Someone has to stay in Oakland.”
It warmed Imlock’s heart to see so many Oakland leaders pushing to keep the team.
“This is love. This is really love. To break this by going to Vegas would be the stupidest thing ever,” he said.
Thao called for MLB owners to vote “no” on moving the A’s to Las Vegas, even curating boxes of Oakland goodies to send to each owner ahead of the vote. At the city council meeting, council members voted to support a resolution reaffirming the City of Oakland’s commitment to building a new baseball stadium.
“If someone tells me one more time that the A’s can’t fill the Coliseum, just look at this. We’re on a weekday and look at all the green and gold in this room,” Thao said.
Labor leaders spoke about the value of keeping the jobs associated with the A’s in Oakland. Thao says Vegas deserves a team too, just not Oakland’s.
“You can keep this amazing fan base and expand into a new fanbase, into a new market, all you have to do is vote ‘no’ and make sure the Oakland A’s stay rooted here in the City of Oakland because we more than deserve our team,” Thao said.
She says there are people waiting to buy the A’s if the current owner cooperates.
“We continue to urge John Fisher to come back to the table and we have viable buyers should the team go up for sale,” she said.
Baseball owners are expected to vote on the A’s relocation to Vegas at the owner’s meeting from November 14 through 16.
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