Investigating the Most Hated Team in Sports History

The Oakland A’s have been at the center of national media attention over the past year after announcing their controversial relocation to Las Vegas. We went on the scene at the Oakland Coliseum to answer the question on everyone’s mind… Why?

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what does it mean to be from Oakland this Sheed to be the house of champions I’ve been sitting in the same seat for almost 20 years I’ve just had so many memories being at this place in April of 2023 the Oakland Aid shocked the Sports World by announcing their move to Las Vegas Leaving 56 years of history behind it’s just been a giant you to Oakland a franchise that was once a Powerhouse in a booming city was now subject to public embarrassment on a national stage so we went to Oakland to find the truth about this decision we’ll talk to DieHard supporters former players local news outlets and even current Oakland A’s employees on the inside to answer the question on everybody’s mind why did this really happen Our Story begins on a rainy night at the historic Oakland Coliseum not too busy of a night uh Marlins are like 9 and 24 the A’s are just below 500 so now we’re going to head in there and see what the uh real fans have to say how long have you been an a fan uh since 1967 how do you feel about the move to Vegas it really sucks I mean this used to be the house of champions Oakland Raiders Golden State Warriors Oakland A’s I mean this was the house of champions it’s such a shame to see the Legacy go down the way it is it’s all because of politics money and bull what are your thoughts on John fiser you better turn the camera off okay before we could even step foot inside the Coliseum we already felt some NE negative emotions towards Oakland A’s owner John fiser Fisher became the owner in 2005 and essentially is Public Enemy Number One in Oakland so when you hear these chants sell the team or see these shirts they’re talking to John what does this shirt mean what does what does sell mean sell the team bro they didn’t spend any money on the players and then they go and build a giant field in the stadium uh in Vegas depending on who he sells it to they will try and make a bigger effort to stay in Oakland it’s annoying bro they don’t pay attention to people here in Oakland we love them here later on I’ll meet up with a man who had a pivotal role in this movement and hear his true thoughts on the A’s organization we’re going to keep exposing these mother you’re going to go to Vegas they’re going to have to keep their replies off but first we need to head out to rightfield of the Coliseum to speak with some of the loudest most passionate a fans you could find who are like the cell people like who put those up uh the main person right there like do you see the person with the Familia right there yeah that’s like one of the main people should I go talk to them uh these signs have been here for a couple years ever since the whole moves things happened all these signs are basically saying don’t support our own in any way possible he’s uh he’s not a good man I’m trying to try don’t swear on your guys’ thing here he’s a sack of I’ve been an a fan my whole life I’ve been sitting in the same seat for almost 20 years seed 7even this has been my seat for a long time I’ve been with a lot of these people all these years and it’s been a tough year to say the least just known that every game is closer and closer to the end oh someone Happ St [Applause] three wow as you can see the passion of these fans has yet to die many of them in right field have been coming here for over 20 years and one woman we spoke to is a part of a group that is known as the heartbeat of the A’s and I think you’ll see why there’s a long tradition of drums in the Outfield in Oakland that goes back to the 2000 season so we do two strikes and now we’ll start doing the countdown to what we hope is the third strike as an ace fan what are your thoughts on the Move that’s coming and it being the last season in the Coliseum it’s not going to be a success never going to have fans like us we are going to be enjoying ourselves here until September 26th then I don’t know if I’ll ever go to another other major league baseball game in my life this year I did not renew my season ticket so I’ll probably still get to like 40 maybe 40 50 games but yeah these rightfield fans are really no joke in this next interview you can barely hear him talk because of how loud the horns and drumes are uh what are your thoughts on John fiser and how he’s handled the whole move he’s just incompetent you know I I don’t think he has a single set of functioning brain cells um so yeah I think that’s where he’s at and even the youngest of fans still had strong opinions on the Move what do you think about them moveing to Vegas horrible horrible why um I don’t really know but they do suck them it’s just kind of like sad because we had uh a bunch of memories here and I don’t want them to leave we grew up with them and now they’re just like kind of leaving us like as soon as we go into our teenage years so this is where we just were up there that’s what the the flags we were talking about so Gap I learned means cuz John fiser owns Gap yeah yeah so he’s the one of the richest owners in Bas yeah oh yeah they’re chaining sell the team as like the game’s ending like the biggest part of the game they’re not chaining let’s go a they’re saying sell the team oh my there you go that’s it that’s [Applause] game he win this one one game below 500 in their last season in the Coliseum sad man I bummed and I live in Arizona now so this is I came at her it’s probably my last of the Coliseum so it’s my farewell I’m in Miss Coliseum I was born and raised here I’m 50 now but they been coming here forever and so it sucks but I’m uh I was happy to get out here and catch my last game here you know Blue Collar people man you know we we we roll hard and uh it’s it’s a tra it’s a travesty that uh we’re losing the ace well that’s the final here from Oakland um great energy for a Friday night game it is a little unfortunate how sixth of the stadium is full and the rest is empty but with that said we’ll be here tomorrow and I’m sure it’ll be completely different tomorrow maybe it’ll be completely packed out see you guys then now although attendance on this particular night wasn’t great believe it or not in very recent history there were consistent sellout crowds at the Coliseum one game in particular from the 2012 season embodies the Oakland Spirit perfectly days were down three games on the Rangers going into a 4 game series against them at home and all the Rangers had to do was win one game and they’d clinch the AL West but the A’s and almost 40,000 fans in attendance had some different plans yeah that was one crazy week of baseball we put ourselves in a good position we’d never been in first place all year long Texas had always been in first place we start getting on a high streak we’re on a roll and we just start ticking away just start they lose one we win one we start catching and we end up being tied and going into the little playoff thing or whatever it was to win the to to win the division the atmosphere that week and then that night the night before I can vividly see some of the photos and and me jumping up and down on the man and guys mobbing and then we were jumping up and down you know made the last cat and it’s funny too cuz realization that hit you like wait that’s it we did it you know and then so it takes a split second to click it and then you’re like wait okay celebrate you know fans are there cheering because they’ve been there a lot of them been there throughout the entire season the fact that it’s such a long season and to pull off what we did I’ve never done that I mean I’ve won divisions but the the way we did it in that type of fashion and star was was totally different than any other and although it’s fun to reminisce the reality of today is the days of cellout crowds in Oakland are long gone and many fans would blame this on one particular person so on day two we met up with a man leading the charge to get the A’s new ownership and what better place to meet than where the proposed new a stadium was supposed to be constructed you guys got one of these yet no you guys are going the game today right we’re walking up on Howard terminal right here so those cranes that you see right there right to the right of it that’s where the stadium would be so they would have basically the stadium there and they had all that development that was supposed to go on around it and then then it would be obviously connected right here to Jack London Square so this whole area you would have basically walking up you’d have a huge like you know outdoor area you’d have like uh uh parks and everything on your way up statues and all sorts of historical type monuments coming up to the stadium so you look out and those cranes would be there and the entire you know bay would be sitting right here the whole waterfront oh so I’m Brian uh I’m one of the three owners of baseball’s last di bar so we’ve been doing this since uh 2019 it started off as a what the meme the A’s blew it up they posted on social kind of went like mini viral in the a community we figured out how to make a website we figured out how to sell shirts and we started making money started donating everything back to the ace Community Fund all their Affiliated Charities and next thing you know we’re making campaign after campaign with players with uh a lot of the broadcast team and stuff like that since to dat we’ve donated over a quarter of a million dollars when I grew up I mean the A’s were the top of the league you know they had the highest payroll in baseball we had some of the highest attendance records in baseball and so you know it was really easy to become obsessed with the baseball team you know the cell the actual cell t-shirt that was actually Oaklandish and the Oakland 68 so Jorge Leona the 68s and that’s the shirt that you see and it’s really like a symbol right and it’s a symbol that’s like leading into like other teams you see the white socks uh fans doing it now fans are just sick and tired of these billionaires and MLB just thinking everybody’s Expendable and they can do anything they want they can stort uh you know Millions from the public and that’s not right the public is who who pays their bills and so the cell movement is just the fans fighting back so for someone who maybe isn’t like a a DieHard baseball fan or just like sees the headlines of like what’s going on with the a and John fiser they keep hearing this name John fer can you explain to someone what that who he is why people don’t like him and kind of how that started man he’s a Harpo nepo baby man that that that dude basically was born into money right he was born into the Gap that guy hasn’t made actually any money for himself the guy doesn’t take risk he doesn’t make his own money so he’s been living off his inheritance he’s been living off the Gap living off his madoris he’s never invested anything into this team he’s a Giants fan he’s the worst owner in all sports you know what I mean they’ve never invested into the team I mean you see the attendance right the fans have been fed up for a long time right they’re not going to continue and invest money into somebody that doesn’t retain players I mean everybody’s blowing up Mason Miller right now but guess what the dude’s going to be gone next year they’ve invested nothing into the Coliseum nothing around the Coliseum they’ve never made an Earnest effort to stay here this is one of the richest places in the world and if you can’t have success here with a baseball team you’re not going to have success in the 40th you know ranked Market in MLB going to Vegas Brian made a really interesting point right here when I first heard about the plans to relocate to Las Vegas seeing this beautiful new stadium right near the heart of downtown I figured it was destined to be somewhat of an automatic success but people a lot closer to the a seem to strongly disagree so we reached out to Casey Pratt a Bay Area journalists who has seen this entire decision evolve from the inside so the hos family that owned the A’s they were the last ownership group that treated the franchise like a regional asset something that was valuable to the entire barrier it was about making this team something good for the community ever since then it was owned by groups that treated the team like a business every great Allstar every great player that that comes through here either gets traded away or leaves via free agency because the ownership is not willing to spend it has very little to do with Oakland or the town it has a lot to do with lack of investment in the franchise and ever since this ownership group has owned the A’s they have not signed any big free agents do you see why John fiser is moving the A’s to Vegas like what do you think is going through his head so I think John Fisher looked really hard right he looked in his wallet and then he looked elsewhere and he kep looking elsewhere anywhere but his own wallet and that has led him down a path to Las Vegas the reason you go to Las Vegas it’s quick and it’s cheap and you don’t have to look into your own wallet quite as much this ownership group over years has just like stomped on the whole uh history of the A’s right I mean only other team besides the Yankees that won three World Series in a row the fact that you got owners that don’t even know you know the players names we’re excited to be here for the next 3 years whether they be Athletics players or Aaron judge and others uh launch home runs out of this very intimate the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball I mean that’s that’s wild right he wants to see Aaron judge hit home runs in in Sutter Health park in Sacramento like an owner doesn’t know the players names on your team you know what I mean the head of PR and marketing Katherine akre didn’t even know the difference between Oakland 68s and last eyar and she’s the head of marketing marketing we actually reached out to Katherine acre for comment and she replied to my first email but unfortunately we did not get a reply back to schedule a zoom or a call so you know oh well going to keep exposing these you’re going to go to Vegas they’re going to have to keep their replies off yeah they’re going to have to keep them off that’s when Leo pointed that out to me a couple days ago I was like they don’t have Twitter Instagram since February days of nothing on there and they’re LinkedIn they’re LinkedIn bro like that’s if people are going to go off on LED well no we we tried we tried we tried we tried so we tried the only thing that the replies are on you see an ad by the Oakland Ace you can reply to that and so these mother will delete it and I post I’m like you can keep deleting I’m going to keep messaging you like everybody’s going to haunt these guys to the end of a journey for what they’ve done to baseball it’s not even just ace fans it’s what they’re doing to baseball and the fact that MLB and 29 other owners said yeah that’s cool you can treat your fans like that that should be a wakeup call to all fans that’s wild how are you supposed to Market that yeah it’s a great question I don’t know that’s it’s yeah at this point I still so many unanswered questions about the move as much as we try to get in contact with A’s front office Personnel they keep their media exposure to a bare minimum mostly only doing private Gatherings giving very general answers a prime example of this would be Casey’s recent interview with the president of the A’s himself Dave caval when you first got here I mean you were non-stop energy constantly talking to people you went from that to replies off what do you say to the fans that can’t reply to your post that that care so much I’m hopeful that we can have and share some new new memories of the Coliseum this year I think we’re focused on putting forward a fun Fan Experience in our last year I think it is sad that all three teams have left and that professional sports um in this context will not exist in the community decisions needed to be made timelines needed to be kept and that’s why we’re in the situation we’re in and that’s why we’re headed to Las Vegas in 28 so although the a front office isn’t willing to give much up the current employees working under them were a lot more honest we spoke with current and past employees about the situation and how it’ll affect them their family and their livelihoods I became sort of like a second mascot like leading chance in the in the stands back in 2017 when Dave caval first became president of the A’s the concessions people thought let’s get one or two of our vendors to get dressed up just do this thing where it’s vending but it’s really something for the fans and that’s what they were all about for a couple years before Co by 2022 all of the things that Dave caval had done all of a sudden they realized oh no we could just move to Las Vegas and we we could probably make more money there maybe it will proed to be a good business like decision but like that’s not what that’s not what this is supposed to be you don’t understand how just terrible it is and how gut-wrenching it is until you experience it another current employee we spoke to requested to remain anonymous so he didn’t risk losing his job but this is what he had to say every work shift just feels like a funeral we stand on three pillars of inclusive Dynam Dynamic and Innovative everybody was always excited to come to work but now it’s just tension those within a decade of retirement they’re the ones I really feel for especially the ones that put in 30 plus years with the organization after the season’s over they’re just giving us the middle finger it just feels like what’s the point we’re still putting in our best effort but again every shift feels like a funeral current employees of course have to be cautious about what they can and can’t say so they don’t risk losing their job but I knew the fans could still freely speak their mind it’s just been a giant you to Oakland so we went back to the Coliseum on an even Rainier colder day during a 2-hour rain delay to talk with the truest fans we could find to get their honest thoughts once again on the situation but actually people are showing up I didn’t think anyone would be here there’s a rain delay it’s going to be at least 2hour rain delay it’s like 48° out like let’s get in there let’s just go do you want to be in our video I’ve never been asked this before yes please you want to be in a video yes what do you think about the A’s moving to Vegas it’s very sad it’s very sad why is it sad you think they’ve been around for a long time I’ve just had so many m is being at this place this is like my dream come true to be in a video yes well Do’s anything you want to say is this going to be like on YouTube or something I’ll show you my channel after okay can you tell us about your outfit and why you chose today to wear today is May the 4th and I am Darth Vader grab the Sith one though yeah it’s kylo Ren kylo Ren so I used the force to grab it and then killed him with his own lightsaber and then you took it yes for yourself I I respect that and although he was using an incorrect lightsaber for the Darth Vader costume he did bring some positive energy on other wise gloomy day at the Coliseum but as we saw earlier it wasn’t always like this in fact in the year 2002 when I was born Oakland ranked 19th in League attendance at roughly 27,000 fans a game and last year of course was historically bad for the Coliseum averaging just over 10,000 again most would of course blame this on the ownership but I had to ask some former players myself to see what their unique perspective is after spending many years playing at the Coliseum they could have done with a new stadium probably years ago before I even got there I would lik to have seen it there in Oakland Maybe Waterfront it could have been in a beautiful spot there you know we had some stuff going on in there some little Plumbing issues and you some tight squeezes here and there and at the end of the day it comes down to Dollars and it’s a business you know there’s a lot of unfortunate things that happen in business and you can’t make everybody happy at the same time I would assume they’re doing what they believe is best to have a successful business do I believe that it can in Oakland I definitely do and it’s unfortunate that a team and hopefully there’ll be a team there I mean I feel for the town itself losing a lot of team loses in a lot of sports and a lot of history there and I can understand why you know everyone’s frustrated and upset I’m not in the ins and outs but it would be nice if Oakland did or was capable of continuing to have a team you know within MLB and speaking of players there’s one former a in particular who’s been extremely outspoken since his retirement just last season can you explain one more time who that is who signed it and when that happened this right here that’s Trevor may he was a relever last year and I got it signed at fans Fest speaking of Trevor may we actually interviewed him for this mini do so I guess we can cut to that Now seamless transition by me but there were two particular questions I did have for Trevor that I hadn’t asked anybody yet could this move have been avoided and if so how my name is Trevor may I was uh a player for the A’s uh in 2023 I think that just Oakland was giving him too much trouble and billionaires don’t like it when they don’t get to do whatever they want you know he he he struggles to name any of the players in our own team he’s named one player in recent uh recent memory and that was Aaron judge Aaron judge and others absolutely mindboggling I guess to answer your question uh no I think that financially they it could have been fine I don’t think I don’t think it is a massive difference just sounded like from what I’ve heard about the negotiations to get Howard Turnal done and stuff that the gold poost just kept getting moved as if it wasn’t really an honest try it was more of a look look I tried I tried but I couldn’t did it done let’s go to Nevada where there’s no taxes and before leaving Oakland I had to know from True fans themselves will they remain fans of the A’s once they move or will they completely sever ties with the organization and honestly the answers kind of surprised me I wanted to take my kids to a games and uh I’m never going to get that opportunity and um yeah that just really sucks are you still going to support the A’s when they move to Vegas no not at all I’m still supporting the Raiders so yes probably yes you can’t just cut off loyalty as much as you know I mean it’s not our fault greed and money you know and it just sucks it really sucks I’ll still watch I’ll probably watch them on on the road I will never go to a game in Las Vegas Sacramento I will never say I won’t go I mean it’s close enough I might maybe occasionally but I’ll never see a game in Las Vegas I mean unfortunately like this ain’t going to get removed right so that might have to stay with me but uh no no uh the minute they leave there’s there there’s no support right there’s no support from us last St bar I mean we’re taking it elsewhere right we’re going to be supporting the independent baseball team coming out here Oakland Ballers until the shovels in the ground anything can happen right Vegas is is is not looking good there’s no financing there there’s no investors there so hopefully everything falls through and then this team is actually up for sale I mean there’s a list of actual investors here in the Bay Area Joe lob’s one of them but there’s a lot of investment groups that want to keep the team here absolutely man but I would love to see some new ownership came in because uh fish sure is just just crazy man I mean he’s I think he’s just trying to make a quick buck and uh he’s going to go to cash in in Vegas and probably sell the team and make you know a couple billion and laugh laugh us all the way to the bank and uh at our expense and uh The Biggest Losers of the O fans I’m hoping there will be a new expansion team somewhere because I don’t want to join a bandwagon and yeah just be a bandwagon for another team but I can’t support the Las Vegas a um the minute they move I will no longer be a fan is any of you looking forward to like going to a game in Vegas and seeing it or you just like no no no I’m not looking forward to it like I’ll do it because it’s my team and it gives me an excuse to go to Vegas I guess it’s not Oakland you know this just like a tradition here like it’s hard to continue to support the owner when he doesn’t put any money into the team I don’t know I mean I’ll still like I said I will go to the games in Vegas just obviously not as many but before we get too down on the collapse of the A’s there are still some glimmers of Hope for Oakland sports fans one Avenue of that being an independent baseball team that’s goal is to steal baseball back for Oakland met each other in in Oakland and kind of bonded in part you know hanging out and and going to a games and like most a fans when the news became real that it looked like the A’s were going to leave we were pretty heartbroken decided that we didn’t want to see the A’s leaving being the last chapter of baseball in Oakland Oakland is a baseball town and Oakland’s losing its baseball team and so Oakland needs a new baseball team I think it’s that simple we’re joining the Pioneer League the Pioneer League was established in 1936 the Pioneer league has sort of positioned itself as The Innovation League came to an agreement with the city for $1.6 million of renovations to the park putting in a video board putting in you know a batter ey and the city has agreed to allow us to play our 48 home games at Randi Park in season one following Tuesday is like is opening day putting our undefeated record on the line so we’re hoping to keep it rolling throughout this experience we saw the truth about the Oakland A’s for many this is the team that they grew up with the team that made them fall in love with the sport of baseball in the first place and remembering why we fell in love with baseball to begin with in my opinion is the best indicator of how we as fans should move forward the future of baseball is admittedly unpredictable but I’m certain that if we keep passionate loyal fans engaged within the sport the future is that much brighter I’m Dan sento make sure to subscribe to the channel if you’re new peace