Oakland A’s fans hope ‘reverse boycott’ helps change narrative amid proposed move
Oakland A’s fans are preparing for a “reverse boycott” when the team hosts the Tampa Bay Rays Tuesday night as the franchise mulls a proposed move to Las Vegas.
Organizers are planning to fill the Oakland Coliseum in protest of the “team’s neglectful and irresponsible ownership.”
The A’s are last in the majors in the standings (18-50) and attendance (8,555 per game), but the reverse boycott attendees are trying to send a message that ownership — not the fans — are the problem in Oakland.
“I think John Fisher and [team president] Dave Kaval have really done exactly what they wanted to by making the narrative seem like it’s the fans’ fault,” Jeremy Goodrich, a lifelong A’s fan who started a petition to get Fisher to sell the team, said, per The Athletic.
“Clearly, if I didn’t know anything about the A’s, I would be blaming the fans as well, because it does look like nobody’s going to the games.
“But at the same time, most people don’t understand the true reason why we’re not going to the games. And I think that’s a big reason why we’re doing this June 13 event.”
The organizers have reportedly raised more than $30,000 and are planning to hand out 7,000 bright green “SELL” T-shirts during a tailgate party before the game.
“We hope to make a statement to not only ownership but to MLB and the whole world that this isn’t our fault, that we are here,” A’s fan Gabriel Hernandez told The Associated Press. “Stop blaming us as fans for someone who is basically telling me to stop coming by trading our players, raising prices, taking away season ticket benefits like 50% concessions, 25% (merchandise), $10 parking.
“We aren’t going down without a fight.”
After just 4,848 fans showed up for Monday night’s game, Tuesday’s contest will almost surely be the most attended in Oakland this season with event organizers claiming more than 25,000 people have purchased tickets for the game.
After years of efforts for a new ballpark in Oakland, the franchise is in talks on a financing plan to move the team to Las Vegas.
The Nevada Senate Committee of the Whole voted Tuesday to approve an amended bill that provides public funding for the Oakland A’s planned Las Vegas baseball stadium.
On Tuesday, a Nevada state Senate committee approved a public funding bill for the A’s proposed stadium on the Tropicana Las Vegas Strip site, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.
The bill would provide up to $380 million for the $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat stadium.