By: Megan Saul

Culture Editor

After 57 seasons and 56 years of competing in Oakland, the Oakland Athletics (A’s) are relocating to Las Vegas, Nevada. Although the American Baseball League originally founded the A’s in Philadelphia, they have been playing at the Oakland Coliseum since 1968. While in Oakland, the A’s have competed in the World Series six times and have won the title four times. After playing in Oakland for so many years, the fanbase has grown in numbers and strength, making saying goodbye to this team a heart-wrenching event for the players and fans. 

The Oakland A’s played their last game in Oakland on Sept. 26. They had a final victory against the Texas Rangers, winning 3-2. Stands full of emotional fans, both cheering and crying, supported their last game in the Coliseum. Fans also expressed their passionate feelings through posters reading “unforgivable” and “RIP Oakland A’s Fan 1988-2024.” The former state Senate President Pro Tempore Don Perata shared, “It’s been a slow death, like going to the doctor and being told you have two years to live…There have been so many losses in Oakland, and I think this is the bottom.”

A fan who grew up attending the games with her family, Kristin Young, said, “You get used to seeing the same concession people, the same ticket takers… I’ll miss knowing the shortcut walks, the weird B [parking] lot entrance that looks like a terrifying war zone … and I won’t have that same experience like with my kids or even my nieces and nephews, taking them to the games. I know that you can still tell all the stories later, but I’ll miss telling those stories like in the stadium. I’ll miss being able to share those experiences with other people in the places that they happened.”

The A’s are leaving Oakland due to the owner’s, John Fisher’s, lack of effort. Fisher enraged many fans by not signing valuable players or investing enough into the team. There were momentary discussions over whether to build a new stadium, but eventually, all plans to keep the A’s in Oakland fell through. Fisher received backlash from fans, sports broadcasters, and players. Former A’s pitcher Trevor May said, “Be an adult. Get in front of a camera and say it with your chest…You love owning stuff, just not your actions.” After leaving Oakland, the team plans on permanently moving to Las Vegas by the spring of 2028, but until then, they are supposed to play in a minor league park in Sacramento. The Coliseum will continue to host events such as soccer games, although not as frequently as they used to host the A’s. Retired A’s Player and Oakland native Marcus Semien said, “I still think that there’s hope sometime for a team to come back here…This particular lot of land is still going to be here if they ever wanted to build a stadium.”

The Oakland A’s are just another team that the city of Oakland has lost. The Las Vegas Raiders and Golden State Warriors both left Oakland in 2020. While all of these teams have unfortunately left the city, their strong fan bases certainly have not. 

(Sources: ESPN, NBC News, The Guardian, USA Today)