"I Personally Think They've Gotta Figure Out A Way To Stay In Oakland" - Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman When Asked About The Athletics Moving To Vegas
Seems like things are going swimmingly with the Athletics move to Vegas! Everyone seems on board and excited. People partying in the streets, going nuts now that they're finally getting a baseball team. Right? WRONG!
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman was on the Front Office Sports Today podcast and went on to basically trash the Athletics plans to move to Sin City. She said that their plan for the massive stadium on the Tropicana site doesn't make any sense and said "I personally think they've got to find a way to stay in Oakland." Well okay then!
Interesting words here by the Mayor who then went on to release a statement today walking back her words a little bit. But we have the Mayor of the city of a historic franchise literally saying "find a way to stay home". Incredible turn of events here. It was voted on and everything by the owners so they're going, but what a weird little hiccup that we have here.
Imagine if the A's went crawling back to Oakland. "Surprise guys! We're bacckkkkkk! We wanted to be here allllll along!" Their attendance would be worse than the record low they posted last year! No one would go. People already hate them for leaving, they'd hate them more if they tried to come back all of a sudden now.
This is such a gross and sticky situation. No one is really talking about how their lease is up with the Coliseum after this season. Where the hell are they going to play? No one knows yet. Salt Lake City has been floated out there, a short-term lease in Oakland maybe, a minor league stadium? Wherever it is, it will be a mess.
Mayor Goodman said she had a "weird feeling" during the whole process especially when the A's picked the Tropicana site and not another perfect location with more land, access to major roads and more. Did she think they were throwing this on purpose? Like are they messing this up not by mistake? And her saying they should find a way to stay in Oakland, I mean that's just an awful thing to say during this process. They could never go back and face their fans again, not after the shit the ownership has put them through. Gotta feel sorry for the players and fans with this, it's nasty and it's all about money.
ESPN reported last week that reps for the city of Oakland and reps for the Athletics haven't spoken in about 10 months, and now the Mayor wants them to just go back? Yeah, fat chance. Color me shocked that this has turned into a very wild ride. Should be fun to see what other comments come out, where the A's actually play in 2025 and what the fan reaction is as we get closer to Opening Day.