Athletics’ owner John Fisher is a disgrace
The Oakland Athletics franchise has officially reached a new low. On Thursday, Apr. 4, the team’s official X account posted, “Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento will host the A's for the 2025-27 seasons - ahead of the team's move to Vegas in 2028.” This report came nearly one year after the team first gained funding to begin building a new stadium as part of their proposed relocation to Las Vegas for the 2028 season.
The A’s have called Oakland home since the 1968 season and, after the Raiders left town in 2020, are the last remaining professional sports franchise in the area. The team found early successes in the city including three straight World Series championships from 1972-74 and another in 1989. The Athletics also claimed division titles nine times between 1971 and 1990, cementing their place as one of the best franchises of the latter half of the 20th century. Even into the first decade of the new millennium, the Athletics won the American League West four times while making the playoffs as a Wild Card on another occasion while following the much-talked-about “Moneyball” philosophy.
Their successes did not translate into the 2010s and beyond, however, as they have only made the playoffs six times in the past 17 seasons. The last time the Athletics even made it past the Divisional Round of the playoffs was in 2006 when they went on to get swept by the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series. Interestingly enough, 2006 was just one year after now-owner John Fisher purchased the franchise for $180 million that he had not yet had the opportunity to run into the ground.
John Fisher was born into an immense fortune as the son of the co-founders of Gap and, at a young age, became a part of an ownership group that successfully worked to keep the San Francisco Giants in the Bay area. Once the Athletics became available to purchase in the mid-2000s, however, he jumped at the opportunity to become a majority shareholder and eventual full owner of a franchise. The initial reaction of many Athletics fans was positive as they, understandably, assumed that new ownership of a Championship Series-bound team would mean more money going into the talent on the field. Unfortunately for them, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.
According to Baseball Prospectus, the Athletics’ payroll in 2006, Fisher’s first full season with the team, came to $62.2 million, equal to $96.4 million in 2024. Their 2024 payroll, however, actually comes to $61.3 million—even less than 2006 without even being adjusted for inflation. There have been points, however, in Fisher’s tenure where money has been poured into the team. They paid a franchise-record $92.2 million in payroll in 2019 but immediately changed course in 2020 when they paid an absurdly low $35.4 million to players. For reference, the Major League average in 2020 was $58.9 million, and the $35.4 million mark was the team’s lowest since 2001. Pumping money into the team, or not, often has a direct correlation with team success, and the Athletics have been a prime example of this since Fisher took over.
As previously mentioned, Oakland has only made it to the playoffs on six occasions since Fisher’s first season with the team. As a result, the team’s home attendance at the outdated and often ridiculed Oakland Coliseum has been historically poor over the past few seasons. According to Baseball Almanac, in the five years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Athletics averaged about 19,800 fans per home game; nearly 10,000 less than the Major League average of 29,450. While that number sounds bad, and it is, it has only gotten worse from there. While the average in the three full seasons since COVID has totaled 24,777 fans, the Athletics have averaged about 9,600 fans per home game. Comparatively, the Rochester Red Wings, a longtime mediocre Minor League Baseball franchise averaged just over 6,000 fans per game in 2023, according to Baseball America. The Coliseum, which hosts Oakland’s team, can hold 45,000 fans and is almost completely empty most nights, while Innovative Field in Rochester holds just 13,500 and is half-filled every game.
As a result of the poor attendance records and unseemly conditions of the ballpark, Fisher began to look towards options for moving the beloved franchise to a new city. One may ask, ‘How can they be beloved if no one shows up?’ but that would be the wrong question to ask. The correct one would be, ‘How can you expect a historically beloved franchise to continue to see support from fans when they have an owner and front office that put no effort or energy into the team?’
Fisher’s plan to move the Athletics from Oakland is despicable. The franchise has been a staple of the Bay area for over 50 years and has a lively fanbase that is simply fed up with being treated as though they are the issue. In June 2023, Oakland’s fans hosted a reverse boycott in which nearly 28,000 fans purchased tickets and went to the team’s home game with t-shirts that read “SELL” along with signs that echoed the sentiment that Fisher should let go of the team. On top of the initial protest, thousands of fans refused to buy tickets to the team’s Opening Day matchup against the Cleveland Guardians on Mar. 28, 2024, and instead voiced their displeasure and gripes in the parking lot of the Coliseum.
The fans are not the issue in Oakland—John Fisher is. He has been an unconvincing and uncaring owner since he purchased the franchise 17 years ago, who has proved time and time again that he only cares about the money. While the team’s payroll has gone down since 2006, the franchise itself has gone up by $1 billion in that time, according to Sports Illustrated. If this move to Las Vegas does go through, my heart will go out to the city of Oakland and the struggling fans of this franchise. To Fisher, though, I say, “Good riddance and I hope Las Vegas treats you the same way it did the Raiders just a few years ago—poorly and with little interest.”