After 57 years in Oakland, the Oakland Athletics will play their final home game in the Bay Area on Thursday, September 24 against the Texas Rangers. In an attempt to thank the fans in Oakland, team owner John Fisher sent an email thanking the fans and attempting to explain the situation.
This did not sit with fans well.
Throughout this entire endeavor regarding the A's departure from Oakland, the fans had made it clear that they wanted the team to remain in Oakland. While the team constantly posted poor ticket sales figures, much of that can be explained by ownership's reluctance to update the outdated Oakland Coliseum and/or make impactful signings to keep the A's a competitive team. To be hit with a letter from Fisher claiming that "we tried," while it wasn't meant to be, feels like a slap in the face to many of the fans who'd been waiting for ownership to "try" anything.
Nobody was angrier than ABC Bay Area reporter Larry Beil though. The sports reporter wasted no time giving his thoughts on the letter on local television. He did not mince his words, and he said what many fans in Oakland were feeling.
“You destroyed your family’s great name and legacy because of your cheapness… I would love to see another massive failure by this ownership group and then maybe MLB would force a sale.”
Anchor's gripes with John Fisher
- Beil starts his rant by reading off the crux of Fisher's letter. Fisher wrote that when he and his partner bought the team in 2005, they wanted to win championships and build a new ballpark. He then claims that while he tried his best to do just that, he "tried" but "came up short." Fisher then goes on to claim that staying in Oakland was his ultimate goal and that he is sorry he could not achieve it.
- Beil then delves into Fisher's statement, claiming that while Fisher did propose five different locations for a new stadium in the Bay Area, all of those proposals were massively flawed, and they "never even got close to a shovel in the ground." Beil then argues against Fisher's claims that winning championships was a priority. He compares Fisher to Golden State Warriors' owner Joe Lacob, arguing that "you need to spend money to make money," just as Lacob did with the Warriors.
- Beil followed that up with a bombshell, disproving Fisher's statement that he would "like to speak to each [A's fan] individually." Beil claimed that his station has been trying to interview Fisher for years, but that Fisher always chooses to "stay invisible," only ever opting for interviews when he wants to beg politicians for public funding.
- Beil finishes his initial rant by doing what all A's fans wanted to do when they read that letter, ripping it up. He then went into a tirade about Fisher's incompetence regarding the team's move to Vegas. Fisher said that even though the move to Vegas is viewed as set in stone, the A's have not offered a plan for the stadium at all and will play each of the next three seasons in a minor league stadium in Sacramento. Beil believes Fisher and the rest of A's ownership will mess this up as well, which could make Major League Baseball force Fisher to sell the team.
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