In a moment many Oakland Athletics fans were likely cheering on, a local sportscaster hilariously took the team’s owner to task in a memorable public rant.
After 57 years, the Oakland Athletics run in the Bay Area will come to a sad and tumultuous end this week. After years of failed negotiations on a new publicly funded stadium, the franchise is heading to Sacramento for the next few seasons. Then eventually on to Las Vegas.
It has been a very ugly breakup for the A’s and their fanbase. Especially after years of supporting a team with an owner who has put the bare minimum into the roster and stadium over the last two decades.
Unsurprisingly, owner John Fisher has taken all of the heat for the team’s exit from Oakland after Thursday’s game against the Rangers. This week the MLB boss tried to “thank” fans in a letter that also gave his side of the story on the team’s departure from the city.
The message was not well received by Athletics fans and in a moment that perfectly summed up their frustration, ABC 7 San Francisco sportscaster Larry Beil took Fisher to task in an unforgettable rant this week before their final game in the Oakland Coliseum.
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Local sportscaster delivers hilarious roast of Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher
“You surround yourself with incompetent yes men. And because you were born into a billionaire family, apparently never learned you have to spend money to make money,” Beil began by saying. “See Joe Lacob and the Golden State Warriors. Your buddy. You’re a serial penny pincher. You’ve destroyed your family’s great name and legacy because of your cheapness.
“As for the statement [in his letter], ‘Loyal A’s fans I wish I could speak to every one of you individually,’ we’ve been trying to interview you for years. But you always choose to remain invisible unless you’re begging politicians for public funding … If other owners and the players association had any spine at all they would say, ‘No, we’re not doing that [to a move to Las Vegas].’
“We have yet to see a real financing plan for the A’s stadium in Las Vegas. We’re still waiting. Vegas is still waiting,” he proclaimed. “They don’t have one … I would love to see another massive failure by this ownership group and then maybe MLB would force a sale … I could go call three billionaires right now that would buy the team.”
The Oakland Athletics final game in the city will be a daytime affair on Thursday afternoon against the Texas Rangers.