MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred spoke to the media Thursday afternoon at about the same time roughly 1,000 fans were in attendance for the Oakland Athletics home game against the Tampa Bay Rays.
The presser coupled with the most-recent A’s game comes one day after the Nevada State Legislature passed a bill to allow for public financing of a new state-of-the-art stadium on the Las Vegas Strip. Once Nevada Governor Joe Lambardo signs the bill into law and the MLB Relocation Committee approves a move, it will be all but finalized.
The backdrop here is obvious. It includes embattled A’s owner John Fisher’s unwillingness to invest in the team in Northern California and the most run-down venue in the professional sports world.
An embattled figure on his own, Manfred did not do a lot to help matters with his comments to the media.
“I hear from them; I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do. I think the real question is, what is it Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. OK? They never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. And it’s not just John Fisher. The community has to provide support. At some point you come to the realization it’s just not going to happen.”
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on the Oakland Athletics’ situation
Coming from someone who has attended numerous A’s games in the past, I can say from a first-hand perspective that this is patently false. The MLB team had major support from the fan base when an actual owner was willing to invest in the franchise and the venue.
A couple days after nearly 28,000 A’s fans attended a game as part of a “reverse boycott,” Manfred was also asked about his opinion regarding said boycott. Again, the response didn’t paint him in the best of lights.
“I mean, it was great. It is great to see what this year is almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night. That’s a great thing,” Manfred told reporters.
Boasting the worst record in MLB at 19-50, the Oakland Athletics are averaging just over 9,000 fans per game this season. It’s clearly been a black cloud hanging over the organization and the sport as a whole.
Related: Top MLB insider mocks league over Oakland Athletics’ abysmal start to 2023
Oakland Mayor responds to Rob Manfred Oakland Athletics’ comments
In what can’t be considered too much of a surprise, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao responded to what Manfred had to say about community support. She did not hold back.
“This is just totally false. There was a very concrete proposal under discussion and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize approvals,” Sheng Thao on Oakland Athletics stadium situation in Northern California.
Indeed. The A’s had been planning for a new venue at the Howard Terminal location in Oakland for years. As many have noted in Northern California, these plans took a hit due to the economic downturn and inflation created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the end, the A’s walked away from discussions about a new venue in Oakland and turned their attention to Las Vegas.
For Manfred, he’s been on the receiving end of a ton of criticism since taking over for Bud Selig back in 2014. Some of it has been fair. Some hasn’t. But he’s right about one thing. The status quo in Oakland was not sustainable.
Whether Fisher deserves most of the blame (he does) is up to interpretation. What we do know is that the Oakland Athletics have just a couple more hurdles to overcome before relocation to Southern Nevada is finalized. Meanwhile, Manfred’s crass ways continue to rub some people within the industry in the wrong way.
From a broader perspective, one would think that it’s in MLB’s best interest for Fisher to sell the franchise. Based on his history, the longtime owner isn’t going to change his ways simply because he has a brand-new 30,000 seat stadium on the Vegas Strip.
But that’s a story for another time.