Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher during a game. Photo via SI Nation
The Oakland Athletics’ relocation to Las Vegas is expected to be approved this week.
MLB owners are participating in their annual fall meeting in Arlington, Texas. The move is expected to be one of the propositions voted upon during said meetings. The A’s and owner John Fisher would need 75% of the votes for the move to be approved. Therefore, only eight out of the thirty owners would have to vote no, which is not expected to happen.
The move has not been without controversy, however. Recently, a coalition called Schools Over Stadiums formed to rally against the approval of the stadium in Las Vegas. The political group argued that the money that will be used for the stadium should be spent on upgrading schools and educational infrastructure in the state.
Hurdles Cleared
However, as of last week, a Nevada judge ruled against the coalition (which would have needed 100,000 votes on the 2024 ballot to be approved anyway), all but ending their hopes. With this combined with the expected approval, it is all but certain that Las Vegas will receive the A’s.
And just yesterday morning at the hotel where the meetings are taking place, three protestors made their voices known. Jared Isham, 41, Gabriel Cullen, 42, and Jorge Leon, 38, all sat in the hotel lobby donning A’s caps and green T-shirts reading “STAY.” The trio was handing out merchandise such as A’s T-shirts, DVDs, and bumper stickers to other owners who passed by. However, they were soon ejected from the hotel for soliciting.
Message Received
The trio of protesters camped out at the hotel from 7 am to 7 pm, when they finally reached who they were looking for: John Fisher. He shook hands with the group and told them that he had been trying to find a solution for the A’s, but his patience ran out.
“It’s been a lot worse for me than you,” Fisher told the protestors. “Anyway, I just want to let you know I appreciate you guys being here. I appreciate the passion you have shown.”
“Everyone says [Fisher’s] very genuine, which is true,” protestor Isham said after the encounter, “but I don’t believe anything he said. I commend him for actually facing people that are protesting. But there’s only three of us. He had his security. At the same time, he could have just ignored us. So I will give him slight credit for that.”
What’s Next?
Despite A’s fans’ best efforts, the team will more than likely be moved to Vegas. After this week’s expected approval, the move will most likely come after the conclusion of next season. That is when the team’s Oakland Coliseum lease expires. However, a new ballpark isn’t expected to be completed until 2028, so they’d have to find a temporary home until then.
