Has it REALLY been worse for John Fisher? | Foul Territory

[@alexander_winston]

Vegas local here. Don’t want Nevada (#49 in school rankings) to give the Billionaire Boys Club any more money. Enough already. Our kids deserve better.

[@smokey5100]

Us A's fans want NOTHING more than for the Oakland A's to stay home! I truly feel if Manfred never came out and encouraged Fisher to pursue parallel paths by suggesting that the relocation fee would be waived then negotiations with Oakland would've never been derailed. Oakland raised over $500 million dollars and counting for the Howard Terminal project. This is more than the $380 million dollar handout he's receiving in Las Vegas. Had Fisher not have demanded all of the extra residential and commercial development at Howard Terminal then a ballpark could be constructed NOW. MLB owners should not reward this man for failing to invest into the team, the Coliseum and raising ticket prices! I urge MLB owners to save baseball in Oakland and Northern California and please vote NO on relocation

[@ronclark9724]

The Bay Area still retain the Giants...

[@MrSpeedracer510]

Well said

[@whalesequence]

@@ronclark9724 Ask a Red Sox fan to be a Yankees fan, see how that goes

[@kingrama2727]

Oakland doesn’t want you…

[@smokey5100]

@@ronclark9724 Good for them but that means nothing to us.

[@positively_broad_st3780]

The commissioner's salary should be half paid for by the owners and half by the players' union. MLB needs to get back to having an impartial commissioner guiding the industry...

[@jayseaborg3895]

When was there an impartial commissioner? They have always been paid by the owners and looked up for owner's interests. The only one that could be argued tried to be somewhat impartial was Vincent and he got canned in favor the immortal Bud Selig, an owner who of course looked out for owners.

[@LILDOGGY9922]

As an A’s fan, John Fisher is the problem. People love to buy in the narrative that Fisher and Kaval has been putting out that “It’s Oakland’s fault.” You wanna know why John Fisher is the problem? He left a “binding” agreement at the Rio site to the Tropicana because he got 9 acres for free thus saving $500 million. John Fisher is a penny pinching owner, and despite all of the potential Relocation stuff many of us in the Bay still love the A’s. I can’t stand our Mayor and our City Council (they are pretty awful) but this is gonna be the only thing I side with them on. It’s not Oaklands fault period. The City of Oakland even went out of their way to help the A’s fight lawsuits against the Howard Terminal Project, and won. The City of Oakland still has more money than Vegas does for the A’s, Oakland got $450 Million vs Nevadas $380 Million. This is all John Fishers fault, all the approvals and everything is done but John Fisher doesn’t wanna Privately Finance the Stadium

[@sweepingdenver]

100% this. And he purposely let the product (the team) die on the vine.

[@christopherking9338]

fisher = Steaming Turd Pile 😡😡😡

[@lovesgucci1]

Fisher’s comment is like when a young person passes away suddenly and a person approaches the family at the funeral to give their adolescences by saying “She’s in a better place”!! People say dumb things in uncomfortable situations. Fisher and Manfred aren’t just awful people but they have a major case of “foot in mouth syndrome”!

[@ronclark9724]

Fisher actually was being optimistic, 2031... Appears for a new stadium being built in Oakland it won't be completed until 2041... If then...

[@adanalyst6925]

Their adolescences 😂

[@stefanbrown5872]

@@ronclark9724 looks like vegas is getting a shit building that prolly leaks and wont pull the out of town fans like the failing raiders.... Vegas just isnt a sports town outside of hockey

[@Captain_Solo]

@@ronclark9724The Chase Center in San Francisco only took about 3 years to build so did Truist Park. Even with all the red tape it is possible to have a new park built in Oakland by 2028

[@lovesgucci1]

Hahaha WTF “condolences”!!! 🤦‍♀️😂

[@Captain_Solo]

MLB/Fans outside the Bay Area like to spout how this has been going on for 20 years. The issue is not black and white. Since Fisher/Wolff purchased the A’s they have tried to relocate the team. Ownership spent over decade trying to move to Fremont which was voted down and to San Jose which was ultimately blocked by the Giants/ MLB. Now the city isn’t blameless but in the early 2010’s the city proposed 3 sites the A’s rejected because they were so focused on moving to San Jose. It wasn’t until 2016/2017 that the A’s returned to negotiate with Oakland and originally picked a site that was no available in Laney College (both the college district & city weren’t told about this until the school board rejected the A’s) basically wasted a year with that plan. Then the A’s finally selected the Howard Terminal Site on the water and the A’s insisted on a 55 acre baseball district with commercial, residential and retail space which only drove up the cost. Even then the city pushed the project forward only for the A’s to pull out the week before they were scheduled to meet with for final negotiations in april and now the A’s are content with a 9-acre leased ballpark. The cherry on top is both Don Knauss (Clorox CEO) and Joe Lacob have stated they would like to purchase the A’s and keep them in the Bay Area. And before people start going on about it’s hard to build in California. The warriors, rams and now clippers didn’t have any issues building new stadiums in California. During the Haas era the A’s were one of the flagship franchises in the American League.

[@mikepuncsak7297]

I've been an A's fanatic since their first pitch in Oakland . I've been there for their 4 World Series. Theres been 4 no-nos in the Coliseum-I've witnessed them all - the first was by Catfish Hunter. Theres been the new stadium talk going on for too long . Bud Selig started all this when he and some A's bigwigs toured our Coliseum and he said "Oakland needs a new stadium" that was back in 2005...that was when Selig said he was going to form a blue ribbon panel that would speed the process along. Joe Lacob, owner of the Golden State Warriors wanted a big shiny new arena for his basketball team Chase Center across the Bay was up in 2 or 3 years...the A's in the meantime are still wishing....You are so right in saying that it confounds you trying to figure why the A's can't grow a pair and build here in Oakland.

[@rainbowmade1880]

Wow. I saw my first game opening day ( double header against the White Sox) in 1971 at 9 years old. We lost both games but I was in love….Still angry at my Dad for not bringing me sooner!!

[@christopherking9338]

Saw my first game in Oakland back in '71 when I was 9 yrs old. Thx Dad!!! It was "Bat Day!!" We'd bang our bats on those left field bleachers and you could hear the shriek all the way to Walnut Creek!!! 😎💚💚😎

[@brentduanefoster]

If that wasn't a "spit-in-the-face" moment for ALL A's fans, I don't what is.

[@danielspinella9046]

I love you guys and listen as often as I can. You need to do a little more homework on the Oakland situation. But Smokey--the comment below--is right on. Oakland's money is on the table and they have the Howard terminal site. This should be a done deal, but Fisher wants to move and the owners just want it over with. The A's are talking about a 30,000 seat stadium built right on the strip that has to be filled EVERY NIGHT to pay off the debt that the state/county will have to finance. And they're talking about a ballpark built on nine acres. How can this be real? Check in with Brodie Brazil, a Bay Area broadcaster, who has been covering this story for months. What MLB is about to commit itself will be catastrophic for the game.

[@positively_broad_st3780]

Sacramento seems like the perfect solution for the A's if they cannot remain in Oakland. They can stay tapped into the Bay area, keep their fan base, plus add in Northern California and over into Reno. Sacramento is the 20th largest media market and Vegas is 40th. Even with a new stadium, the A's will still have a lot of the same problems competing for players to play and stay with the team. The owners are about to approve of the A's staying on revenue sharing welfare for another 30 years. Really, the owners should be, at best, delaying a vote until later, and absolutely not moving forward with a relocation approval for the A's to move to Las Vegas. They're about to shoot themselves in the other foot...

[@ronclark9724]

Of the two largest city metropolitan populations currently available for Fisher, Montreal is the largest with Portland second. Nashville, Charlotte, San Antonio, Austin, and Las Vegas have similar metro populations, with Salt Lake City lagging behind with a considerably lower metro population. South Central Texas combined San Antonio and Austin's metro population is approaching SIX million not too far apart, closer than Thousand Oaks to San Bernardino, California... Unfortunately Montreal and Portland do NOT desire to build a NEW STADIUM, leaving Fisher with the other options... Since he is the owner, he gets to choose, as he can run his team anyway he sees fit...

[@shg45]

Ikr!? I do not know the hype of these owners about relocating in Vegas of all teams. At least Sacramento is a big enough market and close enough in Oakland to not sting too much to A's fans that are close to the area.

[@louiscypher4186]

@@ronclark9724 The MLB would not allow Fisher to snatch a bigger market that they can demand expansion fees from.

[@spanossucks3167]

​@ronclark9724 enjoying being a fisher kaval shill Josh Albrektson 2.0?

[@traci635]

John Fisher hasn't a clue! Oakland loves the A's and if Fisher invested in Oakland and their fans, he would have playoff teams. Vegas doesn't have ties to MLB baseball and for the owners to allow this move to Vegas, it's purely money driven and not good for baseball. The A's players and their fans deserve better! Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, people don't go there to watch baseball, they go to gamble.

[@scottharmon5003]

The country is full of daddy’s money losers and they always seem to get their way. So sorry for the A’s fans in Oakland. Been many times to the coliseum and they’re a great group of people. This shouldn’t have happened.

[@josemercado4048]

He’s cleansing A’s, Raiders fans, LV dodgers community. He’s a sf giants and 49ers fan

[@mobbinkorrectly]

Facts he is that’s why I don’t know why mlb is allowing this well then again it’s money. Just like he lied to the Davis family saying they would stay in Oakland that’s one of the reason why the raiders left because the back and fourth between A’s and raiders ownership over the current site in Oakland

[@christopherking9338]

The Haas Family Legacy Remains......

[@emmanuelwood8702]

Its the league fault for allowing it.

[@b-rad3681]

Agreed !! Why does he get rewarded with being able to move the team to Vegas

[@bribriman]

Yup. But the other owners don’t want to set any precedent that can be used against them in the future.

[@b-rad3681]

@@bribriman yeah I agree , He should’ve been forced to sell tho , the owner of the Golden state warriors has wanted to buy the team for a long time now and he would’ve kept the team in Oakland

[@ronclark9724]

@@b-rad3681 Didn't he move the Warriors across the bay from Oakland? Duh!

[@ronclark9724]

@@b-rad3681 He owns the team and can run it any way he sees fit... You don't...

[@patrickmcatee8699]

I think he doth whine to much! Oakland fans have had to endure 28 years of mediocre ownership. The best owner was Walter Haas, jr.!

[@sweepingdenver]

What’s so frustrating is that this would all be over in one second and all his problems would be solved if he just sold the dang team. Just sell it man!!

[@farrenthorpe]

Lifelong Oakland A's fan until last year. Losing Matt Olson and Bob Melvin were tough to accept, but this ballpark mess is despicable. I'm still pissed Cespedes was traded for Lester, tried to hang-on for a few more years. Good luck in Vegas... I certainly won't be a fan. I guess I'm a Mariners fan now?

[@markbennett1210]

I tried to think of who I would root for if this move took place and I can’t like any team as much as I loved the A’s so if this happens I’m done with baseball altogether

[@optimisticasfan]

We deserve so much better man

[@SteveWuebbens]

Oakland has come up with $400mil +.in grant money for the Howard Terminal project. That’s more than the A’s asked for. The A’s chose the Howard Terminal location pre-pandemic. It’s grants, not loans, or money that will increase taxes. Whether the A’s stay or leave, Oakland has been granted this money and can use it for infrastructure anywhere in Oakland, including the Coliseum area where the A’s have played over 50 years. Oakland fans have been putting up with Fisher like ownerships, since the 1970’s and Charley Finley. The Haas Family who owned the A’s in the 1980’s, and played in 3 successive World Series while outdrawing the Giants was the exception. Yet there remains a passionate fan base and a much larger Bay Area population to draw from than in 1968 when the A’s first came to Oakland. In 1968 Oakland was going to get either an expansion team or the A’s. As an Oaklander I wanted an expansion team because of how Finley operated in Kansas City, where the A’s seemed to be the Yankees farm team. The more things change the more they stay the same.

[@tqmeone]

Its amazing how much bad info is out there. Yes they found $400M in OFF SIGHT infrastructure. Still short of what the City says it needs. Not one penny of the grant money can be used to build the stadium. You need this money to even start to build a stadium. The Mayor has proposed (at least in interviews-- who knows if what she is saying is the actual truth) $400 in public funding to "bridge the gap". There is no way the people of Oakland or City Council will support taxpayer money going to a baseball stadium. THAT is the problem. And BTW, grants are money YOU and I paid in Taxes, whether State or Fed.

[@ronclark9724]

So Oakland has to stretch out a tin cup for grants... Appears Oakland not only didn't renovate the Coliseum in the past fifty years, they also can't afford to build a new stadium either...

[@mobbinkorrectly]

@@tqmeonewell if it’s not the truth she wouldn’t include “ STATE GRANTS” that the city of Oakland obtained. So it’s some truth to the Oakland side you think the mayor will bring up the state giving money out with it being false. You know how quick that would have been struck down by any state official I mean hell sac is only 1 hr away where all there offices so you think that’s hasn’t been echoed out that way. Yea Oakland might have been moving slow on this but when it came down to it they got they cards in order and fisher backed out last min.

[@tqmeone]

@@mobbinkorrectly Excuse me.. who backed out? WHO cut off the negotiations? The Mayor. Go look at her announcement. SHE stopped talking and never started again. SHE said she didn't want to be "used". Ok, she wasn't "used" -- the A's got the message loud and clear -- go to Vegas baby unless you want to stay by our terms. The A's never said they would stop talking to Oakland when they put in an offer for the Wild West site. The Mayor did. She keeps saying "no one is reaching out to me". REALLY MAYOR? That's your excuse? You don't have a phone? You don't have Gavin Newsom's number asking for help? The Gov't thought Vegas was a negotiation tactic to get better terms. Big mistake. To this date the Mayor hasn't appointed a replacement for the Howard Terminal project leader who quit 6 months ago NOR has any sports commission to get an expansion team. FAIL!

[@christopherking9338]

​@@mobbinkorrectlySad But True

[@lucianosavala6745]

How in heck did all the owners vote for this move?!?!

[@mikepuncsak7297]

The A's will be leaving the 6th best area and they will be going tothe 40th area ...in neon city

[@samgc3650]

people dont get how hard it is to be sitting on a gold mine. Dragons are the ones that suffer because the hoard is too painful to bear.

[@Jake-yx7ct]

Guys I remember the A's in the late 70's. Finley at least put on a show. Fisher is a tight ass who is it to go to Vegas and he'll just not get it about putting on a show ...Cant MLB ones take a vote to take the team away from him and run it like they did with the Expos. Yes a different deal but the fans deserve better in Oakland and the players who have to ply their trades in the shit hole of a stadium.

[@HHSGDFootballJPD]

The Expos owner complained about the money he was losing, and Selig was sympathetic. Between the strike destroying the Expos's stellar year and the Canadian dollar falling in value, Selig orchestrated a move where the Expos owner bought the Marlins and the Marlins owner bought the Red Sox. Unfortunately, I don't believe there's an MLB up for sale today.

[@SteveWuebbens]

In the past 23-25 years both the Giants and the Warriors financed their own new venues in San Francisco.I don’t know who financed Fisher’s soccer stadium in San Jose, but based on his current complaining about it not being state of the art after only 8-9 years, I can guess. In fact , in all of California, after Oakland’s experience of financing the renovation of the Coliseum to bring the Raiders back n the mid-90’s, cities in California became very wary of public financing of venues. Oakland taxpayers still are paying for the renovation of the Coliseum. Fisher’s group started talking about moving the A’s to San Jose, then Fremont, then Dublin in the first 2-3 years of buying the team. Not a smart way to build fan loyalty.

[@christopherking9338]

Joe Lacob!! Where Are You!!??

[@danielplainview926]

Hey Fisher: all of our stadiums are occupied. Not available. Sincerely, the Japanese,Korean, Mexican, and Dominican Republic Baseball Leagues.

[@benjamincampbell8443]

Here's my question.... How do Giants fans feel about the A's moving?

[@garfnielsen4448]

Oakland is giving 1 billion money for the new stadium and give them more time they will raise more but you are not talking about that, 3 times more than Vegas

[@ScottyBraun-FoulTerritory]

Fisher is standing on third and thinks he hit a triple

[@Julian_Wallis]

I spent half of my youth growing up in Oakland. I've been shit on by John Fisher and Mark Davis simply because they're both too fucking incompetent to get something done in the Bay Area. Most fans don't know what it's like to lose 1 team. Imagine losing all your teams regardless of what you personally do about. You can' t do jack shit as an individual fan. The owners need to be good stewards and they very rarely are. Even the NBA, which is the best run league screwed up by moving the Sonics. At the end of the day, the owners are the ENEMY. It's time we treated them like they're the enemy.

[@tqmeone]

The "summer of hate" was the biggest flop of all time. The team leaves and Fisher says "FU guys" out the door. Whoever came up with this "sell" idea made the biggest single mistake in the history of sports. It got Oakland nothing but the A's moving more aggressively out of town.

[@Spinach_D]

The A’s fans don’t come out to watch games and the city won’t provide funds for a park. Why wouldn’t the owner leave?

[@stefanbrown5872]

spoken like someone who doesnt know the situation.... Or what we real A's fans have been through.... Its best you keep your shit takes to yourself

[@Spinach_D]

@@stefanbrown5872 4th Gen San Franciscan and a Giants fan since 1985. Since that time I've watched the A's go to the playoffs twice as many times as the Giants and they still can't hold a fanbase. Why is that? Bc the park is ugly? the weather is too nice? wah. In 92 SF wouldn't pay $ and the Giants were sold to St Petes. You're the a'S fan- tell me why fans won't come see them and why coketown won't put up $?

[@blakecheboygan]

Empty stadiums have consequences

[@reidbonvillain5135]

Hard to root for a team when all your promising players get shipped off peanuts

[@rainbowmade1880]

@@reidbonvillain5135Every time!

[@togoandmoss]

The gentleman that spoke at the stay rally said he wrote a paper in high school IN 1998 about keeping the A’s in Oakland…. 25 years ago!! Hard to understand how multiple owners and city governments couldn’t get anything done! I am sure MLB is just tired of the mess.

[@Shoelessjoe78]

Because they weren't trying in Oakland until the last couple of years. Beyond that... He could still build in Oakland. He's part owner of the coliseum site. Far bigger plot of land then in Vegas and absolutely nothing needed to build. Except money which he doesn't have. He needs to sell he couldn't afford to buy in after running his inheritance into the ground.

[@togoandmoss]

@@Shoelessjoe78 he is a multi billionaire… he knows his franchise in Las Vegas will be worth far more than it would be in Oakland.

[@ronclark9724]

When you demonize anyone, you LOST the argument. While Fisher may not be the brightest person in the world, the Oakland city government is looking STUPID... What good is a baseball stadium without a tenant? If you want a MLB team or keep a MLB team, a city is going to have to build a NEW STADIUM... If you think otherwise, watch your MLB team leave. A MLB team is PRECIOUS, apparently the Oakland city government doesn't know this, but the baseball fans do... Notice the Warriors, Raiders, and A's have LEFT...

[@togoandmoss]

Agreed… crashing the owners meetings, disrupting games and calling the commissioner and owners names is a unique way of trying to get an expansion team 🤔🤔🤔

[@christopherking9338]

No Bailouts For Billionaires.

[@christopherking9338]

​@@togoandmossNever mess with a mayor that has a hand truck full of documents at The All-Star Game!!!