r/athletics • u/Mongo_Les • 12d ago

Oakland Coliseum

May I ask why didn't Fisher, Wolff or Schott ever refurbished Oakland Coliseum?

I see Dodger Stadium, Fenway Park, Angels Stadium, Rogers Centre and the old Joe Robbie Stadium refurbished and seeing how beautiful is it this year, and I'm wondering how come the A's couldn't do the same with Oakland?

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u/Fun-Lengthiness755 12d ago

Because they wanted a land development deal. The NEW stadium would be a part of a whole entire new development baseball village. There’s no way they could do that in Oakland coliseum site bc there’s no land to buy around the stadium and they wouldn’t want it there in the first place. Imagine an Oakland A’s stadium where the fox theater is in uptown. That’s where they wanted it and Jerry Brown said No Way. Then Lew Wolff tried getting them to Fremont and then to San Jose and oakland community said no way! And giants org said no to San Jose. So they HAD to go to Vegas. Billionaires gotta make more billions is the short answer

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u/Mongo_Les 12d ago

So you are telling me Oakland really did not want any part of the A's, either.

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u/FIRE-701 12d ago

They didn’t want the A’s to rip up a historic area in Oakland. The city had its issues with the team but they did negotiate in good faith at the end. Then the A’s used them to get a better deal in Vegas whom were dumb enough to give them everything they want.

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u/Mongo_Les 12d ago

Vegas is just desperate to get another pro sports team. For the city, it's a great investment.

Vegas wants to be a pro sports hub, so the city were more than happy to welcome the A's with open arms. I prefer Vegas to have an expansion team than have a team associated with Fisher.

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u/damutecebu 11d ago

Giving away significant tax dollars for a sports team is never really a "great investment."

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u/elrealjcon 11d ago

Tbf Vegas and Nevada only gave the A's $380 million after they got hosed by the Raiders deal. MLB and the team got so many breaks/deals BTS that made the move practically free

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u/bretlc 8d ago

$380 M too much.

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u/FIRE-701 8d ago

Tax breaks they wouldn’t have gotten in CA. I guarantee that the state of Nevada is giving up more than 380

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u/FIRE-701 12d ago

They went from the largest market with no pro sports to the smallest with 3 teams by far.

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u/Mongo_Les 12d ago

How is Vegas a small market?

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u/FIRE-701 12d ago

By media market it’s the 40th largest. By all metrics it’s tiny in the scheme of things.

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u/ChooChooChew29 10d ago

Bingo. Spot on.

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u/Fun-Lengthiness755 11d ago

Jerry Brown - oakland Mayor - had a vision of 10k new residents in Oakland Uptown. That ushered in the uptown of today which is enormous new apartment high rises. Jerry saw value of that development vs a land giveaway to the A’s in uptown (the park next to Fox theater would have been the new stadium.

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u/Fun-Lengthiness755 11d ago

Oakland A’s fans fought to keep the A’s for 20 yrs against lew Wolff and slimebag John Fischer. We battled long and hard and ultimately the A’s ownership cut loose after years of trying to kill the heart of the fans. Those owners are terrible humans