John Fisher gets bailed out by billionaire buddy Vivek Ranadive with A’s-to-Sacramento move

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In March 2023, A’s owner John Fisher was spotted sitting next to Vivek Ranadive, while the Sacramento Kings hosted the New Orleans Pelicans. In January, Fisher and A’s president Dave Kaval toured Sutter Health Park in Sacramento to see if it’d be viable for a temporary home between Oakland and Las Vegas. 

On Thursday, Fisher and Ranadive were smiling and making sure everyone knew they were friends, as they announced the A’s move to Sutter Health Park with a hastily-called press conference in West Sacramento.

According to Casey Pratt of ABC7, the A’s sent out invitations to the press conference at about 7:45 a.m. and scheduled it for 10:30 a.m. — giving little to no notice for Bay Area media to make the trek up to Sacramento. Classic A’s move.

Pratt arrived in time and showed that A’s signage was already up at the ballpark.

A’s signage up in Sac. pic.twitter.com/osFnJ1T3NH

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) April 4, 2024

For at least the next three years, the A’s will be playing in Sacramento, until their expected 2028 opening on the Las Vegas Strip.

Ranadive was super chummy before introducing Fisher, who made a short statement. Pratt shared video from the ballpark:

Vivek Ranadíve introduces John Fisher. pic.twitter.com/GVTOBCk5eB

— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) April 4, 2024

“Welcome my friend, John Fisher,” Ranadive said.

“I wanna extend my thanks to Vivek, who’s not only a good friend, but a great business person and great associate, for helping make this day possible,” Fisher said. “To you, your team, the Kings, the River Cats, working with you guys has been a dream for our guys as well.

At one point, Fisher touted Yankees star Aaron Judge as an attraction for next season, but couldn’t name an A’s player. What a joke.

“I just wanna say we’re excited to be here in the next three years playing at this beautiful ballpark, but also being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge or others, watch home runs out of this very intimate – the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball for the next three years.”

I mean, the dude is joking about playing at Triple-A park. He’s so bad at his job he has to go minor league. And he’s laughing about it. How out of touch can you be?

Of course, because Fisher is a coward, he didn’t take any questions despite this being, “a momentous day for this community and a momentous day for our 123-year-old franchise.”

“We’re excited to be here for the next three years, playing in this beautiful ballpark.”

A’s owner John Fisher talks about the team playing in West Sac’s Sutter Health Park pic.twitter.com/vAa5rp5AZO

— A’s on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 4, 2024

Cowardice, hypocrisy, cronyism, lack of accountability. All you need is two billionaire buddies to finish off the death blow for Oakland.

Fisher gets bailed out by his friend Vivek, as he will get a much better deal than the one proposed by Oakland leaders earlier this week. Pratt reported that Oakland knocked down its proposal from a five-year, $97 million lease to three years, $60 million. I can assume that Ranadive, who bought the Triple-A River Cats in 2022, will cut Fisher a deal much sweeter than that.

Sure, Fisher stands to lose some money by leaving the Oakland market and going to Sacramento, but NBC Sports California will probably be able to work out something that lets them keep an “MLB” product without paying the outrageous $67 million annual bill they have now. Considering that NBC Sports California also carries the Kings, it should be an easy transition for the A’s. For the camera operators and TV people who are based in the Bay Area? That’s another thing.

The fact that Vivek agreed to this move after wanting to be hailed as a Savior of Sacramento Sports is also crushing for A’s. Getting Golden 1 Center built after the Kings appeared to be so close to relocation … then you give Fisher a bridge to Sin City?

“Today’s announcement marks the next chapter of professional sports in Sacramento.”

Vivek Ranadivé on the A’s playing at Sutter Health Park the next three seasons pic.twitter.com/9yiUOIJfAn

— A’s on NBCS (@NBCSAthletics) April 4, 2024

To me, I wouldn’t be surprised if Vivek is just seeing this as three years of free marketing from MLB. Every time a team comes into town, the visiting TV broadcast will discuss how Fisher worked out a deal with Vivek, who also owns the Kings, yada, yada, yada. Free publicity ain’t bad publicity, right? This seems like an ego push for Vivek.

“John, thank you for this opportunity to be part of the A’s legacy and show the world why Sacramento is a destination for Major League sports,” Ranadive said. “When I bought the Kings over 10 years ago, I said that Sacramento would never play second fiddle to any other city in the world. And the success of Golden 1 Center has proven that this region can be a mecca for sports. We have an incredible community and passionate fanbase, the best fans in the world. Today’s announcement marks the next chapter of professional sports in Sacramento.”

Vivek gets money for the stadium with a new big-league tenant. Fisher gets a breather and doesn’t have to see 40,000 empty seats every game at the Coliseum. And he gets out of Oakland, which he has seemed hellbent to do the past couple of years.

And as if we needed further proof that Fisher doesn’t care about other people, it sounds like the A’s called the press conference before briefing their own employees. A Coliseum groundskeeper sent out this tweet on Thursday morning while all the drama unfolded, before deleting it.

From the timing of the announcement, to the lack of questions from reporters, to the buddy-buddy nature of the whole thing, it’s brutal. These guys can do whatever they want and fans are powerless to help it.

I feel for all the A’s fans who have been on this terrible roller coaster ride the past 25 years. It just seems like a slow crawl towards death in a lot of ways.

As someone who was born in Oakland, raised in the East Bay and then spent 10 years of adulthood in Oakland, someone who has worked at the Coliseum since 2010 at A’s games – I know how much this hurts. It’s like the Vegas gutpunch last April.

Pour out a drink to the Oakland A’s. Because there will never be a baseball franchise like them ever again.