Wait, I thought the A’s were #RootedInOakland?
If you go to the A’s Twitter account, the hashtag #RootedInOakland is still there. But they might wanna delete at this point as they openly flirt with other cities in search of a new home.
On Monday, John Canzano of The Oregonian reported that a four-person party including A’s owner John Fisher, executive VP Billy Beane, president Dave Kaval and executive Sandy Dean will travel to PDX next month to see if the city would be a viable relocation destination.
The A’s are already set to visit Las Vegas this week to explore the possibility of relocating down there, all while the July 20 Oakland city council meeting still looms two months away.
At this point it’s hard to tell if the A’s are just playing … hardball … with the city of Oakland or these visits are legit homework. My guess is somewhere in between.
The new stadium situation is a complicated mess, but my main concern is that the A’s keep saying things like “Howard Terminal or bust.” Why isn’t the Coliseum site viable? Why can’t you knock down Oracle Arena and just build the Coli 2.0?
Kaval was hired to build the A’s shiny jewel of a new ballpark and they’re pulling out the pressure moves because AT&T Park 2.0 didn’t materialize in three-plus years following their failed Laney College announcement/backtrack fiasco. Patience. What do you expect with Bay Area bureaucracy?
It seems like Fisher is impatient and wants to get the value of the team up with a new stadium so he can sell it for a crazy profit and get the hell out.
Fisher has Simone Biles and Kanye West on the payroll, he shouldn’t be in a rush.
These visits and media leaks are a great way to alienate a franchise’s fan base and distract from the team’s on-field performance as the A’s sit 1.5 games up in the American League West with an exciting core of players.
As an East Bay native who grew up going to the Coliseum, I’m biased and of course I want the team to stay in Oakland with a new ballpark. East Oakland. West Oakland. Downtown Oakland. Wherever.
But off the top of my head, Portland does make sense for a few reasons.
They already have an organization called the Portland Diamond Project which has been working hard to lure an MLB team to the city for years.
Portland is weird and would absolutely embrace the A’s irreverent brand and rich history. They love their Portland Pickles — a hilariously named independent league ball team — and their Portland Thorns of the NWSL. Everyone in Oregon already loves the A’s colors since green and yellow are the Ducks’ colors at the University of Oregon.
Hella Bay Area and California folks seem to be moving up to Portland based on my first-hand experience with friends moving up there the past decade.
The A’s and Mariners would become natural rivals, too, and would give the region a top-level Seattle-Portland thing to market for fans.
Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is all about it, too.
Let’s Gooo!!! Portland + @MLB Oakland A’s = Winning Formula #PNW https://t.co/6dHvFTH3rn
— Russell Wilson (@DangeRussWilson) May 24, 2021
Given that the Blazers are the only big-four team in town and the NBA’s schedule only spends a couple months each year crossing over with MLB’s, the A’s could probably draw good crowds.
Obviously, I have no idea about the practical nature of it all going down, but it feels weird to see Fisher will make the effort to check out Portland but he reportedly won’t even respond to requests to appear in front of the Oakland city council.
Rooted where, again?
