Tag: Oakland City Hall

That’s Amaury News and Commentary: Oakland Mayor swings for a Five-Run Homerun 

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Fans and media await Mayor Sheng Thao to address the efforts by the City, City Council and Port of Oakland to keep the A’s in Oakland (photo by Stephen Ruderman Sports Radio Service)

Oakland Mayor Swings for a Five-Run Home-run

That’s Amaury News and Commentary

By Amaury Pi-González

November 7, 2023

OAKLAND–A new resolution by the Oakland City Council, spearheaded by the Mayor of Oakland Shen Thao was a last ditch effort today, November 7, what was a day for elections in other places across the country. It calls major league owners to keep the team in Oakland.

The owners are scheduled to vote next week, with 75% of the owners needed to approve the move of the A’s from Oakland to Las Vegas. “This is our team,” said Mayor Sheng Thao. “We are showing our good faith that we will work hard to keep our team rooted here.” Oakland has multiple sites.

There are viable options,” she said. “We continue to urge John Fisher to come back to the table and we have viable buyers should the team go up for sale.”

Rebecca Kaplan, Oakland council member, said, “It will be cheaper to build here, it will be faster to build here. “And the fan base is stronger here.” City of Oakland leaders argue they can rapidly accommodate a new stadium project and that $428 million in grants has been secured.

Meanwhile, in Carson City, Nevada. A Nevada judge threw out a proposed ballot referendum back by a statewide teachers union that would give voters the final say on whether to give $380 million in public funding (approved by Joe Lombardo, Governor of the State of Nevada) for a proposed $1.5 billion A’s stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.

As a Bay Area resident since 1969, who broadcasted the Oakland A’s and the San Francisco Giants, among other teams I have made my opinion public and very clear in two different languages. I believe the A’s belong in Oakland and to the Bay Area.

They are a storied and successful franchise, having won Four World Series Titles at the much-maligned Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.

However, this last-ditch attempt by the Mayor of Oakland and the city council is like going for an impossible 5-run Home Run in baseball, or maybe a Hail Mary Pass in Football, which has a nine percent chance of completion. Quote: ‘I had only one superstition. I make sure to touch all the bases when I hit a home run. -Babe Ruth.

Amaury Pi Gonzalez does News and Commentary weekly at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Mayor Thao, A’s Fans and City of Oakland make statement at spirited press conference

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Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao addressed the media and Oakland A’s fans during a presentation to keep the team in Oakland effort at Oakland City Hall on Tue Nov 7, 2023 (photo by Stephen Ruderman Sports Radio Service)

By Stephen Ruderman

OAKLAND–Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was joined by Oakland City Council members, members of the Howard Terminal Commission and members of the Oakland 68s with numerous Oakland A’s fans in attendance for an impassioned press conference at City Hall in Oakland, in which everybody made clear that the A’s belong in Oakland.

The press conference took place, as the owners are set to vote on Nov. 14 for the potential relocation of the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas. Numerous A’s fans came out to City Hall to fight to keep the team that has been one of the biggest parts of their lives.

“The only thing I can do to help save the team is make my voice heard as loud as possible,” said A’s fan, Rick Grijalva. “Ditto,” said A’s fan and Grijalva’s uncle, Greg Debois.

After initially gathering at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, fans made their way inside to the City Council Chamber, where chants of “STAY IN OAKLAND” rang throughout the chamber for three minutes, as Mayor Sheng Thao made her way to the podium.

“Are we all pissed?” asked Thao to kick off the press conference, perfectly capturing the mood of almost everybody in attendance.

Mayor Thao highlighted an agreement between the A’s and the Howard Terminal Commission, as well as a written commitment by A’s Principal Owner John Fisher in 2018 to stay in Oakland. Thao even went as far as to meet personally with Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred in Seattle on July 11, two days before the All-Star Game was played there.

It seemed like more of a rally than a press conference, as Mayor Thao repeatedly encouraged the owners to vote no next week. Thao did not mince words, and she came out firing.

“We are all sick and tired of this uncertainty,” said Thao. “I hope that John Fisher and Dave Kaval are also sick and tired of their uncertainty.

Thao was livid, and she had every reason to be livid. Despite progress in negotiations for a new ballpark at the Howard Terminal in Jack London Square, the A’s were granted permission from Major League Baseball to explore relocation on May 11, 2021.

On April 19, the A’s abruptly ended their negotiations with the City of Oakland for a new ballpark, and expressed their desire to move to Las Vegas. Following years of prolonged ballpark negotiations in Oakland and throughout the Bay Area, the A’s rushed to get a ballpark deal in Las Vegas.

Fisher and A’s President Dave Kaval first tried to jam through a 35,000-seat ballpark at the former site of the Wild Wild West Gambling Hall & Hotel at the beginning of May. After that failed, they set their sights on the Tropicana.

On May 27, renderings, which were later repealed to be fake, were released for a ballpark at the Tropicana site in an effort to jam a funding bill through the Nevada State Legislature. The bill passed in both houses on June 14, and was signed into law by Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo the next day.

None of this has deterred the fans. Starting with a reverse boycott at the Oakland Coliseum on June 13, fans have made their voices heard, as they have filled the Coliseum and other ballparks with chants of “SELL THE TEAM.”

A’s fans made their voices heard at the All-Star Game at T-Mobile Park in Seattle on July 11; and with Giants fans on Unite the Bay Night at Oracle Park in San Francisco on July 25. They also got chants of “SELL THE TIME to roar around Coors Field and Dodger Stadium

“If someone tells me one more time that the A’s can’t [fill] the Coliseum, just look at this [room],” said Thao. [It’s] a weekday, and look at all the green and gold in this room. “We were with them through the good years; through the bad years; through five different owners; through roster shakeups; and actual earthquakes,” Thao continued.

Oakland is a baseball town with a lot of history. The colorful A’s of old owner, Charlie Finley, won three-straight World Championships in 1972, 1973 and 1974. They won three-straight American League Pennants from 1988 to 1990, with a world championship in 1989. They went through three unique runs here in the 21st century, highlighted by the Moneyball A’s of the early-to-mid 2000s.

Stephen Ruderman is an Oakland A’s beat writer for http://www.sportsradioservice.com