For those who dont know. The largest contract the A's have given in their HISTORY is $66 million for Eric Chavez in 2004. And that was the owner BEFORE Fisher. They haven't kept 1 cornerstone/all-star/young player in 20 years.
As a Giants' fan who views the A's as a worthy opponent, I'm furious at Fisher, MLB, etc for this situation. Good on Ron Darling for calling it out! I think I've gone to one MLB game since COVID and that was only because the place I worked at then paid for the ticket. I can't afford to go to MLB games anymore, too expensive. And when stuff like the A's situation is allowed to happen, why would I want to go to games?
You have every right to hate the crap out of MLB, but I implore you, beg you even, to not lose your love for the sport. Whether it be rooting for college baseball, the Ballers, or a minor league team of choice, the sport of baseball is too beautiful to have removed from our lives completely. God Bless
100% on point with Manfred! But let’s remember, he’s the same guy that moved the All-Star game out of ATL last minute, called the World Series Trophy a piece of metal, told fans in Oakland that their Reverse Boycott was nice but it didn’t even have the average league attendance - just to name s few.
He demanded $1 Billion dollars from Oakland. If it was just a ballpark there would already be shovels in the ground. He wanted condos, hotels, retail, office spaces, etc. as part of the deal. Nobody talks about this. Oakland came up with half of it (the money) - but nope, Fisher pimped slapped them, "better have my money" but he never really wanted to stay anyway.
@@P31B Yeah. I just want the rest of the MLB fans understood this. I've noticed a lot of folks actually blaming the A's fans. But they don't understand the full story
Oakland worked for 4 years, found grants and raised most of the city infrastructure money needed to get Howard Terminal going despite John Fisher proposing what some called the most expensive project ever proposed anywhere in California. The ballpark was a small part. When it looked like he'd have to actually pay for his HT "plan", he ran way and took free land in Vegas and tax money handouts from Nevada politicians.
Also Damon one of two teams to win three world series in a row (Oakland/Yankees) and tie's 3rd with red sox with most world series titles @ 9, and one more thing Oakland also owns the bay against giants in regards to matches and of course the BATTLE of THE BAY in 89... Appreciate you Damon.... OAKLAND FOREVER!!!
Thank you sir. Literally Oakland and A’s fans have been saying for years with no one listening. IF YOU BUILD AND INVEST IN US WE WILL RETURN THE FAVOR! Joe Lacob bought the Warriors for $450M and now it’s worth $7+ B, with it getting to $3+B in 2019 before moving to Chase Center. Fisher and Manfred don’t talk about how Fisher was the one holding the City and Mark Davis hostage for their Coliseum City plans cause that doesn’t fit the Oakland is good national narrative
Because all the other owners know they'd do the same thing and they basically support him. It's owners vs the cities they play in. That's pretty much it. He's part of their club.
Spot on take about the duplicitous Fisher and Manfred’s cowardly leadership. “Toxic Mess” is an understatement. MLB owners showing their true greedy colors.
Excellent. Thank you. I've been a solid A's fan since I was 7 yrs old in 1972, and I have no proof, but I believe Manfred is the one behind this more than Fisher is. I think it's all Manfred's idea. I suspect the A's are a sacrificial lamb to show other cities more important to him that, "If you don't pony up all the stadium money we demand your team will leave town, too."
My first game was as a 7 year old in 1972 as well. All of our decades of loyal fandom are being tossed aside. I think what hurts the most is that fisher and co. have done everything to drive fans away, now they're blaming us and most of the national sports media is going along with that narrative. Thanks again DA for telling the true story!
I'm from Vegas, and I love baseball. This is the worst way to get team here, and the worst team I've ever seen. It's going to be a disaster. They won't build a fan base here.
@togoandmoss I never believed that, plus it doesn't hurt to have a good owner and team. The A's are a disaster, and the owner is terrible. I believe baseball, and any sport would thrive here.
The most underrated quote in all of this was ‘Manfred fell asleep at the wheel’ That’s exactly how it is , he’s the worst comissioner in sports. He’s got no passion for the great game
Preach!! I love this guy. Everything he's saying is 100% true. Fisher with the help of Manfred have destroyed one of the best, most beloved and most historic MLB franchises.
My interest in baseball skews towards history more than what’s current. Yet this situation with the A’s is unprecedented and has become historically absurd. I appreciate that you’re actually covering everything raw and accurately. I don’t think people realize just how rotten things are-an _inside job_ as you say. Glad I found your channel. Subbed.
Funny you say Ron Darling is measured. We are a huge A's family. My brother as a teenager was getting his hair cut at The Frontier Barber Shop in Danville, CA. They were old school back then. They had Playboy mags back then that is was cool to flip though even if your mom brought you in an was sitting there because you didn't drive yet. Who sits in the next chair to my brother? Ron Darling in the twilight of his career. My brother said Darling was loosed lipped and had everyone laughing. You had me at lurch. Keep up the great work Damon!
Having been in Vegas for almost 31 years the Tropicana is one of the worse locations for a new ball park. Vegas doesn't have a light rail system. We barely have enough water to sustain life here. The Rio location would have been much better.
Yeah the utilities issue is pretty rough in LV, it's similarly bad in california though, to the point where it might even cost less to run a new domed park in vegas than a decrepit dual-use in oakland. The move to LV is more about drawing investment, the league thinks contraction will only dissuade new owners from fixing OCo or building a new stadium up there. Especially with the economic situation in the area
By the way, I would like to point out and remind people that the Oakland A's were once ( and I strongly believe they still are) one of the MLB's most storied franchises up until John The Con took over. At one point we were behind the Yankees in most World Series Titles won, but Cardinals, Red Sox, Dodgers and even I dare say the Giants have either caught up and/or surpassed us. If we had a competent owner, our team could have easily been a perennial playoff contender (considering what we have done with close to nothing as a renegade and low budget team). Think about it!
I'm 62 years old Ben an A's fan for 55 years. Thank you so much for making this video. This man Fisher is the devil. And I don't understand why he doesn't just sell the team. He bought them for a 180 million. Joe lacob of the warriors wants to buy them for 2 billion. If you're not interested in winning sell the team. What's the point? make your 1.8 billion dollars and go home. Lacob, the Warriors owner would build a stadium on the Bay and he obviously knows how to win.
Preach. Oakland had a deal in place . Fischer didn’t even say anything to Manfred about it, Manfred even did an interview and said there was nothing offered from oakland. The Mayor had to show up to the allstar game in seattle and pass out records of the deal in place to manfred and the rest of the owners showing both sides were close, oakland even offered more money than Vegas and still got taken as leverage. Then manfred backtracked on what he said before. How all this is ok is beyond me.
Life long A's Fan - who will not follow the team even to Sacramento and this is right on the screws. The fact is, Manfred did not handle the Astros correctly. He has not handled others who have committed acts against the Player Policy correctly. He has punished those who have committed acts detrimental to the game with lighter sentences to those who have not been convicted of anything. He has not handled this well either. The fact he intends to retire after the Athletics are supposed to be Settled into their "new" Las Vegas Digs is extremely telling at this point. People love throwing the warriors into this mix of conversation. The warriors are still accessible. If you are brave enough. The raiders require you to make a weekend out of it. No one is going to drive 2 hours from Oakland to Sacramento. No one is going to spend the weekend in Sacramento to go to a baseball game. No one is going to fly from Oakland to Sacramento to see the athletics play. Peppering to the steak on the word appalling. John Fisher is a billionaire, asking for favors, so he doesn't have to invest his billionaire status into his billionaire ball club. How insulting is that? A franchise, that is over 100 years old, seeing such a rapid decline. Because he is not interested in investing what he paid for. Fisher is not moving for money. He is moving for Power, as a favor to his friends on the Giants side. Because the River cats used to be the Triple-A team for the Athletics. None of this happened during that time. Same ball park too. They did not move to Vegas outright and play at the Aviators stadium - same setup could have applied. No no, they only moved to Sacramento, when it was Benefiting his friends with the Giants. The fact that a minor league stadium, is considered an upgrade, is a sad telling on how much they do not care about Oakland. Yes the town needs help, but the athletics were the last line of defense of trying to bring some sort of peace to the city. Fisher could have been a hero, and yet he chose to be a villain in everyone's story.
@@philmccracken179 it's because everywhere I go in this town more building is going on. Lake Mead is running out of water. Yet, the county and cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas has no problem with this. That's my point
@@LVScooter1 oh so you think there is already too much stuff being built, that building another stadium would just add to what you already consider a problem.? That makes sense thanjs
@philmccracken179 it has nothing to do with another stadium being built. I see all of the empty land that is being used to build more things. Enough with this
I agree with you 100%. I don’t understand why other MLB owners put up with Fisher’s grift. Some publications report A’s have made million dollar profits over the years thanks to revenue sharing and TV contracts and low payroll. This guy has conned other owners out of millions. He conned Bally’s into giving him 9 acres for a ballpark. Now he’s conned the owner of the Triple A’ Sacramento River Cats to use his stadium for three years for no rent. He will probably have the lowest payroll while playing in Sacramento and continue to collect his welfare checks from MLB owners.
bottomline, cancel MLB TV, boycott going to 20 games for your team. No reason why the team owners need our money. Let's show them how we can unite as fans. And refuse to buy any merchandise for 5 years. You will see a significant change
In theory, great idea. In practice, it will not happen. To difficult to execute a national boycott because of the apathetic MLB national fan base who only care about their local situation. The last hope is that the players union will not approve playing in the minor league conditions in Sacramento.
Canceling MLB TV a great idea hope it catches on nationally if the owner realize the fans are bailing and fans say to Manfred you have to realize Oakland is the best place to work things out in the sixth largest TV market. Sacramento and Vegas will be huge loses for MLB.
I agree with everything you said here. The thing is, MLB never wanted 2 teams in the Bay Area market. Bud Selina even said this in interviews, and this is why Fisher was allowed to buy the team instead of Joe Lacob. This was there best chance to move, so they took it!
Thanks for keeping this going and speaking, at the end where, yes, A's fans attended games and that is NOT the story. A narrative developing is this, us A's fans living in the Sacramento region. We're are totally conflicted. We want good things for Sacramento and a professional baseball team, but just can't justify how complicit it was for Vivek to open up this opportunity at NO cost to Fisher (yes, rent free) and allow the charade to continue
Thank you for your attention to this. To have your voice narrating the true chain of events helps with the frustration of this disaster. Because of this heartbreak and slap in the face to loyal fans, I am leaving baseball at the end of 2024.
Manfred has set baseball back more then any commissioner in history. But Manfred and Fisher and all those billionaires will own it when the A's flame out in Vegas. The Oakland Ballers will out draw the A's in attendance and will have a winner. Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, they won't tolerate Fisher 's antics
TOTALLY AGREE and is exactly what I've been thinking as a frustrated and sad A's fan. MLB could have stepped in a long ass time ago, enforced some standards, kept John The Con Fisher accountable and ultimately saved Baseball in Oakland. Can Manfred, MLB owners, MLBPA (who also hasn't stepped up and fought for anything on the players side) be held accountable themselves with this shameful business practice?? MLB is about money and not about the sport anymore.... Where do we draw the line?? I look forward to your next video about Oakland / ManFraud / John The Con / Bad Business / Save Baseball from Billionaires.... TWO THUMBS UP
It is infuriating to watch baseball sometimes some of the teams don’t even try to put out a winning team or resign players and get shocked when there teams suck. Been a Royals fan for 22 years and only for two of them that they actually tried. Any team can be competitive if they tried Rob needs to do something
Fisher can't stay in Oakland past this year - too toxic. Vivek is allowing A's to play in Sac rent free - all A's have to do is pay for upgrades to the clubhouses and other elements of the ballpark. If Vegas falls though, stay in Sac with a new stadium build, likely with Vivek involved. Vivek wants a team in Sac. Only way to get it is as just described as one of Nashville / Charlotte and one of SLC / Portland will get the 2 new MLB expansion franchises.
Thanks for pointing out that the A’s have been very competitive in their time in Oakland…. As a former Angels fan I would have loved the record since Fisher owned the team … they were very good in 2019 but had horrible attendance.
It's not only Manfred, it's all the other owners that agreed to let the A's to relocate and waived the relocation fee. Both the other owners and Manfred don't have a backbone to say no to Fisher, because of Fisher wanted public funds to fully build the ballpark and not put in at least half of the funds to build.
No the mess is because MLB has a piss poor economic system. The big market teams keep getting weather and the small market teams get sh*&. The A's are in the bottom 10 in TV money while the Yankees' and Dodgers can pay for their entire payroll without selling one ticket. That's the issue. If MLB had a model somewhat the same to the NFL where all TV money is shared equally there would be a lot more parity.
I am probably the least entitled to comment. I live in England near to English Premier League Football, but I do have an MLB subscription. I came to enjoy baseball after being on holiday in San Diego and watching the Padres. Petco Park is great. The food, atmosphere and I genuinely thought my $100 ticket was good value for where I was sitting. This summer I will be seeing the Mets in London. The stadium is the one used for the 2012 London Olympics and will be converted for baseball. Major League Baseball (MLB) should be a premium product. I say should because MLB need to consider the product they are selling. John Fisher name checked Aaron Judge when he did his press conference. This year Judge's pay check is going to be way more than all the A's pitching rotation put together. Ohtani will take pay bigger than the entire team. Then he is proposing to play in a minor league park. What sort of product is this? Why aren't the other owners in MLB embarrassed to bring their teams to little more than a spring training stadium to play in season. The Athletics, or Sacramento Triple As, or whatever, are not fielding a good product. They won't be playing in a quality venue. Not for three years. They are literally devaluing the MLB brand. At a time when US regional sports broadcasting is in decline and MLB want to sell baseball outside the USA, what does it say to have to have a team like the A's. Sport is competing with all kinds of entertainment. Baseball is competing with other sports. Many young Americans are now playing football (soccer) as an alternative to traditional US sports. Particularly young women. Baseball needs to be a quality experience for fans as a product. When you add the extra dimension of having a fan base of regular attendance you have a whole different dimension, US billionaire sports ownerships are now also relying on government dollars to replace and fix their for profit ventures, Pay up of we move the team said Fisher. It's a bizarre form of American Socialism. Americans don't seem to want the government to provide universal affordable healthcare but seem intensely relaxed about taxpayers funding billionaire owned sports franchises. It just seems to be bad business for baseball as a whole and does massive reputational damage. I can only think that the cash is coming in for John Fisher himself. Nothing else makes sense.
Nice synopsis of the A's deterioration under JFish. Something you and the others should watch for, DA. I would watch what happens with NBC Sports California. If I read the tea leaves right, I see MLB - directly from Rob Manfred - threatening NBC if they don't give the A's a favorable (read: moneylosing for NBC) TV contract in Sacramento, or else. As in hints of retaliation in other markets leaguewide. (As if the RSNs weren't already sinking because of Baseball anyway.) We know that the colony of maggots that is MLB ownership are already pretty PO'd at the amount of MLB Welfare the A's are getting, so it wouldn't surprise me if they started with mafia tactics. This could end up being the third rail for MLB, because if they do this, it'll put them solidly into RICO territory...So Sacrarmento-Stockton-Modesto is the 20th largest Nielsen market in the US. Respectable, just under Cleveland, and just above Charlotte. (A full 20 spots above Las Vegas, by the way.) So if the A's get some kind of sweetheart TV deal that pays better than Minnesota, Detroit, Tampa, or Seattle, or even close to what they were making in Oakland, we can pretty safely assume that there is some strongarming going on, given that NBC was losing money - and not a little bit of it - in their traditional fan base already. Yep, there are legacy A's fans in Sac too, but they are just as pissed off at JFish for his malfeasance, greed, and incompetence, no matter where the team plays...Be suspicious of sudden "miracles" once they get to WestSac. They may even pay people to go to games just to make it look good...The numbers. Alameda and Contra Costa counties average $75,000 in per capita income (and it goes way up if you include Santa Clara and other parts of the Bay Area). Sacramento MSA per capita income = $24,000. Market size: Alameda + Contra Costa = 2.5 million, Bay Area = 7.75 million; Sacramento MSA = 2.4 million. (2020 US Census) Throw in the A's recent viewership totals, and there is no freaking way the TV numbers come out even close to the current contract without MLB interference...Something that still asotnishes me. The Bay Area has a quarter million - as in 250,000 - millionaires living in it. And I'd specualte that at least a quarter of those live in the Oakland or Berkeley Hills, or Pleasanton-Livemore. Outside of Connecticut or maybe suburban parts of Maryland or Virginia, I can't think of another place in America that even comes close to that. And Baseball wants to leave because they an In-N-Out and a bunch of other chain restaurants got closed because of the Fox News version of Oakland as a zombie apocalypse?...SMH...
The reason Manfred goes along with this fiasco is simple: it serves as a cautionary tale to the other 29 teams and fanbases. It says to them "This is how far we're willing to go to get what we want. No public money for stadiums, huh? Take a gander at your future." Good luck, Kansas City. You're next.
Nailed it! No doubt that Rob Manfred is indeed just as much a culprit in this as John Fisher and Dave Kaval him self for letting this go this long and not having the balls to step in sooner or at any point before letting it get this far. I get he's working for the owners, but what, the owners were just willing to let Fisher tank this franchise and cash revenue checks this easily too? He did not step up!
Greed is destroying baseball Like in many ways greed is destroying every aspect of our lives but 2 things 1. Baseball is supposed to distract us from being screwed over 2. It's happening REALLY fast They don't wanna stretch this out over a couple of decades. They're gonna kill it now
OMG I didn't know that. Disgusting. I love the A's and will 'til the end, but will I ever go to Sac to watch them play? I don't think so, sad to say. They'll never succeed in Vegas. Sad.
Every sport has had these situations. It never has ended badly for the owners. Think about it. The Browns. OKC. Whatever NHL teams have moved from Canada to the US.
This is the Chargers relocation all over again. Like the Bolts, the A's are going to be playing in a very small stadium and are going to a place that doesn't seem to care about them. We'll have to wait and see if there's any Athletic fans in Vegas.
@someguy7222 would you please put a link to your comment that Fisher demanded a billion dollars from Oakland. I don't think that is true. Please provide some evidence.
For those who dont know. The largest contract the A's have given in their HISTORY is $66 million for Eric Chavez in 2004. And that was the owner BEFORE Fisher. They haven't kept 1 cornerstone/all-star/young player in 20 years.
$66 million 2004 dollars is over $100 million today when you take inflation into account. Just saying.
@StephenTownsley fisher didn't give out that deal so it doesn't matter.
As a Giants' fan who views the A's as a worthy opponent, I'm furious at Fisher, MLB, etc for this situation. Good on Ron Darling for calling it out! I think I've gone to one MLB game since COVID and that was only because the place I worked at then paid for the ticket. I can't afford to go to MLB games anymore, too expensive. And when stuff like the A's situation is allowed to happen, why would I want to go to games?
Today's mlb is a total fraud in my mind.
Yep!!the tap on the wrist for the cheating astros was the final straw for me. Oh and the 10th inning rule broke baseball for me as well 🤦♂️.
THANK YOU!! People who scoff at the A’s as a losing team DO NOT KNOW BASEBALL!
I thought about becoming a Dodgers because the Giant's wanted this to happen. I think I just won't watch unless Oakland gets another team.
I absolutely agree with you
I don’t want to sound dramatic but as an Oakland A’s fan, this whole relocation situation has traumatized my relationship with baseball.
I’m 110% with you!!!
Absolutely
I'm with you @Mad_ox8. I lived near Cleveland when the Browns moved to Baltimore. To me, the NFL has not been the same since.
I’m off the sport. I’m not following the A’s anywhere.
You have every right to hate the crap out of MLB, but I implore you, beg you even, to not lose your love for the sport. Whether it be rooting for college baseball, the Ballers, or a minor league team of choice, the sport of baseball is too beautiful to have removed from our lives completely.
God Bless
Thank you Damon for speaking out about what’s going on with the Athletics because what they are doing to their fans is so wrong.
Ron Darling would know. He played for the A's under the ownership of Walter Haas, one of the best owners in MLB history.
True that!!! the place was packed all the time⚾️❤️
100% on point with Manfred! But let’s remember, he’s the same guy that moved the All-Star game out of ATL last minute, called the World Series Trophy a piece of metal, told fans in Oakland that their Reverse Boycott was nice but it didn’t even have the average league attendance - just to name s few.
He demanded $1 Billion dollars from Oakland. If it was just a ballpark there would already be shovels in the ground. He wanted condos, hotels, retail, office spaces, etc. as part of the deal. Nobody talks about this. Oakland came up with half of it (the money) - but nope, Fisher pimped slapped them, "better have my money" but he never really wanted to stay anyway.
Fisher is getting his way. He cares about real estate, and not putting a quality product on the field or creating an entertainment experience.
@@P31B Yeah. I just want the rest of the MLB fans understood this. I've noticed a lot of folks actually blaming the A's fans. But they don't understand the full story
Well said 👍🏾⚾️
Oakland worked for 4 years, found grants and raised most of the city infrastructure money needed to get Howard Terminal going despite John Fisher proposing what some called the most expensive project ever proposed anywhere in California. The ballpark was a small part. When it looked like he'd have to actually pay for his HT "plan", he ran way and took free land in Vegas and tax money handouts from Nevada politicians.
💯💯💯
Also Damon one of two teams to win three world series in a row (Oakland/Yankees) and tie's 3rd with red sox with most world series titles @ 9, and one more thing Oakland also owns the bay against giants in regards to matches and of course the BATTLE of THE BAY in 89... Appreciate you Damon.... OAKLAND FOREVER!!!
🫡🫡
Thank you sir.
Literally Oakland and A’s fans have been saying for years with no one listening. IF YOU BUILD AND INVEST IN US WE WILL RETURN THE FAVOR! Joe Lacob bought the Warriors for $450M and now it’s worth $7+ B, with it getting to $3+B in 2019 before moving to Chase Center.
Fisher and Manfred don’t talk about how Fisher was the one holding the City and Mark Davis hostage for their Coliseum City plans cause that doesn’t fit the Oakland is good national narrative
Well, now that they bums are gone, the project can go forward
@@splashnskillz37 until Fisher finally sells his share, I won’t believe anything will be done unfortunately
@@dacyndaquil just matter of time
John Fisher is the WORST owner in baseball. Why does MLB allow this!!!
Talk to the other MLB owners. They're the ones that gave Fisher a job. They're the ones who approved the move out of Oakland.
Because they have a spineless, unintelligent, rudderless commissioner!!
Because all the other owners know they'd do the same thing and they basically support him. It's owners vs the cities they play in. That's pretty much it. He's part of their club.
Spot on take about the duplicitous Fisher and Manfred’s cowardly leadership. “Toxic Mess” is an understatement. MLB owners showing their true greedy colors.
Excellent. Thank you. I've been a solid A's fan since I was 7 yrs old in 1972, and I have no proof, but I believe Manfred is the one behind this more than Fisher is. I think it's all Manfred's idea. I suspect the A's are a sacrificial lamb to show other cities more important to him that, "If you don't pony up all the stadium money we demand your team will leave town, too."
My first game was as a 7 year old in 1972 as well. All of our decades of loyal fandom are being tossed aside. I think what hurts the most is that fisher and co. have done everything to drive fans away, now they're blaming us and most of the national sports media is going along with that narrative. Thanks again DA for telling the true story!
I'm from Vegas, and I love baseball. This is the worst way to get team here, and the worst team I've ever seen. It's going to be a disaster. They won't build a fan base here.
Reminds me of “Hockey will never work in the desert “
@togoandmoss I never believed that, plus it doesn't hurt to have a good owner and team. The A's are a disaster, and the owner is terrible. I believe baseball, and any sport would thrive here.
@@pew1375 I believe Fisher will sell in 2028 … for 3X of the current value
@@togoandmoss And now the Coyotes are moving to Salt Lake City.
Not with this owner. Maybe he'll sell it somebody who cares about the team.
I really appreciate you sticking up for us A's fans! My home town of Oakland lost all our major teams
The most underrated quote in all of this was ‘Manfred fell asleep at the wheel’
That’s exactly how it is , he’s the worst comissioner in sports. He’s got no passion for the great game
Preach!! I love this guy. Everything he's saying is 100% true. Fisher with the help of Manfred have destroyed one of the best, most beloved and most historic MLB franchises.
Yankees still in NY bro
This guy’s explanation is 100% accurate.
My interest in baseball skews towards history more than what’s current. Yet this situation with the A’s is unprecedented and has become historically absurd. I appreciate that you’re actually covering everything raw and accurately. I don’t think people realize just how rotten things are-an _inside job_ as you say. Glad I found your channel. Subbed.
Definitely. I'm more interested in baseball before the 2010s than current baseball.
Funny you say Ron Darling is measured. We are a huge A's family. My brother as a teenager was getting his hair cut at The Frontier Barber Shop in Danville, CA. They were old school back then. They had Playboy mags back then that is was cool to flip though even if your mom brought you in an was sitting there because you didn't drive yet. Who sits in the next chair to my brother? Ron Darling in the twilight of his career. My brother said Darling was loosed lipped and had everyone laughing.
You had me at lurch. Keep up the great work Damon!
Having been in Vegas for almost 31 years the Tropicana is one of the worse locations for a new ball park. Vegas doesn't have a light rail system. We barely have enough water to sustain life here. The Rio location would have been much better.
Yeah the utilities issue is pretty rough in LV, it's similarly bad in california though, to the point where it might even cost less to run a new domed park in vegas than a decrepit dual-use in oakland. The move to LV is more about drawing investment, the league thinks contraction will only dissuade new owners from fixing OCo or building a new stadium up there. Especially with the economic situation in the area
Thank You Damon
It’s embarrassing for all parties involved.
In the 70's, Charlie Finley tried to strip down the A's. Then commissary Bowie Khun stepped in and in effect said "No way".
Probably because Kuhn actually gave a rat's ass about baseball, something Manfred clearly doesn't.
By the way, I would like to point out and remind people that the Oakland A's were once ( and I strongly believe they still are) one of the MLB's most storied franchises up until John The Con took over. At one point we were behind the Yankees in most World Series Titles won, but Cardinals, Red Sox, Dodgers and even I dare say the Giants have either caught up and/or surpassed us. If we had a competent owner, our team could have easily been a perennial playoff contender (considering what we have done with close to nothing as a renegade and low budget team). Think about it!
Thanks Damon, much respect from an Oak fan!
The same guy who awarded the Astros a World Series?
Right, the astros did the same tank and spank deal in the 2010s, people never advocated for their contraction because they had a real stadium.
I'm 62 years old Ben an A's fan for 55 years. Thank you so much for making this video. This man Fisher is the devil. And I don't understand why he doesn't just sell the team. He bought them for a 180 million. Joe lacob of the warriors wants to buy them for 2 billion. If you're not interested in winning sell the team. What's the point? make your 1.8 billion dollars and go home. Lacob, the Warriors owner would build a stadium on the Bay and he obviously knows how to win.
Preach. Oakland had a deal in place . Fischer didn’t even say anything to Manfred about it, Manfred even did an interview and said there was nothing offered from oakland. The Mayor had to show up to the allstar game in seattle and pass out records of the deal in place to manfred and the rest of the owners showing both sides were close, oakland even offered more money than Vegas and still got taken as leverage. Then manfred backtracked on what he said before. How all this is ok is beyond me.
Amazing take, Damon!!!
Life long A's Fan - who will not follow the team even to Sacramento and this is right on the screws. The fact is, Manfred did not handle the Astros correctly. He has not handled others who have committed acts against the Player Policy correctly. He has punished those who have committed acts detrimental to the game with lighter sentences to those who have not been convicted of anything. He has not handled this well either. The fact he intends to retire after the Athletics are supposed to be Settled into their "new" Las Vegas Digs is extremely telling at this point. People love throwing the warriors into this mix of conversation. The warriors are still accessible. If you are brave enough. The raiders require you to make a weekend out of it. No one is going to drive 2 hours from Oakland to Sacramento. No one is going to spend the weekend in Sacramento to go to a baseball game. No one is going to fly from Oakland to Sacramento to see the athletics play. Peppering to the steak on the word appalling. John Fisher is a billionaire, asking for favors, so he doesn't have to invest his billionaire status into his billionaire ball club. How insulting is that? A franchise, that is over 100 years old, seeing such a rapid decline. Because he is not interested in investing what he paid for. Fisher is not moving for money. He is moving for Power, as a favor to his friends on the Giants side. Because the River cats used to be the Triple-A team for the Athletics. None of this happened during that time. Same ball park too. They did not move to Vegas outright and play at the Aviators stadium - same setup could have applied. No no, they only moved to Sacramento, when it was Benefiting his friends with the Giants. The fact that a minor league stadium, is considered an upgrade, is a sad telling on how much they do not care about Oakland. Yes the town needs help, but the athletics were the last line of defense of trying to bring some sort of peace to the city. Fisher could have been a hero, and yet he chose to be a villain in everyone's story.
Let's go Oakland thanks for having are back you made my weekend
What gets more than anything here in Vegas is all the construction that's going on. Vegas is a desert. We don't want the A's here.
I read your comment five times and it literally makes no sense. How did 3 people “like” something so incoherent?
@@philmccracken179 it's because everywhere I go in this town more building is going on. Lake Mead is running out of water. Yet, the county and cities of Las Vegas, Henderson, and North Las Vegas has no problem with this. That's my point
@@LVScooter1 oh so you think there is already too much stuff being built, that building another stadium would just add to what you already consider a problem.? That makes sense thanjs
@philmccracken179 it has nothing to do with another stadium being built. I see all of the empty land that is being used to build more things. Enough with this
I agree with you 100%. I don’t understand why other MLB owners put up with Fisher’s grift. Some publications report A’s have made million dollar profits over the years thanks to revenue sharing and TV contracts and low payroll. This guy has conned other owners out of millions. He conned Bally’s into giving him 9 acres for a ballpark. Now he’s conned the owner of the Triple A’ Sacramento River Cats to use his stadium for three years for no rent. He will probably have the lowest payroll while playing in Sacramento and continue to collect his welfare checks from MLB owners.
I love the coliseum 😭
so a Triple A team will be playing in a Triple A ballpark?
The Sacramento Triple A’s of Las Vegas… what an absolute farce
@@NachoInsano PhiladelphiaKansasCityOaklandSacramentoLasVegas A's
bottomline, cancel MLB TV, boycott going to 20 games for your team. No reason why the team owners need our money. Let's show them how we can unite as fans. And refuse to buy any merchandise for 5 years. You will see a significant change
it has to be all teams tho
If this goes with every team then it won't happen
At least 10-12 teams' fans won't try to boycott for the sake of the A's, as sad as that sounds :(
In theory, great idea. In practice, it will not happen. To difficult to execute a national boycott because of the apathetic MLB national fan base who only care about their local situation. The last hope is that the players union will not approve playing in the minor league conditions in Sacramento.
Canceling MLB TV a great idea hope it catches on nationally if the owner realize the fans are bailing and fans say to Manfred you have to realize Oakland is the best place to work things out in the sixth largest TV market. Sacramento and Vegas will be huge loses for MLB.
Excellent summary! Hear-hear!
I agree with everything you said here. The thing is, MLB never wanted 2 teams in the Bay Area market. Bud Selina even said this in interviews, and this is why Fisher was allowed to buy the team instead of Joe Lacob. This was there best chance to move, so they took it!
thank you for your coverage!
Thanks for keeping this going and speaking, at the end where, yes, A's fans attended games and that is NOT the story. A narrative developing is this, us A's fans living in the Sacramento region. We're are totally conflicted. We want good things for Sacramento and a professional baseball team, but just can't justify how complicit it was for Vivek to open up this opportunity at NO cost to Fisher (yes, rent free) and allow the charade to continue
DA! Your coverage just keeps getting better and better. Thank you for calling out Manfred and telling it like it is!!
Thank you for your attention to this. To have your voice narrating the true chain of events helps with the frustration of this disaster. Because of this heartbreak and slap in the face to loyal fans, I am leaving baseball at the end of 2024.
We appreciate you DA! Please try to come to the final game at the Coliseum or even perhaps also the final fireworks night 🎆🎇🐘
Thank you for keeping up the intensity on this travesty. It ultimately impacts every sports fan and anyone who cares about the game.
Manfred has set baseball back more then any commissioner in history. But Manfred and Fisher and all those billionaires will own it when the A's flame out in Vegas. The Oakland Ballers will out draw the A's in attendance and will have a winner. Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world, they won't tolerate Fisher 's antics
Never thought I'd see a Commissioner who makes Bud Selig look good by comparison.
If only relegation was a thing in MLB and NFL
Saludos, mlb business is a fraud that is why mlb popularity Going down
Manfred somehow manages to make Selig look smart. Truly an impressive feat.
TOTALLY AGREE and is exactly what I've been thinking as a frustrated and sad A's fan. MLB could have stepped in a long ass time ago, enforced some standards, kept John The Con Fisher accountable and ultimately saved Baseball in Oakland. Can Manfred, MLB owners, MLBPA (who also hasn't stepped up and fought for anything on the players side) be held accountable themselves with this shameful business practice?? MLB is about money and not about the sport anymore.... Where do we draw the line?? I look forward to your next video about Oakland / ManFraud / John The Con / Bad Business / Save Baseball from Billionaires.... TWO THUMBS UP
Any chance this blows up with the renewed coverage of the AAA's. I have no desire to go watch John Fisher's A'sSac team in 2025.
It is infuriating to watch baseball sometimes some of the teams don’t even try to put out a winning team or resign players and get shocked when there teams suck. Been a Royals fan for 22 years and only for two of them that they actually tried. Any team can be competitive if they tried Rob needs to do something
What would be your plan? Where would you have them play while waiting for their stadium to be built?
Fisher can't stay in Oakland past this year - too toxic. Vivek is allowing A's to play in Sac rent free - all A's have to do is pay for upgrades to the clubhouses and other elements of the ballpark. If Vegas falls though, stay in Sac with a new stadium build, likely with Vivek involved. Vivek wants a team in Sac. Only way to get it is as just described as one of Nashville / Charlotte and one of SLC / Portland will get the 2 new MLB expansion franchises.
Thanks for pointing out that the A’s have been very competitive in their time in Oakland…. As a former Angels fan I would have loved the record since Fisher owned the team … they were very good in 2019 but had horrible attendance.
As someone who lives in the Sacramento Area, this was the only way they were going to get me to go to an A's game.
One more thing you forgot to mention, the “Rooted in Oakland” slogan. This has been a franchise with roots pulled out of the ground.
It's not only Manfred, it's all the other owners that agreed to let the A's to relocate and waived the relocation fee. Both the other owners and Manfred don't have a backbone to say no to Fisher, because of Fisher wanted public funds to fully build the ballpark and not put in at least half of the funds to build.
Keep preaching the truth.
This video was the absolute TRUTH!
No the mess is because MLB has a piss poor economic system. The big market teams keep getting weather and the small market teams get sh*&. The A's are in the bottom 10 in TV money while the Yankees' and Dodgers can pay for their entire payroll without selling one ticket. That's the issue. If MLB had a model somewhat the same to the NFL where all TV money is shared equally there would be a lot more parity.
Well done!
Manfred is by far the worst commissioner in the history of pro sports, and Fisher is the worst owner in the history of pro sports. Bad combo
Not the worst owner in pro sports history. Remember... Donald Sterling!
I am probably the least entitled to comment. I live in England near to English Premier League Football, but I do have an MLB subscription.
I came to enjoy baseball after being on holiday in San Diego and watching the Padres. Petco Park is great. The food, atmosphere and I genuinely thought my $100 ticket was good value for where I was sitting. This summer I will be seeing the Mets in London. The stadium is the one used for the 2012 London Olympics and will be converted for baseball.
Major League Baseball (MLB) should be a premium product. I say should because MLB need to consider the product they are selling. John Fisher name checked Aaron Judge when he did his press conference. This year Judge's pay check is going to be way more than all the A's pitching rotation put together. Ohtani will take pay bigger than the entire team.
Then he is proposing to play in a minor league park. What sort of product is this? Why aren't the other owners in MLB embarrassed to bring their teams to little more than a spring training stadium to play in season.
The Athletics, or Sacramento Triple As, or whatever, are not fielding a good product. They won't be playing in a quality venue. Not for three years.
They are literally devaluing the MLB brand. At a time when US regional sports broadcasting is in decline and MLB want to sell baseball outside the USA, what does it say to have to have a team like the A's.
Sport is competing with all kinds of entertainment. Baseball is competing with other sports. Many young Americans are now playing football (soccer) as an alternative to traditional US sports. Particularly young women. Baseball needs to be a quality experience for fans as a product.
When you add the extra dimension of having a fan base of regular attendance you have a whole different dimension,
US billionaire sports ownerships are now also relying on government dollars to replace and fix their for profit ventures, Pay up of we move the team said Fisher. It's a bizarre form of American Socialism. Americans don't seem to want the government to provide universal affordable healthcare but seem intensely relaxed about taxpayers funding billionaire owned sports franchises.
It just seems to be bad business for baseball as a whole and does massive reputational damage. I can only think that the cash is coming in for John Fisher himself. Nothing else makes sense.
This is exactly what happened to the Rams in St Louis.
Nice synopsis of the A's deterioration under JFish. Something you and the others should watch for, DA. I would watch what happens with NBC Sports California. If I read the tea leaves right, I see MLB - directly from Rob Manfred - threatening NBC if they don't give the A's a favorable (read: moneylosing for NBC) TV contract in Sacramento, or else. As in hints of retaliation in other markets leaguewide. (As if the RSNs weren't already sinking because of Baseball anyway.) We know that the colony of maggots that is MLB ownership are already pretty PO'd at the amount of MLB Welfare the A's are getting, so it wouldn't surprise me if they started with mafia tactics. This could end up being the third rail for MLB, because if they do this, it'll put them solidly into RICO territory...So Sacrarmento-Stockton-Modesto is the 20th largest Nielsen market in the US. Respectable, just under Cleveland, and just above Charlotte. (A full 20 spots above Las Vegas, by the way.) So if the A's get some kind of sweetheart TV deal that pays better than Minnesota, Detroit, Tampa, or Seattle, or even close to what they were making in Oakland, we can pretty safely assume that there is some strongarming going on, given that NBC was losing money - and not a little bit of it - in their traditional fan base already. Yep, there are legacy A's fans in Sac too, but they are just as pissed off at JFish for his malfeasance, greed, and incompetence, no matter where the team plays...Be suspicious of sudden "miracles" once they get to WestSac. They may even pay people to go to games just to make it look good...The numbers. Alameda and Contra Costa counties average $75,000 in per capita income (and it goes way up if you include Santa Clara and other parts of the Bay Area). Sacramento MSA per capita income = $24,000. Market size: Alameda + Contra Costa = 2.5 million, Bay Area = 7.75 million; Sacramento MSA = 2.4 million. (2020 US Census) Throw in the A's recent viewership totals, and there is no freaking way the TV numbers come out even close to the current contract without MLB interference...Something that still asotnishes me. The Bay Area has a quarter million - as in 250,000 - millionaires living in it. And I'd specualte that at least a quarter of those live in the Oakland or Berkeley Hills, or Pleasanton-Livemore. Outside of Connecticut or maybe suburban parts of Maryland or Virginia, I can't think of another place in America that even comes close to that. And Baseball wants to leave because they an In-N-Out and a bunch of other chain restaurants got closed because of the Fox News version of Oakland as a zombie apocalypse?...SMH...
A’s fans in the life raft was absolutely perfect, Oakland needs & deserves a hero
ALL. OF. THIS!! THANK YOU!!! 🤍
Doing great work calling this for what it is. A total SHAM. Manfred should be ashamed
Everybody is a critic, but nobody has an alternate plan. What does that say?
I canceled my MLB TV subsciption and encourage others to do so, too, I'm a Mets fan
Better for your health in your case
@@splashnskillz37 🤣🤣 ' Tis the life of a Mets fan.
The reason Manfred goes along with this fiasco is simple: it serves as a cautionary tale to the other 29 teams and fanbases. It says to them "This is how far we're willing to go to get what we want. No public money for stadiums, huh? Take a gander at your future."
Good luck, Kansas City. You're next.
Nailed it! No doubt that Rob Manfred is indeed just as much a culprit in this as John Fisher and Dave Kaval him self for letting this go this long and not having the balls to step in sooner or at any point before letting it get this far. I get he's working for the owners, but what, the owners were just willing to let Fisher tank this franchise and cash revenue checks this easily too? He did not step up!
spot on!
The funniest part is they bought sac trademarks today but haven't done so in vegas....lmao.
3 Years in Sac town? Why did they just file TMs on the team name but not do the same for Vegas?
It's just a legal thing so that other people don't start producing "Sacramento A's" merch, even if they don't choose to use it.
A local sports bar, right next to the Coliseum, beat the A's to it!! They have the TM for "Las Vegas Athletics"! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
The MLBPA needs to step in and stop this for its members.
Greed is destroying baseball
Like in many ways greed is destroying every aspect of our lives but 2 things
1. Baseball is supposed to distract us from being screwed over
2. It's happening REALLY fast
They don't wanna stretch this out over a couple of decades. They're gonna kill it now
And the a's are paying 0 rent there at Sutter Health Park
OMG I didn't know that. Disgusting. I love the A's and will 'til the end, but will I ever go to Sac to watch them play? I don't think so, sad to say. They'll never succeed in Vegas. Sad.
Why is it ok to allow no relocation fees????????? 🤬
Awesome Damon!
Very sad times for A's fans.
Thank you DA
Hell ya Damon. Speak the truth!
Every sport has had these situations. It never has ended badly for the owners. Think about it. The Browns. OKC. Whatever NHL teams have moved from Canada to the US.
I do not blame Manfred... he is just a toady. The owners should have forced Fisher out. He is bad for baseball.
Bought my ticket to the finale. To quote the hangover. “We look at these one more time, then never again” 🐘💚💛⚾️🖕🏼
This comment should be aired on National television.
This is the Chargers relocation all over again. Like the Bolts, the A's are going to be playing in a very small stadium and are going to a place that doesn't seem to care about them. We'll have to wait and see if there's any Athletic fans in Vegas.
Well said DA 👏🏽 this whole thing is a joke.
Another city who knows how St Louis felt about losing the Rams
@someguy7222 would you please put a link to your comment that Fisher demanded a billion dollars from Oakland. I don't think that is true. Please provide some evidence.
Manfred always talks about expansion of baseball. Where are you going to get 60 MLB quality players instantly? It's a total fantasy!
No! Blame Oakland Lawmakers!!!
Manfred/Fisher tearing down Oakland. Jay Monahan killing the PGA tour. Nice trendsetters
It’s a travesty. The AAA’s. I hate it.
Just play in the desert outside Vegas for 3 years. The street walkers can be the "BALL" girls. 🤣🤣
OAKLAND SAYS "GO CELTICS"
No, don't even bother with the game man, Celtics is pure evil trust me