A's fans are planning a "reverse boycott" at Tuesday night's game as the team continues to negotiate with Nevada on a move to Las Vegas.
Organizers in the Bay Area plan to fill the Oakland Coliseum in an effort to prove fans are committed to keeping the team in Oakland.
"The A's belong in Oakland and I think most people understand that," longtime fan Stu Clary said.
Clary is asking people to stop staying home and instead fill the coliseum with green for Tuesday's game.
"Let's reverse it. Let's show everybody that hey it's not us. We are not the issue here. The issue is the owner of the team John Fisher not trying to win and not putting money into the team," Clary said.
Clary took to social media to announce the reverse boycott in April and is getting support from all over the country. His goal is to send a message to Major League Baseball that Oakland can support a baseball team. The bottom line: the fans love the team, but want the owner to leave.
"We aren't under any allusions. John Fisher is not going to wake Wednesday morning, slap himself in the head and say 'What was I thinking? We are committing to Oakland.' We know that's not going to happen," Clary said. "All we want to do is raise awareness that there are A's fans."
Hal Gordon, the former "Hal the Hot Dog Guy" who spent years working at the coliseum, is helping with efforts by fan booster club The Oakland 68s. The group raised $35,000 to give away free shirts that read "SELL" at Tuesday's game hoping to bring in a record number of fans, while promoting selling the team.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
"It breaks my heart and it is not right," Gordon said. "The owners, they own the team I guess, but they don't own the community of the Oakland A's fans."
The anticipated wave of green comes as Nevada legislators are expected to continue debating in a special session Monday publicly funding $380 million to build a new stadium for the A's in Las Vegas.
"A lot of fans have been with the team much longer than John Fisher has ever owned them," Gordon said. "It just seems wrong that a billionaire can just take that."
NBC Bay Area reached out to the A's for comment, but did not hear back late Monday.
