Bay Area sports fans say the Oakland Athletics’ decision to head to Sacramento is disappointing but it’s not necessarily surprising.
Oakland and Alameda County had been negotiating with the A's owners as recently as Wednesday.
A’s fans were not shy about their reaction to Thursday’s announcement that after this season, the A's will play temporarily in Sacramento until the team's stadium in Las Vegas is completed.
"I don't like it at all. I’m loyal to where I live and the A's should be in Oakland,” said sports fan Sylvia.
"I’m kind of glad they're leaving, you know. Kinda sucks that the big promotions, I mean big sports organizations are taking taxpayers money and they're pretty much holding the city hostage,” said Alameda resident Emilio.
According to Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao's office, negotiations to keep the team at Oakland Coliseum continued all the way up until Wednesday.
The city and Alameda County had asked the team to pay $97 million for five years of play with some caveats, which the A’s rejected.
On Wednesday, the city and county negotiators proposed $60 million for three years. But Thursday’s announcement confirmed the A's ultimate rejection of that offer as well.
For some Oakland city leaders, this ends a drawn out and often painful fight to keep the green and gold rooted in the city.
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"The lack of attention, the lack of support for the city, for their fans. Like I said, let's just kiss and say goodbye,” said Oakland city councilmember Noel Gallo. “I’m going to miss you, but lets just kiss and say goodbye."
According to Gallo, the wounds don't end when the team leaves. Oakland and Alameda County taxpayers are still paying off millions of dollars in bonds from prior efforts to expand and renovate the Coliseum.
Gallo is hoping a plan to attract professional soccer teams to the venue will help fill the gap created by the A's and the Raiders before them.
Meanwhile, there has been no word on what the A's plan to do with the team's 50% ownership stake in the Coliseum.
A’s fans have been in open revolt against the team's owner John Fisher ever since he announced plans to leave for Las Vegas.
A group even organized a boycott at the season opener this year with a goal of pressuring Fisher to sell the team to someone who would keep it here.
Fans said that Thursday’s announced move to Sacramento has made that worse.
"I know season ticket holders that stopped going. and so, no. I can't support them if they can't support us,” said baseball fan Peter Stampfer.
The deal means the team current season, its 57th season will be its last in Oakland.
Next year's opening will be played at Sutter Health Park in Sacramento, which has a seating capacity of about a third of the Coliseum.
