Another push to keep the Athletics in Oakland has Bay Area fans and the Nevada's teachers union teaming up.
They are working together to raise the enough money to change how a new $1.5 billion ballpark in Las Vegas is funded.
“We are not done. They think they are done with Oakland, but Oakland is not done with them,” said Longtime A’s fan Hal Gordon.
Gordon is also a former hot dog vendor at the Oakland Coliseum. He and others are asking 20,000 fellow fans to donate $50 each to the Nevada teachers union’s “Schools Over Stadiums” campaign to get a referendum on the Nevada ballot to block public funds from being used to pay for the new Vegas ballpark.
“The attention is there because this is going to be the last season, this is the last moment. So, if you care at all about the A’s, you know that they are about to leave, you know this fight is going on,” Gordon said.
Alexander Marks, represents the Nevada State Education Association. They are fighting a lawsuit by the A’s that would prevent the teachers union from gathering signatures for a ballot initiative. The association is currently in the process of appealing it.
That initiative would ask voters to prevent public funds from being used to fund an A's ballpark on the Las Vegas strip and instead use that money to improve education.
“We have got a lot of issues in Nevada. We are 48th in the nation, we have the largest class sizes, we have the highest number of vacancies and instead of addressing those issues, our legislature decided to give John Fisher $380 million in public funds,” Marks said.
One Oakland group has already raised $6,000 in the effort. Gordon expects those numbers will rise after a fan fest next month and an expected boycott tailgate on opening day.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
“If 20,000 people in the Coliseum parking lot each donate $50, that’s $1 million, right there, right? and a $1 million gets you on the ballot in Nevada and that makes history,” Gordon said.
Bradley Schrager, an attorney for the referendum ballot opponents in Nevada released the following statement Thursday:
"Direct democracy in Nevada, just like in California, permits citizens to participate in initiatives and referenda. As long as the proponents of this referendum comply with state campaign finance laws, their attempts to raise funds are a routine part of the process."
