The drama between MLB and the city of Oakland is only getting worse.
When MLB commissioner Rob Manfred vehemently denied the notion that the city of Oakland ever proposed a new stadium plan for the A’s on Thursday, the Oakland Mayor’s office immediately objected.
“This is just totally false,” Sheng Thao’s office said in response to Manfred’s assertion, according to ESPN. “There was a very concrete proposal under discussion and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize approvals.”
Thao’s office said that A’s ownership insisted on a multibillion-dollar, 55-acre project in Oakland, while they were happy with a 9-acre stadium on leased land in Las Vegas.
A’s ownership, led by John Fisher, which has purchased land for a new stadium in Las Vegas, has been the recipient of widespread vitriol from frustrated fans all season.
Fans staged a “reverse boycott” on Tuesday in which they filled the often-empty Oakland Coliseum to protest the team’s ownership.
A’s fans packed the Coliseum, which averages 9,076 spectators per game this season, to a season-high crowd of 27,759, which was the largest crowd on a Tuesday in Oakland since 2018, per AP.
Manfred offered a snarky response to the fans’ protest on Thursday.
“It was great. It’s great to see what is, this year, almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night,” he said, per ESPN. “That’s a great thing.”
The median attendance in MLB this season is at the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Field, which brings in 28,179 fans a night, per ESPN.
The planned move to Vegas, which could be to a new, 30,000-seat stadium completed in 2027, has inspired criticism by some, including a media member who asked Manfred on Thursday about his concern level about the team moving from the 10th largest TV market to the 40th.
Manfred also pushed back on the idea that stadium subsidies do not create positive economic benefits, despite numerous academic studies saying otherwise.
“I love academics, they’re great. I think, take the areas where baseball stadiums have been built, OK?,” he said. “Look at what was around Truist Park before that was built. Look at the area around Nationals Park before it was built.”
“You know, academics can say whatever they want. I think the reality tells you something else.”
