Athletics owner John Fisher apologized for the team’s impending departure from Oakland in a letter addressed to fans on Monday.
Fisher published the letter one day before the A’s open their final home series in Oakland, where they have spent the past 57 seasons. The team will move to Las Vegas in 2028 after Fisher failed to agree with the city of Oakland on a deal to build a more modern stadium. The A’s will play in Sacramento, at the home of the minor league River Cats, from 2025-27 with an option for 2028 after being unable to reach an agreement to extend their lease in Oakland during that time.
The A’s have called the Oakland Coliseum home for their entire tenure in the city, but fans have complained about the stadium’s deteriorating state in recent years. Fisher’s decision last November to move the team sparked outrage among fans. The 63-year-old, who purchased the A’s with Lew Wolff in 2005, said he did all he could to keep the franchise in Oakland.
“We proposed and pursued five different locations in the Bay Area. And despite mutual and ongoing efforts to get a deal done for the Howard Terminal project, we came up short,” Fisher wrote. “… I know there is great disappointment, even bitterness. Though I wish I could speak to each one of you individually, I can tell you this from the heart: we tried. Staying in Oakland was our goal, it was our mission, and we failed to achieve it. And for that I am genuinely sorry.”
The A’s will miss the playoffs for the fourth straight season, but the team will leave behind a legacy of success in the Bay Area. The franchise won four World Series titles, six American League pennants and 17 division championships after moving to Oakland in 1968. Under Fisher’s ownership, the A’s made seven playoff appearances, including four as division champions.
“While the A’s previously played in Philadelphia and Kansas City, Oakland has been home for the greatest era in the franchise’s more than 123-year history,” Fisher wrote.
The A’s begin their final series in Oakland, a three-game set, on Tuesday against the Texas Rangers. The team will commemorate its time in Oakland with giveaways including a collectible ticket and a miniature replica of the Coliseum.
The decision to leave the city has angered fans in Oakland and the team’s previously low attendance has dropped precipitously. They drew just over 10,000 fans per game this season, last in the major leagues, but a sellout crowd will cram the 46,765-seat Coliseum one final time on Thursday.
The move is not only unpopular with fans in Oakland. In February, Las Vegas mayor Carolyn Goodman said the team’s stadium plan in her city “does not make sense” and A’s ownership should have gone back to the drawing board and pitched a new plan in the Bay Area.
“I personally think [the A’s have] got to figure out a way to stay in Oakland to make their dream come true,” she told the Front Office Sports Today podcast.