Literally, fans are on their couches, because they damn sure are not going to RingCentral Coliseum.
The Athletics have 100,301 fans in total attendance through 13 home games. By contrast, the Cleveland Guardians have 93.165. The difference is that the Guardians have experienced three rain-outs and only played seven home games thus far. The Athletics are averaging 7,715 fans per game. The Los Angeles Dodgers lead the MLB with an average of 49,057 per game. A sellout of a weekend homestand for the Dodgers might be more than the Athletics see in a two-week homestand.
RingCentral Coliseum opened as the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in the fall of 1966, when it was the new home of the NFL’s Raiders. The Raiders left Oakland for Los Angeles in 1982, returned in 1995, then left for Las Vegas in 2020. The attraction of football in Las Vegas and the new $1.9 billion Allegiant Stadium is all owner Mark Davis needed, after several failed attempts to have Oakland pass funding for renovations to the Coliseum.
The Raiders left, then the NBA’s Golden State Warriors left for San Francisco’s Chase Center in 2019. After winning three championships in four years at Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the Warriors that the Raiders were onto something by leaving. The Warriors announced plans to build a new arena as far back as 2012.
We all know that the Athletics have some of the most passionate fans in all of baseball. For everything that the city has done to bring tech businesses into the city, the new demographic is not going to walk up to a baseball game in a stadium that has been previously dubbed as “the worst in the NFL.” The Raiders again have been gone for two years. With the eight home games the Raiders would use to fill the Coliseum, if renovations were not done before, what hope does principal owner John Fisher have instead?
We all remember Stephen Schott’s reluctance to spend any money during the “Moneyball” era of Athletics baseball. The A’s are not going to magically turn baseball on its ear with a new form of the Mark McGwire/Jose Canseco “Bash Brothers.” Small market teams do not bring in $100 million free agents, instead opting oftentimes to build almost completely from within.
Oakland has the second-lowest payroll in the MLB at $47.6 million. Only the $45.3 spent by the Baltimore Orioles are lower. In fact, the O’s and the A’s are the only two MLB teams under $60 million. Stephen Piscotty ($7.583 million), Elvis Andrus ($7.0 million) and Frankie Montas ($5.025 million) are the only players under contract making above $5.0 million per season. All three are north of 29-years-old and are headed either for options or arbitration after this season.
In November of 2018 the Athletics announced they intend to build a 34,000-seat stadium at the Howard Terminal site in the Port of Oakland. Fisher and Schott before him have both indicated they wanted to keep the team in Oakland, regardless of what field they were playing on. For a city that went from three franchises to one in a matter of two years, the Athletics might honestly have been better off leaving.
Even after their new building opens in the next few years, the Oakland legislature has shown time and again their reluctance to back any professional sports franchise, regardless of how successful they may be.
However, if Fisher does not open his checkbook, he will see a lot more 2,488 crowds, just like he did Monday night. Only the Athletics can post Covid-era attendance after fans have been 100% cleared to return to games en masse.
-JC24
The Raiders left, then the NBA’s Golden State Warriors left for San Francisco’s Chase Center in 2019. After winning three championships in four years at Oakland’s Oracle Arena, the Warriors that the Raiders were onto something by leaving. The Warriors announced plans to build a new arena as far back as 2012.
We all know that the Athletics have some of the most passionate fans in all of baseball. For everything that the city has done to bring tech businesses into the city, the new demographic is not going to walk up to a baseball game in a stadium that has been previously dubbed as “the worst in the NFL.” The Raiders again have been gone for two years. With the eight home games the Raiders would use to fill the Coliseum, if renovations were not done before, what hope does principal owner John Fisher have instead?
We all remember Stephen Schott’s reluctance to spend any money during the “Moneyball” era of Athletics baseball. The A’s are not going to magically turn baseball on its ear with a new form of the Mark McGwire/Jose Canseco “Bash Brothers.” Small market teams do not bring in $100 million free agents, instead opting oftentimes to build almost completely from within.
Oakland has the second-lowest payroll in the MLB at $47.6 million. Only the $45.3 spent by the Baltimore Orioles are lower. In fact, the O’s and the A’s are the only two MLB teams under $60 million. Stephen Piscotty ($7.583 million), Elvis Andrus ($7.0 million) and Frankie Montas ($5.025 million) are the only players under contract making above $5.0 million per season. All three are north of 29-years-old and are headed either for options or arbitration after this season.
In November of 2018 the Athletics announced they intend to build a 34,000-seat stadium at the Howard Terminal site in the Port of Oakland. Fisher and Schott before him have both indicated they wanted to keep the team in Oakland, regardless of what field they were playing on. For a city that went from three franchises to one in a matter of two years, the Athletics might honestly have been better off leaving.
Even after their new building opens in the next few years, the Oakland legislature has shown time and again their reluctance to back any professional sports franchise, regardless of how successful they may be.
However, if Fisher does not open his checkbook, he will see a lot more 2,488 crowds, just like he did Monday night. Only the Athletics can post Covid-era attendance after fans have been 100% cleared to return to games en masse.
-JC24