MLB insider Ken Rosenthal ripped the Oakland Athletics, team owner John Fisher, and the league for plans to move the franchise to Las Vegas.
If you thought the Oakland Athletics were bad in recent years, those teams have nothing on the ineptitude of the 2023 squad. Through the first 54 games of the season, the A's have just 10 wins and are projected to win a little over 30 games. That's bad. As if the fanbase isn't already fed up with the organization and owner John Fisher, they learned of the team's plans to move to Las Vegas to join the NFL's Raiders and NHL's Golden Knights. Of course, that is all dependent on the Nevada state legislature approving a bill to build a new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip.
The Athletic MLB insider Ken Rosenthal wrote a column on Friday (subscription required), criticizing Fisher for "his casino-fueled, Las Vegas fantasies" and saying that he "cannot be trusted in Las Vegas to spend more meaningfully," when referencing the team's $57 million payroll this season. Then, Rosenthal set his focus on the league for catering to Fisher.
Ken Rosenthal rips John Fisher, MLB for a planned move to Las Vegas
"Has the league prepared a study on the viability of Las Vegas as a major-league city…and others," writes Rosenthal.
"Are any of the owners asking why Manfred is being so accommodating to Fisher when the A's still would receive revenue sharing if they moved from the nation's sixth-largest media market to the 40th?
"Will anyone demand an explanation from Fisher on why he is so hellbent on Las Vegas when numerous larger markets, from Portland to Salt Lake City to San Antonio, Nashville to Charlotte to Raleigh-Durham, are available for relocation…"
Rosenthal brings up that since the Athletics are on pace to be historically bad, they could "wreak havoc on the integrity of the 2023 season." Specifically, he brings up a scenario in which the Seattle Mariners and Houston Astros go undefeated against the Athletics this season and earn Wild Card berths, which could prevent the AL East teams with winning records miss out on the postseason.
There is still a process for the Athletics to go through for the team to move to Las Vegas. First, they will need the state legislature to approve a bill that would give the A's up to $380 million to build a 30,000-seat, $1.5 billion stadium, which features a retractable roof. According to the Associated Press, the legislature will adjourn on June 5.
Commissioner Rob Manfred said that a vote to move the A's to Las Vegas could happen at the owners' meetings from June 13-15. The Athletics would need 75 percent of the vote to receive approval to move the franchise.
The team is bad due to a lack of a competitive roster. The Oakland Coliseum is averaging just 8,873 fans per home game, which is dead last in all of MLB. That's why Rosenthal asks in his article why the league is giving Fisher a "free pass" in his pursuit of a move to Las Vegas.