MLB commissioner Rob Manfred recently doubled down his ludicrous take demeaning the Oakland Athletics fanbase.
The MLB's plan to move the Oakland Athletics to Las Vegas has had profound repercussions on attendance at A's games this season. Recently the fandom, however, staged a "reverse boycott" in which more than 25,000 fans showed up to support the team and call for a change in ownership.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, who has been part of the corporate engine behind the A's looming departure, recently gave quite the snide and back-handed remark when asked about the fans' big showing.
"I mean, it was great. It is great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night. That's a great thing," Manfred said.
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred doubles down on snide Oakland Athletics sentiment
It was admittedly funny in a cruel and completely ridiculous way. It definitely shows how out of touch Manfred is with the Oakland fanbase, which has been nothing if not loyal through decades of questionable management and a stadium not even up to par with MLB mandates.
With ownership "unable" to fund renovations or a new stadium in Oakland, the A's instead decided to join the wave of professional sports teams moving to Vegas — which includes the NFL Raiders, now formerly of Oakland. Vegas is a booming sports town, especially with the recent uptick in sports gambling the world over. But will the fans there care as much as the fans in Oakland, who harbor a bone-deep, decades-long connection to the Athletics? Of course not.
That didn't stop Rob Manfred from half-apologizing for his comments before completely disregarding his half-apology and doubling down on his criticism.
For a rough approximation of the reaction from A's fans, please reference the clip below.
Manfred has clear-as-day corporate motivations to get a professional baseball team to Vegas. It's the bigger market. The stadium will be new and shiny. The team will get to separate itself from this miserable stretch that is entirely self-inflicted by the front office, ownership, and league office. It's a win all around if your main priority is money, not so much if you're interested in pleasing the diehard fans of a historic franchise.
The A's are currently dead last in wins (19) and attendance per game (8,675). Oakland has been historically incompetent across the board, from management all the way down to the on-field product. A lot of it just stems from the upcoming move. Why would fans show up for a team that no longer cares about them? Clearly, the MLB doesn't have a good answer and would rather just kick the fans on their way out the door.