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Tag: Oakland

  • Oakland vs. Rockvale in photos

    Oakland's Daune Morris (17) celebrates his touchdown against Rockvale with Oakland's Aivery Haynesworth (29) during a football game at Oakland, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.

    Oakland’s Daune Morris (17) celebrates his touchdown against Rockvale with Oakland’s Aivery Haynesworth (29) during a football game at Oakland, on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.

    HELEN COMER/The Daily News Journal

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  • Oakland Fans Say Goodbye To Athletics In Emotional Farewell To Coliseum Home

    Oakland Fans Say Goodbye To Athletics In Emotional Farewell To Coliseum Home

    OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Mark Kotsay treated this moment, this daunting day, like the World Series he has never had as a player or manager.

    Kotsay fought tears, just like so many others Thursday, as the Oakland Athletics bid an emotional farewell to their beloved Coliseum they’ve called home since 1968, complete with all its quirks like plumbing problems and rally possums — and those stray cats who helped inspire Hall of Famer Tony La Russa’s former Animal Rescue Foundation.

    The A’s beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 and Kotsay took the microphone afterward for a heartfelt thank you to a sellout crowd of 46,889 before leading one last chant of “Let’s go Oakland!” Third baseman Max Schuemann grabbed a huge A’s flag and ran it around the field, stopping to wave it in front of different sections.

    “I’ve never been to a World Series before,” Kotsay said. “But I feel like today is one of those days that you can kind of experience the emotion of that, the magnitude of it. Driving in the gates today and seeing the fullness of a parking lot, feeling the energy and the emotion is something I’ll treasure for the rest of my life.”

    OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 26: Manager Mark Kotsay #7 of the Oakland Athletics waves to the crowd after his speech and their win over the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum on September 26, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
    OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 26: Manager Mark Kotsay #7 of the Oakland Athletics waves to the crowd after his speech and their win over the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum on September 26, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

    Eakin Howard via Getty Images

    Longtime supporters and kids alike stole away from work or school to be here for the matinee finale under a cloudless September blue sky. Oakland’s last team standing, the A’s follow the NFL Raiders and Golden State Warriors basketball team out of town.

    Spontaneously, Schuemann grabbed the flag held by mascot Stomper moments earlier, and took off running.

    “I wanted to enjoy it with them, for sure,” he said of the fans.

    Quickly, home plate was dug up and the mound rubber removed. Head groundskeeper Clay Wood’s sweet dog Reba made one final run through the outfield to her master’s office beyond the fence.

    Kotsay made one request for a memento: He’s taking home three bases, which were changed out every inning so 27 were available as keepsakes — with longtime, outgoing groundskeeper Clay Wood gifted the first-inning bags.

    OAKLAND, CA - SEPTEMBER 26: Head groundskeeper Clay Wood prepares the field prior to the game between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum on Thursday, September 26, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
    OAKLAND, CA – SEPTEMBER 26: Head groundskeeper Clay Wood prepares the field prior to the game between the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics at RingCentral Coliseum on Thursday, September 26, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

    Lachlan Cunningham via Getty Images

    From Kotsay’s days of playing outfield and way back to the 1989 earthquake-interrupted World Series when the A’s swept the Giants, to Bash Brothers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire and that special 20-game winning streak of 2002 and the Big Three of Tim Hudson, Mark Mulder and Barry Zito before “I Believe in Stephen Vogt” later became a battle cry, this building has been home to so many glory moments transcending eras and spanning stars of different generations.

    Zito sang the national anthem to huge applause, while Rickey Henderson and Dave Stewart tossed out ceremonial first pitches.

    Not far from the A’s dugout, Kelly Mattson of the grounds crew let fans scoop dirt right out of his shovel.

    Hours before first pitch, A’s bullpen catcher Dustin Hughes and his Oakland scout father John played catch in left field before hiking up to Mount Davis and then exploring the inside of the scoreboard and other hidden spots below the center-field stands.

    Hundreds of fans spent recent days walking through the concourse snapping photos or taking videos of all the pictures and memories spanning the decades. The parking lots were filled before breakfast with tailgaters taking it all in just once more.

    Fans during a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)
    Fans during a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)
    Michelle Leon paints a sign outside the Oakland Coliseum before a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)
    Michelle Leon paints a sign outside the Oakland Coliseum before a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)
    Andrew Johnstone plays the bagpipes outside the Oakland Coliseum before a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)
    Andrew Johnstone plays the bagpipes outside the Oakland Coliseum before a baseball game between the Oakland Athletics and the Texas Rangers Thursday, Sept. 26, 2024, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Benjamin Fanjoy)

    Former A’s fan favorite and current Rangers second baseman Marcus Semien expected 10 to 15 family and friends — including his parents and grandparents — in the stands for the special occasion.

    “Thank you to all the security guards, concession workers everyone who made this place a major league stadium,” Semien said on the field. “I really appreciate you welcoming me as an East Bay kid to your place of work. I feel very sorry for anybody who can’t continue on with Oakland but keep on grinding like you always have been.”

    Longtime manager and former catcher Bruce Bochy became emotional in the visiting dugout. The Coliseum matters so much to him, too.

    The A’s plan to play the next three years in Sacramento with hopes of opening a new ballpark in Las Vegas ahead of the 2028 season.

    “Big day,” said Bochy, a former catcher who guided the San Francisco Giants to World Series titles in 2010, ’12 and ’14. “Memorable day for I think so many people but for me, it’s starting to hit me now that baseball’s done here. It’s kind of sad. Because I love this place, love the field and everything.”

    He added of his team: “I think they’re really appreciating what this place is.”

    OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 26: The stadium is reflected in a fans sunglasses during the fifth inning as the Oakland Athletics play the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum on September 26, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)
    OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA – SEPTEMBER 26: The stadium is reflected in a fans sunglasses during the fifth inning as the Oakland Athletics play the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum on September 26, 2024 in Oakland, California. (Photo by Eakin Howard/Getty Images)

    Eakin Howard via Getty Images

    Kotsay planned to soak in everything.

    “It’s a day that will come and go pretty quickly,” he said, “and you just don’t want to miss any opportunity to express your gratitude toward the fans, toward the people that mean everything, the workers in the stadium. Sharing moments with them today was tough. There’s a lot of people here that have invested their lives and their souls into this organization and into this stadium and into the game of baseball. The love for the game of baseball but more for the love for the people and the relationships that have been built over 57 years in this stadium.”

    Even his players understood the magnitude of saying goodbye.

    “It’s unique in that there’s no frills. A lot of stadiums have, whether it’s good or bad, kind of become less about the actual baseball game and more just about an entertainment product,” slugger Brent Rooker said. “What the Coliseum offers is, ‘Here’s just a bunch of seats, and here’s a field and there’s going to be a baseball game happening.’ And that’s really cool.”

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  • With A’s last game, Oakland says goodbye to major professional sports

    With A’s last game, Oakland says goodbye to major professional sports

    The Raiders left for Los Angeles in 1982, came back to Oakland in 1995 and then uprooted for Las Vegas 2020.

    The Golden State Warriors moved across the bay to San Francisco’s Chase Center starting in the 2019-20 season after having played in Oakland since 1971.

    Oakland even briefly had an NHL team: the California Golden Seals, which entered as an expansion franchise in 1967 and played nine seasons in Oakland before moving to become the Cleveland Barons, which ceased operations after two seasons.

    Oakland native and former MLB player Bip Roberts, now a real estate investor in the East Bay, said he doesn’t buy the argument that his hometown lacks the audience or money to support a major-league team.

    “Everything is in place for you to be successful” in Oakland, Roberts said. “When you think about those of us who have grown here, those of us who live here, we can afford to go to any sporting event regardless to the ticket price, right? To leave a large market such as this one and you go to a smaller market [Sacramento] and then to even a smaller market [Las Vegas], it’s not a great business deal, in my opinion.”

    More Sports from NBC News

    Oakland’s median household income, $96,828, and that of Alameda County, $119,931, both top state ($95,521) and national ($80,610) figures, according to the most recent census data. They are lower, however, than San Francisco’s median household income, $126,730, and those of nearby Marin ($139,644) and San Mateo counties ($151,485).

    However, Las Vegas has evolved into a kind of sports capital in recent years. The city — which will have the A’s, the Raiders and the NHL’s Golden Knights — hosted its first Super Bowl seven months ago, and last year it hosted the Stanley Cup Final and a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

    Vegas is also seen as a future destination for an expansion NBA franchise.

    The A’s departure hands the San Francisco Giants full run of the Bay Area market, leaving New York, Chicago, the Washington D.C./Baltimore area and greater Los Angeles as the only remaining markets with two MLB clubs.

    By on-the-field metrics, the A’s have historically been at least equal to the Giants. Through Tuesday night’s action, the Oakland A’s were 4,613-4,383 (.513), while the San Francisco Giants were 5,473-5,118 (.517).

    Oakland Athletics players celebrate on the field
    Players mob Jacob Wilson on Tuesday as the Athletics defeated the Texas Rangers, 5-4, at the Coliseum in Oakland, Calif.Carlos Avila Gonzalez / San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images file

    The A’s have won six American League pennants and four World Series, while the Giants have captured six National League pennants and three World Series. The A’s swept the Giants in the 1989 Fall Classic.

    Yet it’s the Giants — potentially on their way to finishing .500 or worse in their seventh season out of eight — who are staying put. The fifth most valuable club in baseball with an estimated worth of $3.8 billion, the Giants play in one of MLB’s most beloved ballparks, which has helped the team blow the A’s out of the bay in attendance since Oracle Park opened in 2000.

    A’s fans, repulsed by Fisher’s move, have stayed away in droves this season. The franchise is dead last in attendance across MLB, averaging just 10,635 fans per game.

    Roberts pinned the blame on A’s management. Even before Fisher and real estate developer Lewis Wolff bought the team in 2005, the franchise had a well-earned reputation for focusing on its bottom line at the expense of keeping talent long-term.

    Prime examples of stars lost include Reggie Jackson in the ’70s, Mark McGwire in the ’90s and Jason Giambi in the early 2000s. More recently, East Bay native Marcus Semien left as a free agent in 2021, then won a World Series ring with the Texas Rangers last year.

    “That was something that’s been ingrained in the organization, to get these players to have such a following and backing in the city, and then they’re gone,” Roberts said. “And I think it just wore on people.” 

    As the final A’s game approaches and fans share memories of the Oakland Coliseum across social media and elsewhere, the depth of the loss is setting in, he added.

    “I’m starting to get saddened about what’s about to happen,” Roberts said. “I’ve been putting off emotions for a long time.”

    Dana Varinsky reported from Oakland, and David K. Li from New York City.

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  • Why can’t Oakland hang onto a professional sports franchise?

    Why can’t Oakland hang onto a professional sports franchise?

    From the outside, Oakland looks like it should be hotspot for America’s big three sports. The 45th largest city in the United States, Oakland is the blue-collar version of its more swanky cross-bay cousin San Francisco. It’s a west coast reflection of America’s heartland, where the NFL, NBA and MLB have found some of their most successful and most lucrative homes.

    But last year’s news that the Oakland A’s would be moving to Las Vegas was another nail in the coffin of the city’s rich sporting life. Once the move is completed in 2028 there will be no professional football, basketball or baseball team in Oakland.

    The first to go were the Warriors, although their exit was soothed by the fact that the team would simply be crossing the bay to return to its previous home in San Francisco. The next, the Raiders, was a more bitter departure. Founded as the Oakland Raiders in 1960, the team was relocated to Los Angeles in 1982 and would spend 12 years there before moving back to Oakland. Now, the 2020 move to Las Vegas feels distinctly permanent.

    Despite poor on-field results, the Raiders pack out the vast Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

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    Despite poor on-field results, the Raiders pack out the vast Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.Kirby LeeUSA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

    However the most painful of all will be the loss of the A’s, who confirmed the move to Las Vegas in April 2023. The team has signed a binding agreement to purchase land on the Las Vegas strip, where they plan to build a 35,000 seat, $1.5 billion ballpark with a retractable roof. And with that, Oakland’s final pro sports team will officially depart.

    Why are the A’s moving to Las Vegas?

    As has been the case with many of the recent high-profile team moves, stadium development played a big role in the A’s decision to relocate. The historic Oakland Coliseum has been the team’s home since moving to the city in 1968 but the creaking old building lacks the commercial opportunities that the newer stadiums offer.

    Other cities have been willing to offer taxpayer-provided funding for teams building a new stadium, as Las Vegas did for the Raiders as part of their move. However Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao was less willing to pay for vast new mega-stadium, instead offering the team the chance to develop at the Howard Terminal former cargo shipping site.

    The A’s have claimed that the Mayor’s demands and deadlines were heavy-handed, arguing that ownership “made a strong and sincere effort to stay here,” adding: “We are disappointed that we have been unable to achieve our shared vision of a waterfront ballpark.”

    Mayor Thao, however, insisted that the A’s were solely focused on finding the best financial offers. She said: “It is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game – the fans and our residents deserve better.”

    Why are so many sports teams leaving Oakland?

    While the public-private partnership helped to lure the A’s to Las Vegas, it is also true that teams have actively sought to leave Oakland. It suffers from a combination of factors that make it a difficult sell commercially: a blue-collar city in a high-taxation state. These facts, teams believe, places a cap on potential revenue.

    And while other working class cities – such as Miami, Atlanta or New Orleans – face similar problems, Oakland has major competition right on the doorstep. San Francisco, on the other side of the bay, is much more affluent, and Los Angeles offers of much larger share of the vast California market.

    This situation has played at least a part in all three of the recent sporting exoduses from Oakland. In the highly-competitive world of professional sport small margins can make big differences, and the economic currents dragging teams away from Oakland have become stronger in recent years.

    In some ways, Oakland’s long-suffering sports fans have already started to cut ties with the A’s. Since the Las Vegas move was confirmed last year in-stadium attendance have dipped, a sign of waning interest in the soon-to-be-departed franchise. Back in March thousands of fans gathered watch the season opener in the Oakland Coliseum parking lot, choosing to turn away from a team that turned its back on them.

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