A’s Owner Must Be on a Mission to Alienate Everyone in Oakland

Losses, more losses and … an opossum? John Fisher seems to be testing just how low he and his team can go before leaving for Las Vegas.

At first, she seemed confused.

“A possum?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “If you found out a possum was living in the walls of this Banana Republic, how quickly would you do something about it?”

“Immediately,” she said.

I got the same answer at the Gap and at Old Navy. “Within 24 hours,” said the employee who humored me at the Gap. “The same day,” said the one at Old Navy.

So you wouldn’t ignore it for nine months, as Oakland A’s owner—and Gap Inc. heir and board member—John Fisher has at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, adding to the litany of indignities that building, team and fan base has suffered, including a sewage backup and a herd of feral cats?

“These are all happening?” asked the worker at Banana Republic. She laughed. “We would get a service out here the same day,” she said.

Of course they would. That’s the way John Fisher runs the businesses he cares about. When it comes to the A’s, he has instead spent the past decade alienating fans by openly shopping the team to Las Vegas and letting the roster and its infrastructure crumble in the meantime. That process took a leap Wednesday night when club president Dave Kaval confirmed to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the team had signed a binding purchase agreement for a 49-acre plot of land just west of the Strip.

Fisher has shown little regard for quality control in many aspects of the team as he prepares to exit Oakland :: Kelley L Cox/USA TODAY Sports

Back in Oakland, the ballpark is falling apart—literally. At least four times since 2011, stadium lights have malfunctioned, leaving the team either to delay the game or to play the final innings in partial darkness. In ’13, the A’s and the Twins had to wait three hours to play while crews pumped four inches of raw sewage out of the visitors’ dugout. In ’15, a section of the outfield wall collapsed. Last year, a colony of feral cats took over the ballpark. And an opossum has been living in the walls of the press box since May. Twins play-by-play broadcaster Dick Brenner reported that an exterminator had been called, but the opossum was back on Opening Day against the Angels. It deposited enough droppings in the visiting broadcast booth two weeks later that the Mets’ TV crew had to relocate.

Does this bother Fisher? An A’s spokesperson did not respond to an interview request. But based on his actions—none—we can presume that far from being disappointed in this situation, he relishes it.

Fisher’s group bought the team in 2005 for $180 million; Forbes estimates it is now worth $1.18 billion. Some of that value has come from ownership’s refusal to spend money on the ballpark, which opened in 1966 and which the A’s have been trying to leave for some three decades. And some has come from ownership’s refusal to spend money on the people who play in it: The A’s roster this year will make $56.8 million, last in the league by a good margin. Only 11 players will make more than $1 million. Only two players are under contract for next season.

Fisher is getting what he pays for. The club finished in last place last season and seems determined to do even worse this year, having won just three of its first 19 games and giving it a chance at the record set by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders of a 20–134 season, a .130 winning percentage.

Hundreds of thousands of blessed souls still attend these games each year, but their numbers are dwindling. The A’s ranked last in attendance last season with an average of 9,849 fans per game, while the team streaked to 102 losses. So far this year, they are drawing 11,026 to witness their futility in person.

The situation has become dire enough that some fans are planning to pack the stadium in protest on June 13, to show ownership how much support there would be for even a decent team. (They chose a Tuesday against the Rays—a game not otherwise expected to draw well—to emphasize their point.)

“We created this reverse boycott to put a halt to the narrative that the A’s must leave Oakland and move to Las Vegas because there are no fans left in Oakland,” the group, Rooted in Oakland, said in a statement. “This is simply untrue, given the A’s have the lowest payroll in MLB, the organization raised ticket prices after a losing season, and the ownership group has abandoned the current fans while focusing all attention on Las Vegas.”

A’s fans turned against the team owner long ago :: Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY Sports

For a while, A’s ownership suggested building a new ballpark at Howard Terminal. But when they were unable to bilk taxpayers into funding it, they—with the backing of MLB—turned their attention to Las Vegas. And all the while, they have let the franchise—and the trust of an entire city—fall into disrepair.

This is like Major League—with s--- on the floor.

Why, I asked the employee at Old Navy, would it be important to you to intervene if nature began reclaiming your store?

“Because we have customers,” he said. “We want them to have a good shopping experience and not have to deal with wild animals.” It’s a great point. Someone should tell his boss.