A's Fans Make Huge Statement in Coliseum Finale

Jason Burke | Sep 28, 2024

Sep 26, 2024; Oakland, California, USA; An Oakland Athletics fan waves a flag before the game against the Texas Rangers at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images / Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

Thursday was a rough day for the baseball world, as the Athletics played their final game at the Oakland Coliseum in front of 47,000. This ended up being the most highly attended game for any team in the sport that was on their way out of their home city.

Largest Crowds for a Final Home Game in a City:
46,889 Oakland A's, 9/26/24
31,395 Montreal Expos, 9/29/04
14,460 Washington Senators, 9/30/71
12,577 Milwaukee Braves, 9/22/65
11,606 New York Giants, 9/29/57

— Mike Selleck (@MikeSelleck) September 26, 2024

With a little more planning, the A's could have had even more fans in attendance with an extra 8,000 seats available on Mount Davis. We're not here to litigate whether the team should have made those seats available, but it worth noting that the fans bought up all the seats that were available to them, and likely would have kept going.

That's one heck of a parting shot for the fans, who have been told for years they're not good enough, by both A's owner John Fisher and MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who said that the attendance for the "reverse boycott" game in 2023 was roughly a league average day for most ballparks around the league.

The official attendance that was given for the home finale was 46,889, which is higher than the capacity of Yankees Stadium, as well as most other big-league parks. Only the Blue Jays, Dodgers, Mariners, Rockies and Diamondbacks have a higher capacity than what the A's drew on Thursday. Yet, if Mount Davis were open, the A's would have no competition since the Coliseum holds more than any other MLB park with a max of 56,782 that just edges out the Dodgers' even 56,000.

It's not tough to see how Manfred will spin this event, saying that it was beautiful to see the passion exhibited from the fans, or some similar nod to those in attendance. Then he'll shift the blame for why this won't exist next season to the city of Oakland, perhaps even quoting Fisher's letter that said he tried. At least, that's how the playbook describes how to handle that question when it comes up next month at the World Series. Sometimes Manfred likes to thumb the fans just because, so it's always a little hard to tell exactly which way he'll go.

Regardless of how the rest of the relocation saga plays out, with questions about the viability of the Sacramento plan still hanging in the air (though MLB says the A's will play in West Sac in 2025), and the public yet to see the financials for the proposed ballpark in Las Vegas, the role that Oakland plays in any of this saga is pretty much done for now.

Just like they have for every fan event of the past two seasons, A's fans showed up, didn't cause any mayhem, and just enjoyed their team in their city. That's a powerful message that just shows that everything that has been written about the fans and the city isn't necessarily true, and a lot of eyes have been opened over the past two seasons to what kind of a fan base there is in Oakland.

Maybe one day they'll get to cheer again.