John Fisher’s incompetence is out in plain sight for everyone to see. Will MLB commissioner Rob Manfred keep turning a blind eye?
The 120-day Nevada State legislature calendar for 2023 adjourned at midnight Tuesday and the A’s proposed ballpark plan, Senate Bill 509, stalled, failing to progress past its initial committee hearing on Memorial Day. Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo has called for a special session to tie up loose legislative ends, but SB509 reportedly won’t be part of the agenda.
No stadium deal in Vegas. No stadium deal in Oakland. Once again, the A’s owner Fisher has guided the franchise into purgatory in its never-ending odyssey for a new ballpark.
According to Tabitha Mueller of the Nevada Independent, Nevada could call for another special session to consider the ballpark later.
For now, the A’s have their backs up against the wall to get a deal done in Vegas before Jan. 15, 2024, when they will be removed from MLB’s revenue-sharing agreement unless they have a binding deal in place.
As Casey Pratt of ABC7 Bay Area told 95.7 The Game last week, Oakland has secured $375 million in off-site infrastructure grants to push the $6 billion Howard Terminal waterfront ballpark district, and another $100 million in grants are pending this month. When the A’s walked away from the negotiating table with Oakland on April 19, Pratt reported there was just an $88 million funding gap remaining. The framework is there for the team to remain in Oakland.
Manfred has supported Fisher blindly throughout this process, but at what point does he intervene with all these botched efforts by the A's ownership?
You could fill a museum with all the A's stadium renderings the past couple decades. Since Fisher took over as majority owner in 2005, the team has failed to get ballparks in Fremont, San Jose, near Laney College in downtown Oakland, Howard Terminal and two sites in Las Vegas. That’s an 0-for-6 batting average, which would get most owners demoted.
OK, they haven’t exactly struck out on Howard Terminal and the Tropicana site just yet, but Fisher can’t keep reaching base on dropped third strikes forever.
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