As if we needed more evidence that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred is just a puppet and lackey for the league’s 30 owners.
A day after Nevada lawmakers approved Senate Bill 1 (SB1) to push through the A’s $1.5 billion, 30,000-seat stadium ballpark proposal, Manfred made some comments that made you raise your eyebrow.
Evan Drellich of The Athletic shared Manfred’s reaction to the A’s-to-Vegas deal and it amounted to a gaslighting effort from the commish.
“I hear from ‘em, I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland,” Manfred said, via Drellich. “I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do. I think the real question is, what is it Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer. OK? They never got to a point where they had a plan to build a stadium at any site. And it’s not just John Fisher. The community has to provide support. At some point you come to the realization that it’s just not going to happen.”
Dang. A lot to unpack here.
Clearly, Manfred is just saying whatever A’s owner John Fisher wants and trying to deflect blame … and put it on Oakland and the fans.
With their $6 billion Howard Terminal waterfront ballpark vision – which included a $1 billion stadium, 18-acre park, 3,000-seat performance center, hotels, condos and commercial space – the A’s spent three years going through all sorts of legal hoops and red tape that comes with building a huge development in the Bay Area. Manfred conveniently forgot.
Oakland had secured more than $400 million in infrastructure grants to help push the project through – it was reportedly 90 percent figured out – only for the A’s to abruptly cease negotiations and go to Vegas on April 19. Manfred conveniently forgot.
Fisher has failed to invest in his team since taking over as majority owner in 2005 and constantly decimated the roster with fire sales. Meanwhile, with the roster gutting, the A’s doubled season ticket prices between the 2019 and 2022 seasons. Manfred conveniently forgot.
Casey Pratt of ABC7 Bay Area shared a sharp response from Oakland to Manfred's claims.
The A’s clearly have support in the area, as evidenced by Tuesday’s remarkable fan-organized reverse boycott that brought 27,000 fans to the Coliseum and made national headlines. Using Fisher’s ineptitude – which led to dwindling attendance – as defense for why the A’s are leaving the Oakland market is just reprehensible. Not to mention that Fisher is the guy who fumbled stadium deals in Fremont, San Jose, downtown Oakland and Howard Terminal.
Meanwhile, Manfred has no problem with the A’s ramming through a stadium deal in Las Vegas, one that Nevada legislators only had 19 days to vet. Nineteen days to erase 55 years of history and tradition.
At this point, Manfred is just an uninformed mouthpiece for Fisher, who remains silent as ever while ripping out the heart of his fanbase.
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