On Tuesday night, the Oakland Coliseum held 27,759 attendees for a fan-organized “reverse boycott” event, protesting the team’s impending move to Las Vegas, Nev. The crowd was nearly 22,000 people larger than the night before, and even attracted Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong to join the emotive, perturbed crowd. Inspiration for the event itself derived from a tweet from Athletics fan Stu Clary, who refers to himself as the “Unofficial Mayor of Vacaville.” The demonstration was a topic of discussion in the days leading up to the event on local radio stations KNBR and 95.7 The Game.
Ironically enough, the Athletics received approval from the Nevada Legislature for the public funding necessary to build a $1.5 billion stadium with a retractable roof just off the Las Vegas Strip on the site of the Tropicana Hotel. If the move is approved by Gov. Joe Lombardo and Major League Baseball – both of whom are expected to sign off on the decision – the Athletics would depart Oakland, Calif., the locale the team has called home since 1968. Despite not acknowledging the reverse boycott in its statement, the team did donate all ticket revenue from Tuesday night’s game to local community organizations.
“We thank the members of the Nevada State Legislature and their staff for their hard work, due diligence and attention to detail as we work to bring the Athletics to Las Vegas,” the team said in a statement. “We are especially grateful for the legislators’ time and dedication to shepherding this bill through the process, including the special session.”
The reverse boycott, according to spectators who attended the game, felt like a last-ditch effort to convince the Athletics to stay. Throughout the contest, fans participated in planned chants – including going silent to start the fifth inning and then breaking out in a dulcet chant of, “Sell the team!” If the exercise does not prove to be successful, the fanbase feels it has made its voice heard by communicating that the area’s perceived lack of interest and passion for the team is not the problem. 95.7 The Game producer, board operator and Oakland Athletics fan Evan Giddings filled in for Matt Steinmetz on the midday Steiney & Guru program, and he provided his perspective to listeners on what it was like to be a part of history.
“It was individually special to every single person,” Giddings said. “I can only share what I felt, but I felt a sense of community; a sense of togetherness; and something, that frankly, has escaped the Oakland Athletics and their fanbase for quite some time.”
There are several points of view being posted on social media platforms and videos of the ordeal being shared. What was not planned, however, was the Athletics being the hottest team of baseball and entering the contest with a six-game win streak. The Athletics ended up winning Tuesday night’s game 2-1, sending the fans home happy. Before the contingent left the Oakland Coliseum though, it made a point of throwing trash onto the field to express their displeasure with the team’s ownership and plan to leave town.
“Go Green – no pun intended – but I loved the climax that was the trash throwing,” show co-host Daryle “The Guru” Johnson said. “I’m not that type of guy – I was – but Evan, that’s what it was about when people were asking, ‘Why are they going? What’s the goal?’ To me, throw the trash because that’s what ownership has done to the fanbase!”
Shayna Rubin, a reporter covering the team for The Mercury News, recently joined the program and was highlighted on Wednesday for her coverage of the situation. In her reporting about the game, she eloquently described the night as “a chance for people that had been beleaguered and voiceless to speak out,” along with the ostensibly blatant attempt to disband the community. Giddings’ mother is from the San Diego area, and he remembers the way in which the Chargers left to move to Los Angeles, Calif. and the brand-new SoFi Stadium.
“I’ve seen the playbook in which they try and turn the city against each other, and last night, everyone made it known that it’s not about the city; that it’s not about the people that do not show up,” Giddings articulated. “It’s about the support and the love for the A’s, and the sense of community.”
Being among the fans, Giddings recognized many familiar faces and felt a nostalgic sentiment pervade the atmosphere. Hearing the drums, the familiar “Let’s Go Oakland” chants and seeing the sea of green and gold colors brought him back to his childhood. In fact, he walked every inch of the stadium to interact with people and implored listeners to call in to disclose how they feel about the situation. It was emblematic of a meta-catharsis of sorts, with baseball fans in the Bay Area making a trip to the ballpark to voice their displeasure with the organization but enamorment towards the Athletics as a team.
“People made it a point to be there, and it almost felt like it was the last game ever in Oakland,” Johnson added through observations he made on social media. “It’s not, but that was something I’ll never forget.”
The Athletics and its fans have endured a turbulent period in the team’s history, including as it pertains to its media coverage. Over the last decade, the team briefly left terrestrial radio to start its own “A’s Cast,” and relieved NBC Sports California play-by-play announcer Glen Kuiper of his duties after he said a racial slur on the air. Team president Dave Kaval previously stated the team lacked “fair and balanced” coverage in the Bay Area in a Twitter exchange with 95.7 The Game afternoon host Damon Bruce. The interaction was incited by Kaval’s observation of low attendance at a San Francisco Giants game and questioning whether the San Francisco-based media would choose to comment.
