Back on September 26, 2024, a total of 45,000 people came together at the Oakland Coliseum, filled with a strange mixture of sadness and joy as they watched their favorite Major League Baseball team, the A’s, otherwise known as The Athletics, play their final game in Oakland. Later that afternoon, the A’s whooped the Texas Rangers 3-2 in a win that served as a send-off for the franchise, but also for the city itself.
The A’s were the last professional sports team left in Oakland at the time. In 2019, Oakland lost the Golden State Warriors NBA team to San Francisco. Just a year later, the Oakland Raiders would pack their bags and head over to Las Vegas in pursuit of a major financial windfall. Ultimately, the Raiders move paved the way for the A’s to later join them in Sin City.
It’s not been easy for the people of Oakland. During the six decades the three teams resided in the city, which started with the Raiders in 1966, a total of 10 championships were brought to Oakland. Two of those belonged to the Raiders, four for the Warriors, and four for the A’s. Generations of sports fans grew up feeling a sense of loyalty to their teams and the players who took them to greatness. But it’s all gone now.
According to a report from the Diablo Valley College newspaper, The Inquirer, Jenna Anderson, a school teacher who now lives in San Jose, recalled, “I grew up going to games with friends and family. It gave us something to do on any random night. We could just get cheap tickets and see some of our favorite athletes. There wasn’t anything like it.”
Another lifelong fan, David Hernandez, who was an A’s season ticket holder and attended the last game at the Coliseum, shared some memories of the glory days of Oakland and watching sports in the city. “My father has pictures of holding me here as a baby, and it’s also one of my oldest memories,” Hernandez recounted. “Games in Oakland were just different in the best way.”
So what led to all of these professional sports teams pulling out of the city in a decade’s time? One major reason is the rampant crime that has plagued the area for years now. Between 2019 and 2024, a study revealed that Oakland was responsible for a staggering 86% of the crimes committed in Alameda County.
Another study released in 2023 showed that robberies went up in the city by 30% and homicides by 37% compared to numbers from 2019. Due to the spike in crime, fans no longer felt safe going to games. Team owners quickly noticed the massive drop-off in attendance. As it concerns the A’s, owner John Fisher decided not to spend the cash needed to improve the dilapidated stadium.
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Broken, filthy seats, overpriced food and drink, limited memorabilia at team stores, and, oddly, an opossum problem within the stadium walls ruined the fan experience. To top it all off, Fisher wasn’t forking over money for top players of the league needed to win games. Nobody wants to watch their team lose constantly, especially with the horrific experience in the stands to boot.
The Coliseum now hosts a United Soccer League team, the Oakland Roots. However, this is just not doing it for many sports fans in the city who remember how things used to be not so long ago. “It’s just not the same — seeing a soccer field in a baseball [or] football stadium doesn’t even look right,” said Calvin Wunderman. “I won’t ever go to a Las Vegas A’s game. They’re supposed to be here, in Oakland.”
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