Killing the Oakland A’s: Major League Baseball’s White Flight in the 21st Century

MLB MATH

OAKLANDLAS VEGAS
Population 1 2
Alameda County + Contra Costa County: 2,848,280		Population 3
Clark County: 2,265,461
Television Market 4
10th Largest		Television Market 5
40th Largest
Median Household Income 6 7
Alameda County: $122,159
Contra Costa County: $120,061		Median Household Income 8
Clark County: $70,797
space
Average high temperature (June-September) 9
72°		Average high temperature (June-September) 10
100°
Public Funding 11
$400 million		Public Funding 12
$380 million
Stadium Site
110 acres at the Coliseum site, with existing infrastructure (freeway, subway, train, and airport connector)
* or 55 waterfront acres at the Howard Terminal site		Stadium Site
9 acres at the Tropicana Hotel site
space
space

Enviable 57-year franchise history that isn’t transferable
Loud and loyal fan base (Ask the 2012 Oakland A’s and Detroit Tigers how loud.13)

If you put any stock in data, Oakland is the runaway winner as the best location for the A’s.  So why is MLB determined to move the A’s out of Oakland?  Maybe our table is incomplete.  Sure, Oakland has money, location, enviable temperatures, tradition, and a rabid fan base, but it must be missing some key ingredient.  Or maybe it has an ingredient MLB isn’t too thrilled about. 

Given the inexplicability of MLB’s proposed flight from Oakland, we can’t help but wonder if MLB prefers cities that are a bit whiter than ours.  Only 32% of Oakland’s population is white, whereas 52% of Las Vegas’s population is white.14  Maybe we should parse things further.  Perhaps, in the eyes of MLB, Oakland’s non-whiteness isn’t the culprit as much as its corollary—Oakland is too Black.  Oakland’s Black demographic, though shrinking, is almost twice that of Las Vegas and Sacramento—22% compared to 12%.15  The Black demographic in John Fisher’s hometown of San Francisco is 5%.16  The Black demographic in Lew Wolff’s adopted hometown of San Jose is 3%.17  The Black demographic in Wolff’s nearly-adopted hometown of Fremont is also 3%.18

We can’t be certain of Rob Manfred’s motive for supporting the relocation, but his uncritical, enthusiastic endorsement of Fisher’s folly raises eyebrows.  His flippant answers to the softball questions laid before him just haven’t done the trick for people with a pulse.  If he could answer just this one question satisfactorily, we would go away:  Why the hell is the commissioner, who’s supposed to look out for the good of the game, aiding and abetting the flight of the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas? 

And what is Fisher’s motive for the relocation?  Is he driven by prejudice against Oakland or sheer boneheadedness?  Fisher, who admits Oakland has a “passionate” fan base, can’t seem to connect the dots.19  The great sports city of Oakland has been reduced to one last major league team (no more Raiders, no more Warriors).  Fisher could have the entire East Bay sports market to himself—a tremendous windfall if his instinct were to invest in his team instead of using it to leverage a real estate empire he doesn’t have the balls to pull the trigger on.  He’s sitting on gold.  It’s as if someone handed him a Bay Area treasure map free of charge.  X marks the spot, and it is Oakland.  The Oakland market should be writing revenue-sharing checks, not receiving them.  Fisher is too narrow-minded and shortsighted to figure it out. 

As the MLB owners convened in Arlington ten months ago, the question was whether or not they too were too shortsighted to figure it out.  Or had they figured it out but lacked the courage to vote their wallets?  November 16 , 2023—the relocation vote.  30 yeas and 0 nays.20  In a gutless, unanimous party-line vote worthy of a communist politburo, the owners chose Fisher’s redlining of Oakland over their own bottom line.  Fisher now has cover to put a comfortable distance between Oakland and his team.  A sad day for baseball in America, and an even sadder day for balls.

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  1. www.census.gov, Alameda County – Census Bureau Search . ↩︎
  2. www.census.gov, Contra Costa County – Census Bureau Search . ↩︎
  3. www.census.gov, Clark County, Nevada – Census Bureau Search . ↩︎
  4. Eno Sarris and Steve Berman, “Is a Las Vegas move really what MLB should want for the Oakland A’s,” theathletic.com, 18 May 2023, Is a Las Vegas move really what MLB should want for the Oakland A’s? – The Athletic . ↩︎
  5. Ibid. ↩︎
  6. www.census.gov, Alameda County – Census Bureau Search . ↩︎
  7. www.census.gov, Contra Costa County – Census Bureau Search . ↩︎
  8. www.census.gov, Clark County, Nevada – Census Bureau Search . ↩︎
  9. www.usclimatedata.com, Climate Oakland – California and Weather averages Oakland (usclimatedata.com) . ↩︎
  10. www.usclimatedata.com, Climate Las Vegas – Nevada and Weather averages Las Vegas (usclimatedata.com) . ↩︎
  11. Sarah Ravani, “’This is our team’: Oakland mayor urges MLB to reject A’s Las Vegas relocation,” sfchronicle.com, 8 November 2023, Oakland mayor urges MLB to reject A’s bid to relocate to Las Vegas (sfchronicle.com) . ↩︎
  12. Associated Press, “Athletics stadium deal wins final legislative approval in Nevada,” espn.com, 14 June 2023, Athletics stadium deal wins final legislative approval in Nevada – ESPN . ↩︎
  13. Ann Killion, “A’s head off to another offseason of questions,” sfgate.com, 12 October 2012, A’s head off to another offseason of questions (sfgate.com) ; Jason Beck and Paul Hagen, “Leyland, Tigers prepare for noise level in Oakland,” mlb.com, 3 October 2013, Leyland, Tigers prepare for noise level in Oakland | MLB.com . ↩︎
  14. www.census.gov, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Oakland city, California; Las Vegas city, Nevada; Sacramento city, California . ↩︎
  15. Ibid.; In 2006, when Lew Wolff and John Fisher resolved to get the hell out of Dodge, Oakland’s Black demographic was approximately 30%.  Bay Area Census — City of Oakland (ca.gov) . ↩︎
  16. www.census.gov, U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: San Francisco city, California; San Jose city, California; Fremont city, California . ↩︎
  17. Ibid. ↩︎
  18. Ibid. ↩︎
  19. John Fisher, as quoted in NBC Bay Area staff, “The John Fisher interview: Oakland owner talks Vegas, backlash and future plans,” nbcbayarea.com, 23 August 2023, Oakland A’s owner John Fisher goes on record in rare interview – NBC Bay Area . ↩︎
  20. Mark Feinsand, “Owners’ vote approves A’s relocation to Las Vegas for 2028,” mlb.com, 16 November 2023, Owners approve A’s relocation to Las Vegas (mlb.com) . ↩︎