Oakland Decides to Stop Playing the Stadium Extortion Game
By Ken Reed
It appears John Fisher, owner of the Oakland A’s, is going to move his MLB franchise to Las Vegas. The A’s have struck a deal to buy land near the famous Strip in Las Vegas for a new stadium. The plan is for the stadium to seat between 30,000 and 35,000 fans.
Fisher is looking to leave Oakland because after several years of trying he ultimately couldn’t extort the amount of public money from the city of Oakland and state of California that he desired. The move to Vegas has several hurdles left to clear and Fisher’s offer for land near the Strip may yet be nothing more than a leverage play on Oakland politicians. But Oakland mayor Sheng Thao says she has no interest in playing that game any longer.
“In the last three months, we’ve made significant strides to close the deal,” Thao said.
“Yet, it is clear to me that the A’s have no intention of staying in Oakland and have simply been using this process to try to extract a better deal out of Las Vegas. I am not interested in continuing to play that game – the fans and our residents deserve better.”
Pro sports owners have long told their host cities, “Build us a new stadium (arena) or we will move the team to another city.”
Consider what’s happened the last couple decades:
* Hamilton County increased its sales tax by .5 percent to build the Great American Ballpark for the Cincinnati Reds (and Paul Brown Stadium for the Bengals).
* San Diego used bonds and hotel taxes to help build Petco Park for the Padres.
* Philadelphia raised rental car taxes and pleaded for money from the state in order to build Citizens Bank Park for the Phillies.
* Busch Stadium was said to be “privately financed” — one of the very few stadiums that can even make that claim — and it was to an extent, but St. Louis offered major tax and interest breaks that will save the Cardinals hundreds of millions of dollars, and the state of Missouri offered all sorts of infrastructure.
* The District of Columbia sold $610 million in bonds to build Nationals Park for the Nationals.
* The city of New York paid more than a billion dollars in public money and tax breaks to cover the cost of the new Yankee Stadium.
* The city of New York paid about $600 million in public money and tax breaks to cover the cost of Citi Field.
* After many years of wrangling, Hennepin County — Minneapolis is the county seat — slapped a .15% sales tax on its folks to build Target Field for the Twins.
* Overcoming a lawsuit challenging the public money spent, Miami-Dade County provided the land and bonds covering almost the entire cost of building LoanDepot Park for the Marlins.
* Cobb County issued about $400 million in bonds to help pay for the Braves’ move from downtown Atlanta to Truist Park and a brand new entertainment district in Cobb County.
* The City of Arlington added a bunch of taxes (sales tax, car rental tax, hotel occupancy tax) to go halfsies with the Texas Rangers on Globe Life Field less than 20 years after the city had built what was then the shiny new Ballpark at Arlington. This came after the Rangers threatened to move to Dallas.
Buffalo, New York and Nashville, Tennessee have recently agreed to give multi-millions to the wealthy Bills and Titans owners respectively for new stadiums.
“This is the reality of American sports,” according to sports columnist Joe Posnanski.
“The story remains the same. Cities and counties continuously come to the voters with inflated promises (economic development!) and big dreams (imagine the Super Bowl coming to town!) and fear-based concerns (we are in danger of no longer being a Major League city!) and new stadiums get built and the wheels keep turning.”
Oakland played this game years ago to lure Al Davis and the NFL’s Raiders back to Oakland from Los Angeles. Nevertheless, the Raiders quickly weren’t happy in Oakland and are now based in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Oakland taxpayers continue to pay for the upgrades to their stadium that were made so the Raiders and Davis would call Oakland their long-term home.
It appears Thao, and Oakland’s city leaders, no longer want to play the stadium extortion game.
Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans

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"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- Reed Appears on Ralph Nader Radio Hour League of Fans’ sports policy director, Ken Reed, Ralph Nader and the New York Times’ Tyler Kepner discussed a variety of sports issues on Nader’s radio show as well as Reed’s updated book, How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan. Reed's book was released in paperback in February, and has a new introduction and several updated sections.
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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