The Athletics won’t be playing baseball in the Oakland Coliseum for long, and they don’t want any other team to either.
Oakland’s new minor league team, the B’s (short for Ballers), was scheduled to play at the Coliseum in June, but the A’s, as the exclusive rights holder to the professional baseball building, blocked that plan.
“We started negotiating to play at the Coliseum in July, and by December we had signed the contract and paid the deposit,” B’s co-founder Paul Friedman told The Associated Press’ Janie McCauley on Wednesday. . The Athletics announced they will enforce a clause in their contract with the stadium that prohibits other professional baseball teams from playing at the Coliseum.
“We are disappointed in this development as we believe it was supposed to be a great event for Oakland. Despite this setback, nothing will stop us from turning the page on a new chapter for baseball in town.” there is no.”
Friedman said he and co-founder Brian Carmel exchanged dozens of emails to ensure a special night at a special venue for him and many others. He said he signed the contract, was ready and paid the deposit through communication with ASM Global. The venue management company will lease the stadium to the Athletics until December 2024.
The Athletics plan to move to a new ballpark on the Las Vegas Strip in 2028, and MLB owners have given them the green light to move from Oakland to Las Vegas, but under a licensing agreement with the Athletics, they have exclusive rights to play in the Coliseum. have. Coliseum Management Bureau.
“We are pleased to be able to cooperate with JPA.” [joint powers agency] and other ways to celebrate and promote professional baseball in Oakland,” longtime vice president of stadium operations David Linetti wrote in an email to ASM Global, which was shared Wednesday with The Associated Press and the team. shared by.
The B’s had planned to begin selling tickets on Thursday for its June 29 game against the Colorado Owls in what it hopes will be a “celebration of Oakland’s baseball heritage and the Coliseum” and a “joyful farewell and celebration.” But it would have to be done. Find a new location to hold your contest.
Friedman said Carmel and Carmel were part of a “reverse campaign” organized by heartbroken and angry A’s fans last season in a last-ditch effort to get A’s owner John Fisher to sell the team. He said he was moved by the boycott.
“We were inspired by the energy of the night of the reverse boycott,” Freedman told Macquarie. “That game was a protest against the notion that baseball might leave Oakland.” It was an important and emotionally healing event for the Oakland community.
“Our goal for this game is to celebrate that baseball will remain in Oakland for as long as the community desires.”