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Oaklanding Part 3


Over the last few years there have been a number of problems and issues arising in Oakland for the final professional sports team in the area. This has led to a number of rumors having to do with the possibility of relocation for the Athletics. As of this writing, Athletics executives have visited the minor league affiliate for the team enough that the local has begun to cover the visits. The Las Vegas Aviators or the formerly known Vegas 51's have been the Athletics top minor league affiliate since 2019 which was also the team's first year as the Aviators. It is crazy to think that a minor league affiliate is drawing higher attendance numbers to their games then a major league team but that is exactly what is happening in this situation. 

According to various articles it seems that if the A's moved to Vegas they would initially move to the Las Vegas BallPark which is the home of the Aviators while a new ballpark is built for the A's. This move would be out of the ordinary as normally teams won't relocate until they have a permanent place to play in the new area. It has been said that until the MLB can sort out these issues with not just Oakland but also in Tampa Bay who has the same attendance problem as the A's expansion will not be discussed. In my opinion, expansion should be the last thing the MLB is thinking about at this point, but if it stops them making more pointless rule changes "to speed up" the game then go for it. This is a discussion for another article though.



As mentioned in the previous article the A's took a positive step forward to being able to not only stay in Oakland but make the new stadium. I also found that some locals are worried that if Oakland does lose another sports team it would damage the reputation of the city. Those are the same people who chose to pass the vote for the new stadium looking at it as an opportunity for economic and employment growth. I've been to the Coliseum, yes that might've been twelve years ago but it wasn't anything special at the time and I could see even then that the A's needed a new stadium. 

This will be an interesting story to keep track of as it seems the A's might be able to remain in Oakland and get the new stadium they deserve. I personally think relocation of a sports team should be the last resort and not used as a cop out like some owners have used it as in the past. I'll be happy if Oakland will be able to keep the Athletics, but they need a bit of a compromise as the team and more importantly the fans deserve a new stadium. The Athletics can become a contender again, but it will take a few years and they deserve to have something to build to in my book. 




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