The Oakland Athletics' owner John Fisher announced that the franchise have already submitted their application for the relocation to Las Vegas to the MLB commisioner so it can be sealed and delivered as soon as possible.
The Mayor of Oakland, Sheng Thao, is mad at that and at Fisher for what he wants: to keep playing games inside the Coliseum for as long as possible while also reaping the revenue that would offer before ditching the city and moving his mob to Nevada.
However, Thao's demands might be a little bit crazy of themselves with the Mayor stepping out of bounds.
In the latest development, shared by Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, the beat reporter wrote that the city of Oakland is "ready to play hardball."
In his story, Ostler revealed that Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao has "already informed MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred" that there is "a price" for a lease extension.
The A's lease of the Coliseum runs through Dec. 2024, and they'd like to extend it past that date so they can still keep earning the broadcasting revenue attached to it and their media partners.
What is Thao proposing? That the A's "leave their name rooted in Oakland" when they go. Yeah... right... mayor.
The Oakland Athletics aka Oakland A's aka Ever-Moving A's has used the same name throughout their history. Their history, mind you, spans from 1901 through this season, and most probably a few more years.
The A's have always been the A's in their 120+ years of history. The A's, also, have inhabited Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland. They will play in Las Vegas in a few years. They will, still, be the A's, because that's been the case for years on end and that's not going to change, lease extended or not.
One thing is to negotiate, another one to call for silly, naive demands.
Not even happy with that surely bonkers proposal, Thao's BFF and Chief of Staff Leigh Hanson also pitched the media outlet the potential idea of getting "guaranteed of being awarded a new team when baseball expands," as another viable solution and demand in exchange for the departure of the A's from the East Bay.
Oakland is retorting to naive demands knowing everything is lost and the A's are gone. From the latter to the former there's a sizable gap, and the city should respect the decision of the A's moving away, if only because it was the first not to secure a deal with the Athletics to build a new ground and keep them in town.