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The last hurdle that Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher had to clear in order to pick up the team and move it Las Vegas appears to have been cleared.
The Nevada State senate passed a $380 million bill to fund the construction of a new stadium for the team on Tuesday.
This is despite Fisher being valued at over $2 billion and the A’s being valued at $1.2 billion. Fisher bought the team four just $180 million in 2005.
Since that point, he’s done nothing to keep the team competitive and even less to invest in the Oakland Coliseum. And when Oakland’s local leaders refused to give him a new stadium, he picked up his ball and left.
A once-proud organization is now one of the worst in baseball. Oakland fans have screamed at Fisher to sell the team. But to no avail.
Now it appears the A’s are Las Vegas bound, and one of Las Vegas’ favorite sons and baseball’s biggest stars absolutely hates it.
“I feel bad for the A’s and their fans,” Harper told Matt Gelb of The Athletic. “They’re so rooted in Oakland. Those fans bleed green. Now it’s, ‘Hey, we’re going to pick the A’s to come to Vegas.’ I don’t agree with that. Who cares what I think? It’s my own opinion. But when you see a team like the A’s — there’s so much history at the Coliseum with all the great players they’ve had. And the last couple of years, it hasn’t been the greatest. I get that. I totally understand.
“But do I believe they should leave Oakland because of that? No. They could be as good as anybody if they actually went and did it. Those fans deserve that.”
Harper’s teammate Bryson Stott, another Las Vegas native, also doesn’t think much of the move.
“…You have people in town liking the Dodgers, and the Angels, and the Padres, and the Diamondbacks. It will take a few generations before they have a real fandom in baseball,” Stott said via USA Today. “I’m sure they’ll sell tickets for visiting fans, which is probably all they care about.”
But hey, John Fisher is probably going to make a pretty penny when he sells the team in the next decade.