Poor A's

Poor Oakland A's. The Major League Baseball season is not off to a good start for them The team has already decided they're leaving Oakland. They're headed to Las Vegas, which seems to be getting  every new team and big event now.

They're not going yet, though. Las Vegas doesn't have a stadium ready yet, and won't for another three or four years. But the city of Oakland and the team couldn't come to an agreement, so they will play this season in Oakland, then move to Sacramento. They also don't have an adequate stadium. They'll play in a minor league ballpark that only seats about 14,000 people. That is incredibly small for a major league club, but should be enough for the A's. They are averaging "crowds" of 6,000 fans a game. They stadium in Oakland seats over 60,000, so plenty of tickets available. I looked at their ticket prices - $50 for seats right behind home plate. That's actually a pretty good deal. 

Their issues came to a head a few years ago when they traded away their best players for ones they wouldn't have to pay as much, and then raised their ticket prices on top of that. Attendance plummeted. By the way, they're currently in last place.

While in Sacramento, they'll simply be called the A's, having the smallest team name and attendance in baseball. A's is actually short for "Athletics" which is apparently just too long of a name to have to say. I'm not aware of anyone else that does that. No one calls the Yankees, the Y's, etc.

Should be an interesting next few years for the team. I would actually get season tickets if I lived down there. I would be one of the few, though.