A’s Fans Pull Off Rowdy ‘Reverse Boycott’ to Keep Team in Oakland
With the A’s relocation to Las Vegas all but assured, fans in Oakland have become increasingly vocal about their disgust with owner John Fisher and the rest of the team’s management. On Tuesday, their frustrations culminated in a creative show of protest with what the fan base dubbed a “reverse boycott.”
The idea for the demonstration was to pack the Oakland Coliseum—the A’s cavernous home for the past 55 years that routinely gets sparse visitors—with as many fans as possible as a way to show ownership that fan support was not the issue with the team. The A’s have averaged just 8,555 fans this year, easily the lowest in baseball.
Facing the Rays on Tuesday night, though, fans showed up in droves, with the official attendance coming in at a season-high 27,759. In the five other Tuesday night home games this season, official attendance was a combined 19,563—or, an average of 3,913 per game.
"Stay in Oakland!" ????️
— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) June 14, 2023
A's fans are out in force for the reverse boycott
(via @FCartoscelli3)pic.twitter.com/BmxNtIYkPG
Though nearly 20,000 shy of the Coliseum’s official capacity, the fans created a raucous environment, with frequent chants for the A’s to stay in Oakland and for Fisher to sell the team. Fans also organized a T-shirt giveaway in the team’s signature kelly green color with the word “SELL” across the chest.
As planned A's fans were standing and silent during the first batter of the fifth inning
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) June 14, 2023
They then broke into "sell the team" chants so loud that the pitcher thought his earpiece was broken pic.twitter.com/NI2sRLmPjV
Shortly before first pitch, the A’s tweeted that all ticket revenue from the game would be donated to the Alameda County Community Food Bank and the Oakland Public Education Fund. The team reported more than $800,000 from Tuesday’s gate.
The A’s, who came into the game on a season-best six-game winning streak, rewarded fans for their support with another victory, scoring runs in the seventh and eighth innings for a comeback 2–1 win over the team with the best record in baseball. Oakland (19–50) now has the longest active winning streak in the league, and with the victory no longer has MLB’s worst record, which belongs to Kansas City (18–49).