A’s owner John Fisher speaks: ‘We did everything we could’ to stay in Oakland

Fisher addressed the media on Thursday, shortly after the MLB owners voted to approve the A’s move to Las Vegas.

Finally, John Fisher is making public remarks.

The Oakland A’s owner addressed the media shortly after the MLB owners voted to approve the A’s move to Las Vegas at the owners’ meetings in Arlington, Texas, on Thursday morning.

“I understand that it is an incredibly difficult day for Oakland fans,” he told reporters. “And I just want to say we made every effort and did everything we could to try to find a solution there and it was only in the last couple years we began to turn our attention to another market.”

Fisher also released a statement and sent a letter to some fans.

His statement:

“I want to express my gratitude to the owners and commissioner for their thoughtful deliberation and positive votes in favor of our relocation to Las Vegas.

“Today marks a significant moment for our franchise, and it’s met with mixed emotions – sadness for this change and excitement for our future. I know this is a hard day for our fans in Oakland. We made sincere efforts to keep our team in Oakland, but unfortunately, it did not work out. I am grateful to the fans who have supported our team throughout the years and the home Oakland provided. The storied history of our franchise includes three cities over the past century: Oakland, along with Kansas City and Philadelphia, will always be part of this franchise’s DNA.

“We are excited to begin this next chapter in Las Vegas. I want to thank the Las Vegas and Nevada community for welcoming us. We will continue to work hard to bring home more championships for our fans and for our new home in Vegas.”

Fisher also sent a letter to A’s fans, obtained by ABC’s Casey Pratt.

The letter:

“Dear Fans of the Oakland A’s,

“I know that today is a very difficult day with the vote by MLB owners allowing for the A’s relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas. I share a lot of those emotions – sadness that our team will be leaving its home since 1968, pride in what we have accomplished together on and off the field in Oakland, but also hope and optimism about the future of the A’s in Las Vegas.

“Since 2005, when Lew Wolff and I bought the team, we focused our efforts on developing a new privately financed stadium to position the A’s for long-term, sustained success. From the beginning, I wanted to stay in the Bay Area which has been home to my family for generations and to the Athletics for over fifty years.

“Even before we bought the team, it was clear that the A’s needed a new stadium, with the Coliseum being one of the oldest ballparks in the game and with huge repair and maintenance issues. We spent nearly all our time and effort exploring multiple locations in Oakland, Fremont, San Jose and then Laney College, the Coliseum and Howard Terminal in Oakland. For the past 2-1/2 years, we also explored Las Vegas in parallel with those efforts.

“I fell in love with the history and community around the A’s from the beginning of my affiliation with the team. I felt that I was in a unique position to succeed in building a new home for our team, which was critical to having a sustainable, winning team on the field for A’s fans. However, after the last six years of working on keeping the A’s in Oakland, the hurdles proved too great. We were unable to get a binding agreement from the City, with rising costs of infrastructure making it harder and harder for the city to pay for its part of the project, and organized opposition from maritime interests raising significant doubts we could ever get a stadium built.

“In May 2021, MLB gave us permission to explore Las Vegas as an alternative market out of concern for the rate of progress being made by the A’s in Oakland. The need for a new stadium was reinforced in the 2022 collective bargaining agreement between MLB and the baseball player’s association, which stated that the A’s must have a binding agreement for a new stadium by January 2024 or lose revenue sharing. Despite our best efforts, including six years of work and $100 million spent on securing a stadium in Oakland, we came to the difficult conclusion that we would not be able to have a binding agreement with Oakland by the January, 2024, deadline. The threat of a referendum delaying the process further confirmed that decision.

“I want to thank the mayor’s office, the port, the city council, the state, and most importantly A’s fans and our own employees, who were all dedicated to trying to make this work in Oakland. I believe the collective motivations of everyone involved were honorable and I appreciate all the work that was done in support of this effort. I also understand their disappointment and frustration, and the desire in the media to place all the blame on me and the A’s organization for the inability to make this work. All I can say is that we worked as hard as possible for six years to find a solution in Oakland.

“To our fans, I am truly sorry. While I know that today is a sad day, I hope that it is also the start of a new and bright future for the A’s.”

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao also released a statement that can be read here.

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred held a press conference with reporters in which he discussed Oakland as an expansion city. Read here.