A's Fans in Oakland Continue to Suffer Amidst Team's Las Vegas Theatrics

The Athletics have been hard at work this week, making sure that they fill the news cycle with positive headlines ahead of two games in Las Vegas for Big League Weekend. New renderings, another contract extension, and a new team president were just some of the bigger headlines from the past couple of days.

Yet, for many in Oakland, the team's former home, the past few days have been especially painful.

Not only was this the first offseason that there wouldn't be A's baseball returning to the Coliseum come Opening Day, but this winter has been filled with the team actually spending a little bit of money--something that appeared to be strictly forbidden under owner John Fisher's watch the past two decades in the East Bay.

The addition of a new president shouldn't have been terribly noteworthy to the fanbase, but they went out and hired Marc Badain, the former president of the Oakland Raiders, who helped ripped the NFL franchise out of Oakland and plopped them down in Las Vegas.

The cherry on top for many fans was small, but especially painful. The team announced a new jersey patch that reads "Las Vegas" to signify that this ballpark deal is going to happen. It's also a paid advertisement that is likely netting the team millions of dollars from the LVCVA. According to The Athletic, the league average for a jersey patch sponsor is between $7 million to 8 million per year.

But it was the unveiling of the patch, a video narrated by the voice of the A's, Ken Korach, that elicited a reaction. Korach is still a part of the Athletics radio broadcast and is a Nevada resident, but he's also been a part of the fan's lives in Oakland for decades. Those are the little touches that are going to sting fans in Oakland.

This isn't Korach's fault at all. For a video like this, it would be weird if the person narrating it wasn't the voice of the team. That doesn't mean that it doesn't sting.

It’s not just a patch, it’s a promise. Las Vegas, we’re coming. pic.twitter.com/pbNBEpSyTf
— Athletics (@Athletics) March 8, 2025

During a press conference to unveil both the patch and the marketing partnership between the A's and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), it was also noted that this particular patch would be facing the pitcher every time an A's player comes up to bat.

While the A's have said they want fans in the East Bay to continue supporting the club, this touch in particular makes it seem as though they don't care one way or another. For 162 games, the fans that the team has left behind would have to watch the team they fell in love with not only playing in a different ballpark, but rubbing the Las Vegas patches in their faces.

That's going to be a hard pass for anyone that was still considering watching those games. The fans in Sacramento can't be thrilled either. They have been tld that the team won't wear their city across their chests, they're not guaranteed to host any postseason baseball if the team makes it to October, and now their Sacramento patch will be playing second fiddle too.

The A's also haven't even made their home debut in Sacramento yet, and they have already spurned their new home city on numerous occasions, which is leaving many fans to question why their city is even letting the A's play there in the first place.

The A's are also planning on having a third patch on their sleeves to celebrate. the life and career of Rickey Henderson, so which side that one ends up on will be intriguing to see. Rickey wasn't affiliated with Sacramento or Las Vegas. He was an Oakland native.

There is a world in which the A's could have had more fans making the trek to watch them up in Sacramento, or even potentially to Las Vegas, had they handled the entire relocation saga a little more delicately and appreciated the decades of fandom that existed in Oakland.

That is not the path that the team has chosen to walk, as they have been borderline confrontational with their marketing. One speaker at the press conference on Friday even touted Las Vegas as having real fans. He must have meant for the Vegas Golden Knights, because Raiders games are usually packed with fans in the opposing team's laundry.

To be honest, a baseball team would probably work in Las Vegas. The problem that a lot of locals have is the location of the ballpark, which is going to be difficult to get to on a nightly basis, and the fact that nobody in Sin City cares about the A's. Given how the franchise has treated their previous and now current homes, they're also not giving Las Vegas much of a reason to buy in, either.