Oakland A’s owner John Fisher got what he wanted. All 30 MLB team owners voted unanimously to allow the Oakland Athletics to move to Las Vegas. I guess even the most inept people get a win occasionally. Lately, John Fisher has been touting bigger payrolls once the team officially moves to Sin City. However, Johnny Boy is coming to Vegas with no credibility and doesn’t have the money to have a higher payroll. John Fisher lied to Oakland for 18 years and is already starting to do the same thing in Las Vegas.
Continuing to Lie To The City Of Oakland.
Embed from Getty ImagesAs moving preparations have gone on, John Fisher has lied his way through the entire process. Some of the many lies Fisher has told are that he’s lost a lot of money and insisted that poor attendance was the reason for low payrolls. Oh, how the truth always comes out.
The Athletics Aren’t Losing Money John Fisher Is Just Pocketing It
No owner loses in business. If an owner was losing on the business side of baseball, they would have to sell their team. Just ask former Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Fisher has claimed that the team has been losing money when it really made a $62.2 million profit in 2022. This made Oakland one of the top five most profitable teams in baseball. This all happened despite them losing 102 games and having poor attendance. That season, the A’s profited more than the Yankees, Mets, Astros, and Dodgers. It should be noted that all four of those teams have outspent Oakland by a very wide margin.
The Athletics Are Moving To A Smaller Market
Embed from Getty ImagesHis lies to Las Vegas have already started and the Athletics haven’t even moved there yet. Fisher has been bragging about having higher payrolls once the team officially comes to town. His nose is becoming bigger than Pinocchio’s at this point. MLB waived the relocation fee on the count of Fisher being unable to pay it. The Athletics are also moving from the tenth-largest media market in the Bay Area to a much smaller market in Las Vegas that is ranked 40th. This effectively makes the Athletics by MLB’s definition, the smallest market in the league. This means that the team will generate less revenue. It also makes it even more difficult to believe Fisher has the resources to increase the A’s payroll.
The New Stadium Will Be The Smallest In Baseball
The stadium that he is dying to build will only hold 33,000 people, making it the smallest ballpark in baseball. The Athletics aren’t even going to outdraw the Marlins and Rays. There is no way the gate revenue will be enough to support expanding payroll. It should be noted that Fisher has yet to come up with his side of the funding for the stadium.
Fisher Will Have A LOT Of Money To Payback Goldman Sachs
Whenever an owner pursues funding for a stadium, they go to the market and borrow it. There is always debt associated with stadium deals. Typically, when an owner finances a stadium, they want to go through J.P. Morgan or Bank of America, not Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs charges higher fees and interest rates. Fisher is going through Goldman Sachs because he doesn’t have another bank willing to support him financially. Those have turned him down because they more than likely didn’t believe his projections. These things further damage his credibility.
You’ve Inherited A Liar Las Vegas
Embed from Getty ImagesBe careful Vegas! This is the same man who has lied to Oakland for over 18 years. He’s already begun lying to the city of Las Vegas. Fisher is touting the lie of having a bigger payroll, he doesn’t have the money! While the first year may go well, even the Marlins and Rays had successful inaugural seasons. After a while, Las Vegas is going to be seeing more poor products on the field than winning teams due to Fisher just pocketing the money. All the fans are going to be doing is putting money into Johnny’s piggy bank. This is pretty much what fans in Oakland have dealt with during John Fisher’s time there.
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1 Comment
Great article! Hope he reads it.