Oakland A's owner John Fisher responds to calls by fans to 'SELL' the team
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- Oakland A's owner John Fisher has broken his silence on relocating the team to Las Vegas in a new interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
He confirmed that he has no plans to sell the team.
"I have not considered selling the team," Fisher told Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Mick Akers. "I've now owned the team with my partner Lew Wolff, it's shocking really how the time flies, but since 2005. Our goal since then has been to find a new home and build a new home for our team."
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"This is the worst thing that's happened in the history of the Oakland A's, actually," Lynda Seaver, a lifelong A's fan said.
Fisher's interview on Tuesday was in response to a call by fans to sell the team.
The Oakland 68's led the effort with a reverse boycott, hoping to stop the A's looming move to Las Vegas.
"And honestly, the first word that came to mind was coward," Jorge Leon, President of the Oakland 68's said.
Leon was on the forefront of that reverse boycott, helping to print thousands of bright green 'SELL' shirts for fans over the summer.
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Many wore those shirts to Wednesday's game.
"We always did this knowing that this was probably not going to come to fruition, you know with selling the team," Leon said. "But we still feel that there is a group out there that can buy the team and keep them here in Oakland."
But Fisher says the whole reason behind building a new stadium is to make it to the World Series within a six-year period.
"The A's have had a more challenging time signing free agents because we haven't had the revenues to support a payroll to do that. We expect that being in a new stadium, being in Las Vegas is going to change all of that," Fisher told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
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"I just don't believe anything he says, they told us that they were going to stay in Oakland and now they're uprooting from Oakland so I think that's just a terrible shame," Seaver said.
Still, many fans are holding out hope.
"Until I see shovels in the ground in Las Vegas, I'm thinking there's going to be a way for them to stay," Kenny Dougdale, a Galt resident said.
And Leon says their fight continues.
"Nothing's not for sale, there's a price for everything," Leon said.
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