A’s fan launches website asking Las Vegas to reject team’s possible move

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - As the search for a new home for the Oakland A’s continues with the site of the Tropicana now proposed as a possible home for the team, fans in Oakland say they’ve dealt with unclear plans for years under team current ownership.

One super fan argues Nevada should reject the team’s move if it requires public funding.

“The A’s have no ballpark design, no architect selected. They are even at the point of looking at other sites again trying to cut their costs in case they don’t get government money,” stated Matt Ortega, a lifelong A’s fan.

Ortega says he now takes his own son to games, so he wants the team to stay put in Oakland. As a result, Ortega created this website nonevadamoney.com. The headline: billionaire A’s owner John Fisher wants $500 million for a Nevada ballpark.

It’s a direct message to Nevada taxpayers claiming that public funding will be required for the move.

“A lot of folks slag Oakland fans for not showing up to games and blaming the fans and really what I wanted to do was kind of educate not just Las Vegas, but just people watching from all around the country what we have been dealing with in terms of the team ownership out here in terms of their unwillingness to commit any money to investing in the team,” Ortega explained.

The A’s superfan says team ownership promised to build at new locations in Oakland only for the plans never to come to fruition.

“They had announced a site here in Oakland that would have essentially required them to take over part of a community college and they publicly announced as their chosen site without really doing any due diligence of talking to stakeholders on the ground who that would impact, and it blew up in their face,” Ortega asserted.

Ortega believes Las Vegas would be better off creating a major league team from scratch, an expansion team like the Golden Knights rather than importing a team like the Raiders.

“I think if you look at those two teams, which one has been more successful in terms of fan loyalty, in terms of ticket sales, in terms of play on the field, I think on every level you would have to say the Golden Knights.”

Ortega says A’s fans in Oakland want to see the team sold to a different ownership group. A’s fans are planning a reverse boycott for June 13th and plan to pack as many A’s fans in the Coliseum as possible to show the fan base is there in Oakland.

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