"Thank you for ruining our lives" - Oakland Coliseum's ground staff lashes out at A's owner John Fisher amidst Las Vegas relocation

The Oakland A’s have decided to move to Sacramento for at least three seasons before ultimately settling in Las Vegas. Unless something big interferes with the project, John Fisher's plan is set.

Last year, Fisher’s relocation proposition got the green light from the league. However, it’ll take a few seasons before shifting to the new venue, and 2024 is the last year for the A’s lease for Oakland Coliseum.

The A’s front office and Oakland’s city officials had a meeting on extensions which eventually didn’t satisfy either party, and the team decided to move to Sacramento. The A’s new ballpark will be Sutter Health Park, which has a capacity of 14,000 seats.

With the new location, there’ll be new workers, which means an eventual layoff that the Coliseum’s working staff were unaware of until A's president Dave Kaval told the press.

"There will be a reduction in force, unfortunately, that comes with this," Kaval told reporters, via The Athletic. "Because we'll need a smaller staff to operate things, we're going to be leaning a little more on the (NBA's) Kings and the (Triple-A) River Cats up here."

CBS Sports talked with the A’s present staff members in the California city, and everyone is frustrated over the relocation plan, including Tony, a staffer at the Coliseum.

"I don't think they even thought about us," Tony told CBS Sports. "We've got people who've been there for 35 and 40 years. That's been a big part of their lives for the last 40, 40-something years, and now it's gone. So, what do they do?

"I really don't know. We're talking about this... every day is a different day of planning the rest of your life. That's where we are right now,” he added. "Mr. Fisher, we thank you for that. We thank you for ruining our lives."

The Oakland A’s relocation plan sees collateral damage

As CBS Sports interviewed staff of the Oakland A’s, many of them shared their frustration over losing their home team after nearly 50 years. One of them was Jim, an A’s fan and an usher at the Coliseum.

Jim, along with several others, believed that Fisher never embraced the city or the A’s fans. Rather, he may have had an eye for Las Vegas for the past few years.

According to an ESPN report, Fisher hasn’t attended a single MLB game since April 2023. For the last two seasons, the Athletics saw 100-loss seasons, but the team didn’t make any moves during the offseason to redeem that.

Despite being their last season in Oakland, the A’s are not in good shape, winning only four games out of nine, and also struggling to attract an audience for their games.