Season-Best Reverse Boycott Crowd Amplifies A’s Fans’ Protest Yet Again

The Oakland A’s fans staged a protest once again with an impressive turnout in their “reverse boycott” movement. Over 3,000 fans attended the game, marking the season’s highest attendance. This protest aimed to show dissatisfaction with the A’s ownership and their plans to relocate the team to Las Vegas. The fans called for the team’s ownership to invest in a new stadium in Oakland and prioritize the interests of the local community. The reverse boycott has gained momentum and continues to be a powerful platform for fans to voice their concerns and support their beloved team..

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More than two hours before Saturday’s game, in the far reaches of the sprawling Coliseum parking lot, Oakland Athletics fans stayed on message.

Many of them wore familiar Kelly green T-shirts, with “Sell” stripped across the chest. Some passed out “Battle of the Bay” towels, reminiscent of 1989 World Series souvenirs, with a 2023 touch: “Sell the Team” inscribed across the towers of the Bay Bridge depiction.

Others played cornhole, with one board featuring A’s owner John Fisher (#Fisherout) and the other showing club president David Kaval (#Rooted?). Neither photo was especially flattering, with their “mouths” serving as the cornhole target.

The A’s are enduring a miserable season on the field, with the worst record in Major League Baseball, but their fans remain determined to protest the franchise’s proposed move to Las Vegas. Much as they did June 13 at the Coliseum and July 24 at Oracle Park, they came to the ballpark to make another statement as the A’s and Giants met in the opener of their two-game series.

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Oakland Athletics’ fan Peter Fournier joins fellow Bay Bridge Series attendees in chanting “Sell the Team” during the fifth inning of A’s game against the San Francisco Giants at Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, Calif., on Saturday, August 5, 2023. Video: Scott Strazzante

Saturday’s crowd of 37,553 marked a season-high at the Coliseum by a wide margin. The second-biggest turnout was the 27,759 spectators who showed up for the original reverse boycott game in June against Tampa Bay.

On cue, the fifth inning began with momentary silence, followed by spirited chants of “Sell the Team!” The chants started on Paul Blackburn’s second pitch to Luis Matos, resurfaced with LaMonte Wade Jr. at the plate and fizzled more quickly than organizers probably envisioned. Fans periodically revived the chants later.

Before the game, Dennis Biles of Hayward — wearing a “Sell” shirt, pearl necklaces and green bejeweled sunglasses in the parking lot — nonetheless found hope in the recurring sound of A’s fans demanding new ownership. They made their presence known during road games this week against the Dodgers in Los Angeles, just as they did last month in Seattle and San Francisco.

“The fact we were able to get the chant going at the All-Star Game, and in L.A. and over in San Francisco, it really speaks to how much momentum we’ve picked up with this thing,” Biles said. “I don’t want to embellish this too much, but it’s kind of a worldwide phenomenon.”

Kayson Miller, 12, and Marcus Telles, 11 cheer an A’s hit in the first inning. Saturday’s crowd of 37,553 marked a season-high at the Coliseum

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

So, yeah, maybe he embellished it a bit.

Just as notable as the lobbying has been the uncomfortable response from the A’s and Major League Baseball. One MLB highlight video in April cropped out A’s fans hoisting anti-Fisher signs, and Dodger Stadium officials reportedly stopped A’s fans as they handed out cards this week asking their counterparts to join them in fifth-inning, sell-the-team chants. Those chants in Chavez Ravine happened nevertheless.

There was another incident, Biles said, in which the television broadcast used a graphic to cover one spectator wearing a “Sell” shirt.

“We’ve seen plenty of effort from MLB and the A’s to suppress our message in various ways,” he said. “It’s funny, because the more they try to suppress us the more people kind of tune in. I think it does make people talk.”

More than four months into the season, and nearly two months since the first reverse boycott game, it’s fair to wonder if the protests are having a practical impact. They’re getting attention, yes. They’re making the rounds on social media, absolutely.

Zoe Conger and Kiera Cline hold up signs in fifth inning of Saturday’s A’s-Giants game at the Coliseum with a clear message for A’s owner John Fisher: “SELL.”

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

But are they really doing anything to convince Fisher to sell?

Probably not, several A’s fans acknowledged Saturday. They also made another, salient point: This is one of the few options available to them.

“It’s all we have control over,” said Lance Stapleton of Oakland, attending the game with his wife Brenton. “We can voice our concerns, and hopefully the other owners will vote no on relocation.

“It seems like the A’s front office is not even interested in working out a deal in Oakland. So now it’s not trying to get them to return to the negotiating table, but our last Hail Mary pass is to get (Fisher) to sell, and hopefully the thing in Vegas will fail.”

Nearby at the pregame gathering, Portia Bond of Walnut Creek shared Stapleton’s hope for a last-minute reprieve.

“I think it’s wishing for something positive, a great turnaround,” she said. “Everyone loves a comeback story.”

Beatriz Soria holds a flag near a “SELL” sign in the right field bleachers at the Coliseum on Saturday.

Scott Strazzante/The Chronicle

Bond’s husband, Steve, went to his first A’s game in 1968 (the franchise’s first year in Oakland) with his grandfather. Steve Bond, who said he has come to 30 of the past 35 home openers, insisted history will look favorably on this fan campaign 50 years from now, shaping the conversation surrounding the move to Vegas.

Or consider Biles’ deep attachment to the A’s: He has attended games since 1988 and has held a full season-ticket package since 2007. He realizes all the shirts and all the shouting probably will fall on deaf ears, but he still wants sports fans to understand the truth about Fisher’s stadium vision for a future in the Nevada desert.

“A lot of this is about spreading the message and spreading awareness,” Biles said. “We see what’s going on with tax handouts for stadium projects. We’ve seen some pushback against it in recent years, but most people are still duped into thinking stadium projects are a boon for the public, when they’re really only a boon for the private investors involved.”

Reach Ron Kroichick: [email protected]; Twitter: @ronkroichick

Oakland Athletics fans continue to protest the team’s proposed move to Las Vegas, despite the team’s poor performance this season. At the recent Bay Bridge Series game against the San Francisco Giants, fans chanted “Sell the Team” and displayed signs and t-shirts with messages demanding new ownership. The protests have gained attention on social media, but it remains unclear if they will have any practical impact on convincing A’s owner John Fisher to sell the team. Many fans acknowledge that protesting is one of the few options available to them in the face of the team’s unwillingness to negotiate a deal in Oakland.

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