A’s fans protest move by watching opener in parking lot

OAKLAND, Calif. – Thousands of Athletics fans gathered in the Coliseum's south parking lot before Thursday night's season opener against the Cleveland Guardians to try a new way to express their displeasure with the team property: show up but stay away.

In what could be the start of the team's final season in Oakland, fans waved hundreds of “SELL” flags, ate free tacos and listened to live music. What most of them didn't do was enter the stadium to watch the game, opting to continue the party all night by watching the game on an inflatable projection screen. The crowd announced for the match: 13,522 people.

“This will be the first time since 2006 that I’ve missed opening day,” said Jorge Leon, president of the Oakland 68s, an influential supporters group. “It used to be that Opening Day was a holiday for all of us. We would take the day off and celebrate from 11 a.m. until first pitch. It's tough.”

Fans celebrated on the cracked asphalt of the Coliseum parking lot, in the shadow of the crumbling bleachers that once entered the stadium for Raiders football games. The longest line was at the tent manned by members of Schools Over Stadiums, a political action committee of the Nevada State Education Association, which is trying to block the allocation of $380 million in funding public to help A's owner John Fisher pay for a new ballpark. on the Las Vegas Strip.

Nick Danoff, an Oakland resident volunteering with Schools Over Stadiums, worked the crowd, handing out cards showing fans how to donate to the effort to bring the issue to Nevada voters. An anonymous donor accepted a one-day contribution of up to $100,000.

“That’s the one thing John Fisher doesn’t want you to do today,” Danoff said.

Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously to approve the team's move to Las Vegas, and A's ownership is targeting a 2028 opening of a new stadium in the parking lot of the Tropicana Resort and Casino , which will soon be demolished. The team has not yet determined where it will play in the three-year interim; Salt Lake City and Sacramento are options if the team cannot reach an agreement with the city of Oakland to extend its lease beyond this season.

Led by the Oakland 68s and the Last Dive Bar, another fan group, two “reverse boycott” games were held last season, when fans filled the Coliseum to show their support. With the move to Las Vegas approved, fans have adopted a different – ​​but still non-traditional – boycott method to start this season.

One fan who bucked the trend, reluctantly, was Will MacNeil – known as “Right Field Will” – who attended the pregame party in the parking lot but sat in his usual seat in the right field stands to show his support for the new Guardians manager. Stephen Vogt, a longtime A's fan favorite from his time in Oakland.

“We texted and he was hoping I could be there for his debut,” MacNeil said. “That’s the only reason I’m going.”