An era came to an end for Major League Baseball as the Oakland Athletics played their final game at The Coliseum before temporarily relocating to Sacramento.
An era came to an end for Major League Baseball as the Oakland Athletics played their final game at The Coliseum before temporarily relocating to Sacramento.
An era came to an end for Major League Baseball as the Oakland Athletics played their final game at The Coliseum before temporarily relocating to Sacramento.
The move is the first phase of a multi-year plan before the team reaches its final destination in Las Vegas.
The final chapters came to a close over the last week, with their last game at Oakland Coliseum on Thursday and final game as Oakland's team on Sunday.
However, as the lights go out on Oakland, it's a reminder that the New York Islanders were this close to suffering the same fate.
Looking back over a decade later, Kansas City, Quebec City, and Hartford all had ominous undertones about the Islanders' future in New York.
The team had been unable to secure a deal to build a new arena, with the former Lighthouse Project never coming to fruition.
Despite a promising proposal of a shopping village, restaurants, hotel, and even a minor league baseball stadium, the project never came to fruition.
The death blow seemed to come on August 1, 2011, as Nassau County voters said "no" to passing funding for a new arena.
Much like the Islanders, Oakland also suffered this plight.
With the Oakland Coliseum showing signs of age, owner John Fisher tried to pitch for a new building in the city.
The most notable of these bids was the Howard Terminal project, which had negotiations and even an environmental impact study pass through the local government.
However, subsequent negotiations stalled out, resulting in uncertainty over the team's long-term future.
The stagnation in negotiations, while partially due to the COVID-19 pandemic, now cast significant doubts on Oakland's future with baseball.
By this point, both teams faced a fork in the road but took far different approaches.
For the Islanders, they were led by Charles Wang, who, despite evidence to the contrary, saw a future for the team in New York.
After 2011's failed vote, he led the team to Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
The move wasn't the most optimal after a few years of play, but the end goal was always to get a new building on Long Island.
Jon Ledecky and Scott Malkin became majority owners the next year, and the two continued his vision and acquired a parcel of land in Elmont for their new home.
After getting the Islanders back to Nassau Coliseum for a brief reunion, UBS Arena opened on Nov. 21, 2021, putting any fears of relocation to rest.
The team will kick off their fourth season in the building next month.
However, Oakland's story didn't have a happy ending. As Howard Terminal stalled, Fisher began to look elsewhere, ultimately landing in Las Vegas.
Major League Baseball owners unanimously agreed to the move in November 2023. News of Sacramento was announced in April, and construction on a new ballpark is set to begin next year.
Fisher's decision to pull the plug leaves behind a hurting fanbase that stayed loyal to the Athletics for 56 years. After the Raiders and Golden State Warriors leave the city, all the championships, Hall of Famers, and the Oakland sports scene will be a distant memory.
The departure of the A's is sad for the city and the sports world as a whole. Fisher's greed is a black eye for baseball and all of sports, as he got his new stadium at the cost of those who supported his team the most.
However, it's also a reminder that this fate is avoidable across the landscape. As Wang and the Islanders can attest, the road to finding a long-term home can be treacherous.
Despite the unorthodox path, his patience and loyalty to the fans and region live on at UBS Arena, where the Islanders will continue to be Long Island's team.