Where will John Fisher’s baseball team play starting in 2025?
The Harvard Law School graduate and Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred, who looked foolish enough when he claimed he didn’t know what was going on in the negotiations between Oakland Athletics’ owner John Fisher and Oakland officials in the stadium negotiations between the two sides, must love the thought of throwing out the first pitch of the 2025 season at whatever place Fisher thinks is suitable for his business. The Athletics’ ownership team is looking at using a minor league stadium in Sacramento or in the Salt Lake City suburb of South Jordan. The good thing for Fisher, he knows that those two ballparks are up to Major League Baseball standards for a minor league park. The South Jordan facility is being built and is scheduled to open in 2025. That is more than you can say for Fisher’s plan to move to Las Vegas as there is no shovel in the ground indicating the start of ballpark construction.
The Fisher stadium tour should be an embarrassment to Manfred and 29 other MLB owners. Fisher’s revenue potential at the 7,500-seat ballpark in South Jordan, Utah or at the 10,624-seat facility in Sacramento or at the 8,196-seat stadium in Summerlin, Nevada is not going to produce anything that resembles a Major League Baseball check. Then again, Fisher devalued his Oakland baseball property to the point where he got an average of 10,275 people per game in 2023 which was an improvement over 2022 totals. By about 300 people per game. Fisher is contractually obligated to play in Oakland in 2024. Fisher’s options for 2025 and beyond until the planned Las Vegas stadium opens in 2028, seem to be working out a deal to remain in Oakland temporarily or move to the San Francisco Giants’ stadium or use minor league baseball parks. It seems totally absurd that MLB is in this predicament.
