Green Day lead singer blasts Athletics owner in NSFW rant amid Las Vegas move
The final days of the Athletics playing in Oakland are not going to be easy for team owner John Fisher. He has been reviled for his decision to take the team out of Oakland, and now that the team is in the midst of its final homestand, longtime fans of the team have continued to lash out at the owner. That includes Green Day lead singer Billy Joe Armstrong, who is an Oakland native.
Armstrong and his band mates were playing a show at Oracle Park in San Francisco Friday night. Armstrong had been a fan of the Athletics for years, and he let loose with a stream of expletives directed at Fisher.
"We don't take no s*** from people like John f***ing Fisher who sold out the Oakland A's to Las f***ing Vegas," he screamed to the crowd in San Francisco, per Phil Mayer of San Francisco television station KRON.
The Athletics are planning to move to Las Vegas in time for the 2028 or 2029 season. However, since it will be years before that new facility is ready for Major League Baseball, the A's are planning to move to a minor league facility in Sacramento until their new stadium is completed.
The Athletics had pursued a new stadium in Oakland for years, but Fisher was never able to get the public financing he craved to make the deal. When each effort ended in failure he ultimately decided to move the team, and that decision gained the approval of Major League Baseball.
Athletics follow the lead of the Raiders and Warriors
The Las Vegas Raiders moved to their current home in time for the 2020 season. Marc Davis had announced the move from Oakland in 2017 and they now play in Allegiant Stadium. That facility hosted Super Bowl LVIII in February.
The Golden State Warriors played in Oakland from 1971 through 2019. However, when their current home in San Francisco, the Chase Center was completed, they returned to that city. The Warriors had played in San Francisco from 1962 through 1971.
The Athletics moved to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968, and they have played in the Oakland Coliseum since that point. They had played in Kansas City from 1955 through 1967 and had been the Philadelphia Athletics from 1901 through 1954.
The 2024 version of the Athletics are in fourth place in the American League West with a 67-87 record. They are 5.0 games ahead of the last place Los Angeles Angels, and the Athletics have bounced back behind the power hitting of Brent Rooker this season. They were a brutal 50-112 in 2023 and that saw them finish in last place.
The Oakland A's finished in first place in the Covid-shortened 2020 season and they had a winning 86-76 record the following season. However, they have endured three straight losing seasons to end their run in Oakland.
