Athletics attendance reaches new low in Oakland after latest Vegas news: Smallest Coliseum crowd in 44 years

Kevin Skiver

Athletics attendance reaches new low in Oakland after latest Vegas news: Smallest Coliseum crowd in 44 years image

Athletics vs. Diamondbacks on a Monday night in May is never going to be a massive boon for ticket sales. But after the news the Athletics and Bally's reached an agreement to build a Las Vegas Strip-situated ballpark on the Tropicana lot, attendance has only continued to plunge.

According to Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle, owner John Fisher and president Dave Kaval's team drew 2,064 fans Monday, the lowest total since September 1979 (excluding the COVID-19-restricted 2020 season).

That number represents tickets sold, so the actual turnout was likely even lower, and resulted in a surreal vibe at the ballpark.

The turnout was the lowest since 1997 (excluding, of course, Camden Yards' empty ballpark in 2015) and the third-lowest in recorded MLB history (per Stathead). The White Sox vs. Blue Jays game in 1997 had a temperature of 34 degrees at first pitch, which contributed to the ridiculously low turnout of 746. 

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Heading into Tuesday, Oakland is 9-34, the worst mark in MLB.

“The tough part about it is, it’s kind of out of our control,” second baseman Tony Kemp said of the crowd, per Kawahara. “The fans have a reason to feel the way they do and they pay certain prices for tickets. And if they want to support the team, they do, and if they don’t, they don’t.”

The Athletics have given them nothing to support. There are no marketable names, not even the rocket arm of Ramon Laureano or the up-and-coming arm of Mason Miller (who is on IL). They're last in payroll at $40.18 million on the 26-man roster. 

Are the Athletics moving to Las Vegas?

The Athletics announced in April that they do, in fact, plan to move to Las Vegas, much to the dismay of not only the local fanbase, but baseball fans in general.

"Once the league set the deadline of January 2024 to have a binding deal, it really made it an inevitability in some ways," Kaval, who spearheaded the failed attempts to build a stadium in Howard Terminal in Oakland, said, per ESPN. "It made us get a binding deal on a timeline that wasn't on offer in Oakland."

Kaval infamously said the Athletics were pursuing "parallel paths" between Oakland and Vegas last season.

The Athletics made no efforts to privately fund a stadium, instead fighting for a publicly-funded facility the entire time, something Oakland never entirely acquiesced to.

The new stadium on the Strip is to be $1.5 billion with a capacity of 30,000 and a partially retractable roof, per Front Office Sports.

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What is John Fisher's net worth?

Per Forbes.com, Fisher is worth $2.2 billion. 

He is the president of Pisces, Inc., and his fortune comes from his father Donald's founding of The Gap.

Kevin Skiver

Kevin Skiver Photo

Kevin Skiver has been a content producer at Sporting News since 2021. He previously worked at CBS Sports as a trending topics writer, and now writes various pieces on MLB, the NFL, the NBA, and college sports. He enjoys hiking and eating, not necessarily in that order.