In doing so, A’s fans are hoping to show the team and the league that the fans are not the issue.

It's cute that those fans think the team and the league care at all what fans want.

Beyond stupid that this dance has been going on for 23 years (ever since Pac Bell opened really). It predates Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter! I'm so sick of it. Build a new stadium, move to Vegas, accept defeat, I don't care anymore.

Pretty much the reverse records as well.

Alas, just as most boycotts are ignored, I'll be flabbergasted(!) if they come close to filling the place up for a Tues Rays-A's battle.

Back in 2003 despite the league doing everything it could to kill the Expos (super tight budget, telling fans the team was leaving or being contracted ASAP, plus a 70 ton chunk of cement fell off the building iirc) they were contending in August 2003 sorta (3 games over 500) on August 25-27 they got 30.5k, 12.5k, 20.1k, 20k over 4 games. A Monday-Thursday series. Didn't stop the league from refusing to let them call up anyone in September though and continuing to kill the team.

3 games over 30k (more than Tampa can ever have again in their current stadium with its max of 25k)
5 more in the 20k's
But 9 in the 5k's
32 total under 10k.

Oakland in 2022
40k once, 30's twice, 20's twice
lowest was 2.4k, 4 games in the 2k's, 16 more under 5k - so 20 games with lower than the Expos got in 2003 (just 1 year left after that)
3 games sub 5k already this year. Best at home was 26.8k for opening day.

In the Expos sad final season (everyone knew that was it) they had 2 games over 30k - Opening Day in Montreal and closing day. Naturally they lost both games. Final play a popfly to LF by Terrmel Sledge (a 27 year old rookie).

The final 'f you' to fans was probably Vladimir Guerrero leaving by free agency after 2003 with zero effort to hold him (they didn't even offer arbitration). Yet the fans still came for 2 games at least. And never less than 3.6k for any game in Montreal. 13 games sub 5k total, or fewer disaster attendance than Oakland last year. I hate to imagine how empty Oakland's park will be if they announce the team moving before the end of a season and have lame duck games there.

Last 2 years, under 10,000 fans per game. But neither was a playoff team. Last time they were in the playoffs, they drew…zero fans. OK, that was 2020 and they were tied for first in attendance.

Right around 20,000 per game with the good 2018-19 Corner Matt teams. That’s probably the most they can hope for given the market and stadium.

The only time in their history where they drew well was the late 80s/early 90s teams with the bash brothers, Rickey, Eck, and big winning, durable rotations led by Dave Stewart. For the time, those were very expensive teams. They were at best middle of the pack when they won 3 WS in a row.

Beyond stupid that this dance has been going on for 23 years (ever since Pac Bell opened really). It predates Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter! I'm so sick of it. Build a new stadium, move to Vegas, accept defeat, I don't care anymore.

I held on to my A's fandom for a long time, well after it was clearly an irrational affection for shady billionaire's laundry, but the above more or less sums up where I'm at with the team.

I know that no owner cares about anything except fans' open wallets, but most owners at least pretend to maybe want to possibly win a game or two.

Perhaps the best thing for this reverse boycott is for fans to buy only the cheapest seats and zero concessions: make the point that we love the team but make said point by giving Fisher as few dollars as possible.

As a Tigers fan, I want to personally thank the Oakland A's for sucking so bad. (What? Detroit's won five straight, including a DH sweep of the Tribe yesterday...?!)

I thought this was a cool idea and was planning to go. But with the recent Las Vegas news, no way. Now I'm going for the reverse-reverse-boycott. EFF YOU FISHER.

It's be great if the As played in front of a home crowd so empty, it'd make the covid season look busy.

It's be great if the As played in front of a home crowd so empty, it'd make the covid season look busy.

ah, the pin drop.

went to what I suspect will be the last Springsteen/E Street Band U.S. arena show ever - sigh - about 10 days ago (he'll be off to Europe all summer and will play U.S. stadiums in the fall, but it doesn't take an actuary.... his wife didn't even show up for the finale; she seems content with being a new grandma plus she had COVID. can't say as I blame her.
plus he was 5 minutes short of 3 hours - which is an hour short of just a few years ago, though still longer than most concerts by singers a half-century younger - and the show came with a middle hour mostly of an energy-preserving blues/jazz vibe. 5 horns. good stuff, but.).

this was at the Prudential Center in Newark, home of the New Jersey Devils.

he dials the music all the way down mid-concert, then whispers, "Let's see how quiet we can get."

it works - for about 3 seconds. then the inevitable chants come from all over the arena, feeding off each other.

"Don't BRUUUUUUUUUUUUCE me!" he playfully scolds, knowing his "Jersey home crowd" couldn't possibly contain themselves. "I'm trying to work here!"

lol

would be cool to see something like that at a baseball game - even get the vendors to shush for a moment.

2023 A's home games seems like the ultimate opportunity.

he was 5 minutes short of 3 hours - which is an hour short of just a few years ago

The "four-hour Springsteen show" has always been mostly a myth (he would take a substantial break between sets in the '70s and early '80s). He's only actually done it three times and come close a handful more, mostly during a 2016 run of the River (revisited) tour but also in 2012 in Scandinavia.

I've seen other data that says otherwise, although in those cases most were in Europe as well.

I've seen other data that says otherwise, although in those cases most were in Europe as well.

plus I think you're missing the forest for the trees.

how often has Bruce played concerts in under 3 hours, as he did on I think every American arena date this year?

if his typical show used to be 3:38 or 3:43, then sure, "an hour short" at 2:55 isn't literally precise.

but his shows are now a LOT shorter than they used to be - correct?

that's my actual point (and hey, he's 73. not a complaint. but he seemed immortal, until he didn't anymore).

3:48 would apparently be his 10th-longest ever:

https://www.mybosstime.com/concert-statistics.php

Yes, the shows are shorter on this tour. But they were very rarely as long as a lot of people seem to believe and measure him against. Both true. We should probably end the Bruce hijack now.

agreed.

It's hard to get to the bottom of the reason for the shorter concerts since they implemented the pitch clock.