Many people see the Oakland Colosseum as a historical stadium that housed the Oakland A’s and Oakland Raiders since opening its doors in the 1960s.
However, Sept. 29 marked the end of an era, as the Oakland Athletics, one of Major League Baseball’s most iconic baseball teams, played their final game on their home field.
In light of the news, Moorpark College Baseball Coach Mario Porto shared his thoughts on the Oakland Colosseum closing.
“[It is an] Outdated ballpark and a Small market that can’t pay players,” Porto said.
Porto, along with other fans, seems to theorize that the Athletics could not pay their players enough to compete and keep attendees coming to the ballpark, unlike more financially successful teams, the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets.
According to USA Today, the Dodgers, Yankees and Mets were the teams with the highest payroll, with an average payroll of $286,256,659 million. The A’s payroll came in last, with only a $60 million payroll, meaning the team couldn’t pay the best players the money they needed to come and play for their team.
When teams get the best players to play for them, that means fans are in the stands to keep helping the team to continue to make a profit. The financial struggles of the A’s are a stark reality that evokes sympathy from the audience.
Coach Porto wasn’t the only baseball enthusiast with some thoughts about the Oakland Colosseum closing. Former Moorpark College baseball alumni Valor Castroll expressed a deep, emotional connection to the stadium.
“I really do believe that it is terrible to see the Coliseum closing after being open since the 1960s. I have a couple of memories of myself at the Coliseum,” Castroll spoke. “The fondest was one of the last Raider games at the Coliseum in 2019. The stadium had grit [that] the sports stadiums and sports cultures of today don’t have. And that’s something which I am going to miss.”
It seems like the Colosseum to many, just like Castroll, was a place where fans could feel at home, so why would fans not continue to support and only come out of the woodwork when they realize their team will get sold?
Castroll spoke about his thoughts about fans starting to show up to games once they heard it was the ballpark was set to close.
“I don’t think it was wrong of them to start to show up more in numbers once they found out the stadium was leaving, It’s the expected reaction,” Castroll said. “I think people only realize how good they have it once that thing that they have is fleeting, and this is exactly that.”
With this final wave of dedication, outsiders can see how much the closing of the stadium has impacted the fans of both the Colosseum and A’s fans. However, attendance for the Oakland A’s games since 2016 has been bottom five in the MLB, and has spent the last four seasons being last in attendance.
Castroll spoke on his opinion of whether or not it was smart for owner, John Fisher, to sell the team.
“I don’t think Fisher should’ve sold the A’s, but that’s just the free market thinker In me. By definition, he owns the team and can do with it however he pleases,” Castroll spoke. “He wanted to relocate, and he did; if he wanted to sell, he could’ve, and the inverse is also true.”
So that is what one fan believes: does he speak for just himself, or is he the voice of baseball fans everywhere? And how will fans represent this new team when they move to Vegas, will they be welcomed with open arms or will the team be pushed away? That is for the fans of baseball to decide.
