Oakland A’s fans will continue protest during SF Giants series with no plans to stop there

Jorge Leon is exhausted. He’s just returned to the Bay Area from Los Angeles, his vocal cords fried and energy depleted from a day of protesting at Dodger Stadium. Leon has a few days to recover after juggling work and family time with his three children for another A’s fan protest scheduled for Saturday at the Oakland Coliseum for the first half of the Bay Bridge Series.

He can’t stop himself. There is no time to pause.

Fans have used the power of protest to draw the attention of the sports world to what they see as an injustice. Since the A’s announced their intention to leave their 55-year home in Oakland and relocate to Las Vegas, groups such as the Oakland 68s, of which Leon is president, and Last Dive Bar have organized several “reverse boycotts” and demonstrations at opposing ballparks, the most recent at Dodger Stadium.

“I get satisfaction from annoying John Fisher,” Leon explained. “If they leave, they will face difficulties.” And we’re currently making an example of them.”

Fans will continue to protest until shovels are placed in the ground at a new Las Vegas ballpark, or until majority owner John Fisher gets the message and sells to another owner who can keep the A’s home. The “Summer of Sell” is a movement to highlight the A’s fans’ plight with a “Sell the Team” chant heard at every ballpark the team visits this season.

To keep the protest going, supporters must spread the word and entice some butts into seats to join the chorus. The protest will be followed by a reenactment of last week’s “Unite the Bay” rally with Giants fans at Oracle Park. Back at the Coliseum, A’s fans have joined forces with Giants fans to demand that the A’s stay and keep the Bay Area rivalry alive.

Fan organizations collaborated with San Francisco-based sponsors to fund another fan giveaway. This time, organizers will be handing out yellow rally towels with the words “Sell the Team” in the Coliseum parking lot, and everyone is invited to the parking lot tailgates, which turned into a party before the A’s first “reverse boycott” on June 13. It’s a rare display of unity between Giants and A’s fans — and A’s fans are taking notice.

“I honestly thought there was no way this would work,” Gabriel Hernandez, a Las Dive Bar employee, said. “As you get older, you realize that things aren’t always as they appear. There are only a few bad apples among them. There are a lot more Giants fans who want the A’s to stay than leave.”

For the Bay Bridge series, the normally empty Coliseum usually fills up. However, the A’s say they’ve sold more than 30,000 tickets for Saturday’s game and 16,000 for Sunday’s game, indicating that the protest is gaining traction.Some fans noted online that ticket prices for Saturday’s game (the cheapest seat on their website is $44) are significantly higher than those for Sunday’s game ($27). The A’s claim that the increase is due to seat availability and is beyond their control.

“Games are automatically dynamically priced based on available inventory, which is a method used by the majority of baseball teams.” “We did not adjust ticket prices manually,” the A’s said in a statement.

The “Sell the Team” chants are being heard all over the world, and other team fan groups are contacting Leon, Hernandez, and others to join the protest when the A’s come to town. On social media, Washington Nationals fans — who, locally, saw Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder forced to sell the NFL team — have been sharing protest guidelines for fans who want to participate.

Jeremy Goodrich, a 19-year-old A’s fan from Santa Cruz and a key organizer behind the Twitter account @OaklandRooted, is facilitating and disseminating the news to other fan bases. He also stated that fan groups from the St. Louis Cardinals and the Seattle Mariners have inquired about how they can get involved.

“Other fan bases are extremely supportive,” he remarked. “They want to know how they can help and where they can get a ‘Sell’ shirt.” There will undoubtedly be additional events. We will not relent until shovels are in the ground, so we will continue our efforts. And hopefully it will be in Oakland.”