Tonight's op-ed is from longtime Bay Area sports exec Andy Dolich, who has held roles with the A’s, 49ers and Warriors (among other clubs):
“Let’s say the A’s announce they are headed for the desert in 2024 after 55 years calling Oakland home. If so, that means Major League Baseball has lost the No. 1 expansion target, Las Vegas. Commissioner Rob Manfred decided to forgive the proposed $500 million relocation payment the A’s would have had to pay for a move to Las Vegas.
“As I look at the MLB relocation/expansion Monopoly board, there is one city that is rarely or ever mentioned. Any billionaire in search of the perfect setting for their expansive baseball imagination should look at the area acquired by Horace Carpentier in 1852, naming it for the oak trees on the neighboring grassy plain. It was incorporated as a city in 1854.
“They named it Oakland.”
Read the full submission here.
