Will Oakland become a 'minor league' city with the A's Vegas bound?

Oakland As Oaklands last major league team of any sport

With the As leaving Oakland for Vegas, that makes three major league teams that have left The Town since 2019. Oakland will become a minor-league city. Mayor Sheng Thao says shes not selling out the city of Oakland and that the team acted in bad faith about whether or not they would stay in the Bay.

OAKLAND, Calif. - With the Oakland A's having purchased land in Las Vegas for a new ballpark, and with the Raiders and Warriors gone, Oakland, with no major sports teams left, becomes a ‘minor league’ city.

KTVU asked Mayor Sheng Thao about this happening on her watch.

"People can say, 'On my watch, X,Y,Z'. However, I'm not selling out the city of Oakland," Thao said.

City Councilman Dan Kalb backed her up.

"The things I want to say you can't print, and you can't put on the air," said Kalb.

The mayor lays all the blame on the A's and says the team acted in bad faith.

"Oakland is not interested in being used as leverage with the A's negotiations with Las Vegas. We will not continue discussions under these circumstances. Oakland will not be bullied," Thao said at a news conference on Thursday.

A's President Dave Kaval didn't respond to questions from KTVU.

But on Sirius XM, Kaval had this view of moving to Las Vegas: "I think there's a lot of excitement around it. There's obviously some sadness and, you know, disappointment that we weren't able to put it together in Oakland. But we made on hell of an effort."

Kaval didn't address being blamed by the mayor for the negotiations falling apart.

Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Nate Miley said it appears that the mixed-use port ballpark and residential/retail deal with the A's appears to be dead, too.

But he tried to put a positive spin on it.

"This is an opportunity for the city of Oakland and all of our options are open," Miley said. "So, you know, where one or two or three doors are shut, other doors open up, so we have to move forward and look for those opportunities."

But, with serious resistance from port power groups and advocates that want the port to remain a port as well as developers resistant to too much so-called affordable housing, what opportunities are there really?

Other sports industries took notice of what happened with the A's too.

Major League Football,on Wednesday, scheduled, then canceled. an announcement of a new Oakland pro-football team.