The A’s say Howard Terminal will “end the cycle” of teardowns and rebuilds. But history tells us it’s not that simple.
The warning signs were there. Loud and clear.
Though A’s fans are used to absorbing these blows, the big trades hit hard as ever. Matt Chapman, Matt Olson, Chris Bassitt and Sean Manaea — all due for significant raises in their waning years of arbitration eligibility — were flipped for a prospect haul that should bump the A’s slipping farm system back up into the league’s top tier.
The A’s claim a new ballpark will allow them to finance teams and players that will create a better product. But now is the time for A’s fans to ask: Is a new ballpark enough to fulfill that promise? “I wouldn’t say we were falling behind,” Forst said. “We just want to make sure we are not falling behind.”In the short term, the A’s can break from their norm if they can break ground at Howard Terminal — or elsewhere. Ownership is expecting revenues from naming rights, corporate sponsors and corporate suite sales to hit before a grand opening, with that money going directly to the on-field product, Kaval said.
Teams all operate differently, but a constant in sports remains that Fisher seems to disregard: Happy fans will pay to see their team play. Decades of the A’s cycling through fan favorites, snapping contention windows shut prematurely, has given fans every reason to divorce themselves of this fandom.Need some statistical proof? The A’s attendance averaged 8,767 per game in 2021, ranked 29th out of 30 teams to see a playoff contender that had made the postseason the three prior years.
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