Oakland Athletics fans are planning a “reverse boycott” for Tuesday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Fans have raised over $30,000 to pack the Oakland Coliseum as full as possible.

The Athletics have long been considering relocation and agreed last month to build a stadium in Las Vegas. The goal of the protest is to show owner John Fisher that A's fans are not the problem.

Nobody goes to games because the team is a train wreck, not the other way around. Fans are hoping to push Fisher to sell the team to new owners that will keep the team in Oakland, and also spend more freely to turn the team around.

The franchise believes moving the team will ultimately be more profitable. The current stadium in Oakland is the largest in baseball, but consistently has the lowest attendance.

However, Oakland is a disaster of a professional sports organization. They're on pace (17-50) to finish the 2023 season with the worst record in MLB history, despite somehow winning their last five games. They also have the second-lowest payroll in the majors.

The Coliseum was once a beautiful stadium, and the Athletics were once a competitive team. But success in sports starts with strong ownership, which is severely lacking in Oakland. Fisher has repeatedly refused to spend a cent on renovating the ballpark or signing any notable talent, letting quality players walk year after year. Worse, Fisher seems to be apathetic at best towards his fan base.

Oakland is on the verge of losing its third pro sports franchise in the last four years. The Raiders moved to Las Vegas in 2019, and the Golden State Warriors moved to a new arena across the Bay in San Francisco.

The Athletics are hoping to begin playing in Vegas by 2027, so the pending move is not immediate. However, A's fans know they must do everything they can now to try and keep their team in Oakland.