FISHER’S FIRST SMART MOVE

The A’s veto potential Ballers game at Coliseum. Petty? Yes, but it’s strategic

The Oakland Athletics finally got something right. Shortly after this column predicted that A’s owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval would not make a smart decision in 2024, they made us look bad with a wise move.

It was also a cruel, meanspirited and entirely selfish move, but that doesn’t wipe out the fact that it was a smart one.

Here’s what the A’s did: The Oakland Ballers (aka the B’s), an expansion team in the Pioneer League, rented the Oakland Coliseum for a game on June 29. It was to be a celebration and tribute to Oakland baseball tradition and the good ol’ Coliseum. Shortly after Christmas, the A’s informed the Coliseum Commission that the team was invoking a clause in its lease and canceling that B’s game.

The A’s sent an email to Nicole Strange, general manager of the Oakland Arena and RingCentral Coliseum. The email signed by Dave Rinetti, the A’s VP of Stadium Operations, states: “We support the (Joint Powers Authority’s) efforts to bring new events to the Coliseum. However, under our license agreement … we have the exclusive right to play professional baseball at the Coliseum, and we therefore do not consent to your request. We are happy to work with the JPA on other ways to celebrate and promote professional baseball in Oakland. Please confirm by December 29th that you are in agreement.”

The A’s, through a spokesperson, declined to explain their rationale for wiping out an event that would benefit the city of Oakland, financially and spiritually, one which would also provide a nice boost to a startup team in the minor leagues. You know, like extending a helping hand to your little brother.

Mean! Still, it was a wise decision by the A’s. Here’s why:

The A’s know that if the B’s played that game, they might draw a significantly larger crowd than the A’s will be drawing on average next season. Considering that the B’s were inviting many youth baseball teams and local groups to attend, and because some Oaklanders would see this game as an opportunity to give another public middle finger to the A’s, the game might outdraw many, perhaps even most, A’s games.

Those optics would have been very bad for the A’s and would have drawn further national attention to MLB’s worst-run franchise. Imagine side-by-side images of a sparsely attended A’s game and a busy, buzzy B’s game.

The A’s know they’re an embarrassment to baseball and can’t afford to make it worse.

Oh, the A’s will be roasted for kicking the B’s out of the Coliseum, but that’s a local story. It will not be accompanied by cringy photos and video on ESPN and social media. The A’s are opting to endure a minor storm now in order to avoid a major reminder they’re at risk of being little more than a sideshow in their own stadium.

This would explain why MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has not quietly stepped in and urged Fisher and Kaval to rethink locking the B’s out of the Coliseum. Manfred and the 29 other team owners are already in deep as enablers and supporters of the A’s chronic bumbling and greed-questing, and would like to avoid yet another national story about the team’s latest self-inflicted debacle in Oakland.

For Fisher, it’s all about the money, which just keeps flowing in. He just received a wonderful New Year’s gift from MLB, at least according to a leak to the ever-friendly Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The A’s had until Jan. 15 to nail down a binding agreement on a new ballpark in Las Vegas, in order to continue receiving MLB revenue-sharing payments. Citing anonymous sources, the ReviewJournal reported that the A’s signed agreement with the owner of the Tropicana site conveniently now seems to meet the mandate for a binding agreement.

MLB set the bar extra low for Fisher’s benefit. The A’s don’t appear to have a financing plan in place to build their new stadium, nor any solid ballpark plans. The latest renderings of the latest future home of the A’s are only a month or so overdue.

That revenue-sharing money is theoretically intended to allow the A’s to compete with bigger-spending clubs, but the A’s are expected to once again tuck that free money into Fisher’s wallet.

Will this latest A’s insult to Oakland endanger the team’s chances of obtaining a lease extension to play at the Coliseum beyond 2024, while their Vegas ballpark starts being built?

Maybe, but it probably doesn’t matter. The A’s and MLB have not even inquired about a lease extension at the Coliseum. Manfred might be steering the A’s away from that option, fearing three or more additional seasons in Oakland with embarrassing micro attendance, plus attention-getting boycotts and protests, a constant reminder to the rest of the country that ham-fisted stadium shakedowns have consequences.

The A’s other notional options for a home venue — either sharing Oracle Park with the Giants or playing in a minor league ballpark — seem like they’re off the table, now that the A’s have declared their aversion to sharing a ballpark with another pro team for one game, let alone for several seasons.

Is the situation embarrassing for MLB? Sure, but the A’s have rendered MLB shameproof. The A’s are literally trying to bury themselves in the sand and taking MLB with them, but at least they made one smart decision.

Carlos Avila Gonzalez/The Chronicle By vetoing the Ballers’ bid to play at the Coliseum, Athletics owner John Fisher ensured the upstart squad didn’t outdraw his team in its own ballpark, which would be another blemish on the franchise.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle The Coliseum will not host a June 29 Oakland Ballers game after the A’s invoked a clause in their lease canceling the event.