As the Athletics prepare to move to Las Vegas following a temporary relocation to a minor-league ballpark in Sacramento, A’s fans have truly stopped buying what the team is selling. With calls for ownership to sell the franchise falling on deaf ears for years, stagnant ticket sales have turned Oakland Coliseum into an empty Major League Baseball mausoleum. The Athletics are averaging 6,410 fans per home game this season, which is pacing to be the lowest average home attendance for an MLB team since Oakland averaged fewer than 3,800 fans in 1979, a year when there were only two other teams that averaged fewer than 10,000 fans (Mets and Braves).
Unfortunately for the A’s, there’s a lot more competition for fans’ dollars these days, and they are far from the only team people can buy tickets to see. Things have slipped so badly in Oakland that 553 professional and college teams in the United States are averaging more fans than the 2024 A’s, according to Sportico. In addition to the three Indoor Football League franchises, two college wrestling teams and the professional women’s volleyball team that are outdrawing the A’s, every franchise in the five major leagues beat out the A’s, except one. The NHL’s lame-duck Arizona Coyotes played in 4,600-seat Mullett Arena last season, so they lost to the A’s by default, but that will change next year when they move to Delta Center in Salt Lake City.
The Biggest Joke of April Fools’ Day Was the Oakland A’s
The Athletics were shut out 9-0 by the Red Sox on MondayAlso included in the list of teams with more home fans than the A’s: 18 minor league hockey teams, 13 minor league baseball teams, 12 NWSL teams, 12 NCAA baseball teams, eight NLL teams (indoor lacrosse), seven WNBA teams, seven USL Championship teams (one tier below MLS), six D-II football teams and two D-III football teams.
Worth an estimated $1.37 billion, Oakland is paying its collective roster at least $20 million less than every other MLB ball club and has the lowest payroll in MLB at $62.7 million. Despite that, the A’s have actually been somewhat decent after starting the year as an utter embarrassment; they now sit third in the AL West at 17-20.
The Marlins (12,598), with the second-worst average attendance in MLB, have actually been far worse than the A’s on the field this season and sit in last place in the NL East at 10-28. The Marlins also just dealt their best player, two-time batting champion Luis Arraez, to the San Diego Padres for spare parts three months before MLB’s July 30 trade deadline in order to avoid paying him down the line.
Already tanking in May after making the playoffs last year, the Marlins still don’t seem as pathetic as the A’s.
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