A’s fans redirect money from season tickets to NV teachers group against Las Vegas ballpark funding

(KRON) — The Oakland A’s continue their final homestand of the season this weekend against the Detroit Tigers at the Oakland Coliseum.

Fans say this weekend is bittersweet now that A’s owner John Fisher has chosen to move the team to Las Vegas. But diehard fans are still holding out hope and taking action in hopes the move will not happen.

We’ve seen the “Sell” shirts and the “Doris get your kid” billboards, and the reverse boycott games that filled the Coliseum. Now those trying to keep the A’s in Oakland are trying something else

“From my standpoint, I think that there’s sort of only one way that we could keep the A’s. And that’s if the Nevada falls through,” said Hal Gordon, a former A’s vendor known as “Hal the hot dog guy.”

Gordon proposes A’s fans redirect some of the money they would spend on A’s games and send it to Schools over Stadiums. That‘s the Nevada Teachers Union group now gathering signatures to get an initiative on next year’s ballot to reverse a move by Nevada lawmakers to give the A’s $380 million in taxpayer money to build a stadium in Las Vegas.

“If there are people in Nevada willing to fight what I think is a bad policy and something that is hurting the Oakland community, then the people of Oakland should support them,” Gordon said.

And taking money away from A’s owner John Fisher doesn’t stop there. Fan group “Oakland 68s” wants fans to boycott Saturday’s game against the Detroit Tigers.

“The 68 core is going to boycott Saturday’s game,” said Jorge Leon with the Oakland 68s. “We’re gonna go to the Golden Squirrel, which is an Oakland, family-friendly restaurant bar to support them. And then we’re asking people to go watch the Oakland Roots game and support them and put whatever money that you had to go support the Roots, become an owner with them.”

The group is also selling a block of tickets for those who want to see the A’s in Anaheim next week. It’s just another indication, despite everything to the contrary, fans aren’t giving up in their hopes to keep the A’s in town

“There’s always hope,” Leon said. “You know, this could fall apart at any given time, any given day. You know, we saw with San Jose. We saw with Fremont. So we still, you know, until there’s a shovel on the ground, we still keep fighting.”