As the 2025 Major League Baseball season kicks off with ceremonial first pitches in stadiums across America, one will remain eerily silent.
Oakland, California — a city that lost the Oakland Raiders to Las Vegas and Golden State Warriors to San Francisco in recent years — lost its final professional sports franchise when the Oakland Athletics signed a deal to relocate to Las Vegas, according ABC News Bay Area (KGO).
The economic impact of this departure will be felt in various ways. From stadium jobs and commercial and housing development to name changes on little league uniforms; that money will now flow in the new home town of the departed team.
“It’s going to be a shot in the arm for [our] economy, in terms of a negative shot,” said Alameda County Board of Supervisors President Nate Miley. “Definitely a hit to the economy, there are jobs at the coliseum, union jobs, [and] people depend on those jobs. If we built a new stadium, those would be construction jobs as well.”
According to Sportico, the Golden State Warriors are the most valuable team in the NBA, with an estimated worth of $9.14 billion. The Las Vegas Raiders are now the sixth most valuable sports franchise on the planet.
For some, civic pride and the emotional impact of the departure of Oakland’s professional sports teams are not as quantifiable as the economic impact.
San Quentin resident Reginald Thorpe, 48, traces his Oakland roots back three generations. When he started his prison term over 25 years ago, all three sports teams made their home in Oakland. He remembers the teams as part of the tapestry of his childhood.
“As a young boy, one of my fondest memories was of watching Oakland A’s legend Dennis Eckersley jogging around the stadium perimeter before home games, or Ricky Henderson signing baseballs for me,” Thorpe said.
He added that it saddens him that he can no longer afford to live in Oakland, but he intends to immerse himself in community service with the hopes of combatting the crime-related stigma he feels is attached to Oakland.
Ron Matthews, Alameda County’s Little League president, says the A’s have been great supporters of little league teams in Oakland and Alameda for the past eight years, providing uniforms to 24 teams every season at the cost of $8,000.
“They’ve been a great partner to us. It’s a terrible thing to happen to kids…[and] adults,” Matthews spoke about the loss of professional sports teams. “It will affect our bottom line.”
San Quentin resident Kenneth Gattison said his great-great grandparents moved to Oakland in the early 1940s. He said that being a Raiders, Warriors, and A’s fan has been a part of his identity since he was born.
“I was born into my fandom,” Gattison shared. “My mom dressed me in an Oakland Raiders onesy the day she left the hospital with me when I was an infant.”
Gattison, an aspiring filmmaker, added that his ultimate goal upon his release is to make a “Boyz N’ Da Hood” style movie about Oakland’s spirit and culture, aiming to reclaim some of the pride he feels was lost when the teams moved away.
“I’m not mad at the teams because they left, I’m mad at the city government and their failures,” said Gattison. “No matter what, I’m still a Raider until I die.”
The tourism bureau Visit Oakland said in a press release, “While the A’s decision to move is disappointing, this will not break our Oakland spirit. Our strong resilient community will continue to proudly celebrate all the amazing things about the Town. This is what makes Oakland so incredibly special.”
