Rebranding the Oakland Athletics in conjunction with the Las Vegas move is the best thing for baseball.
In a few years, Oakland Athletics baseball will be no more.
Although they have called the Bay Area home for over half a century, all good things must come to an end. From the white cleats, to the green and yellow uniforms, to being the birthplace of the Bash Brothers, as well as Moneyball, let’s just keep that in Oakland. One day, the Bay Area may get a second MLB franchise, but they have to get their finances together. Let’s embrace a rebrand.
It is going to suck for the dozens of fans who show up to the Coliseum on the reg, but better things are ahead for this franchise in Las Vegas.
Why an Oakland Athletics rebrand is necessary with the pending Las Vegas move
The last time we had a team move in MLB, the Montreal Expos crossed the border to become the Washington Nationals. Similar issues came up in Quebec like they have in Northern California now. Frankly, a lack of fan interest, anything close to decent facilities and beyond a baseline payroll led to their move. We have seen this happen before in professional sports and it will happen yet again.
There were a few cities where the A’s could have moved to. Outside of Las Vegas, Portland was an interesting spot out on the West Coast geographically. It would have amplified the AL West rivalry with the Seattle Mariners even more. To be totally transparent, the Portland Athletics kind of works. The city of Portland would have embraced the A’s inherent quirkiness whole-heartedly.
However, the dollars and cents make more sense in Las Vegas. The two other options for relocation when it came to growing media markets would have been Charlotte or Nashville. Even still, those are two legions of Braves Country where MLB may decide to put expansion franchises there to make it 32 teams. Eventually, it is the right number of teams with eight divisions of four.
Admittedly, you would be lying to yourself if you didn’t think those two markets could handle an MLB team. It would suck for me personally to lose either/or Charlotte and Nashville from Braves Country, but that’s where the pieces fit. Furthermore, if Charlotte gets a team, they will be the Knights. Should Nashville get a team, they will be known as the Sounds. I won’t hear anything else.
But with that in mind, I just don’t think we can live in a world where the relocated franchise from Oakland is known as the Las Vegas Athletics. It’s clunky, doesn’t make sense, doesn’t roll of the ton and more importantly, doesn’t jive with Las Vegas. While they could go conservative with the Stars, there are plenty of other options out there like the Outlaws, Gamblers, Bandits, Sharks, etc.
I don’t know if they will get rid of the green and yellow entirely, but that was always an Oakland thing. When the team was in Kansas City and Philadelphia before that, this was not a part of their color scheme. Sure, you could go with dark motifs like the Raiders, Aces and Golden Knights have. Play into the desert vibes, have a little fun while we are at it. This just has to be a different vibe…
And this isn’t about leaving behind the legacy in Oakland like when the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City to become the Thunder. It is about leaving the cheap, penny-pinching ways of Oakland baseball behind forever. Look at the Raiders! They kept their name because they are the NFL‘s iconic rebel brand. Despite no water for plundering pirates to come ashore, it just works.
Ultimately, we as fans deserve this. Professional sports are corporate. Always has been, always will be. That’s fine, but don’t make us out to be suckers in this. Give the great people of Las Vegas something to be proud of, something new and organic catered to them. In time, we may get a second team back in the Bay Area. It could be the A’s, but for now, we just need to accept change.
Sentimental emotions be damned, this is the right call for the team to make, and we all know it is.