How many more Aprils will A’s fans be watching their team play in Oakland? No one knows.
My story on Oakland A’s fans who don’t want the team to move to San Jose aired this morning on KQED News (listen in the player above). It’s the first of several parts; next week I’ll present some voices from San Jose, and I’m also planning reports about the economic implications and the possibility that Oakland’s other pro sports teams might leave in the next few years.
There’s no resolution on the stadium issue, but today’s the first game in the Coliseum — a preseason game against the Giants — and since we journalists love a peg, many are writing about it this week. For a backgrounder, check out this article by Ken Belson in the New York Times from yesterday. And for reminiscences of the Oakland Coliseum by some of its longtime workers, here’s Angela Woodall in the Oakland Tribune.
Most of the people who I spoke with for today’s story are affiliated with the fan group Baseball Oakland. Another, Jeffrey August, contributes to the blog New A’s Ballpark and wrote an excellent series of articles in 2009 about the ballpark location issues for another blog, Athletics Nation.
And if you want to get a feel for an A’s game as seen from the Coliseum’s right field bleachers, some of my friends in section 149 have made great videos.