Manfred comments on A’s reverse boycott, move to Vegas; Oakland mayor responds

(KRON) — In the eyes of many, the Oakland A’s “reverse boycott” was a success as attendance tripled from the season average. Over 27,000 fans packed the Coliseum Tuesday night when prior to that average attendance was 8,555.

Despite the large crowd Tuesday, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred made comments that might’ve upset some A’s fans.

“It was great. It is great to see what is this year almost an average Major League Baseball crowd in the facility for one night,” Manfred told multiple outlets during a press conference Thursday in New York. “That’s a great thing.”

Manfred compared the Coliseum’s biggest turnout for an A’s game to what an average MLB crowd is on a regular basis. Naturally, many A’s fans on Twitter flooded the comments section of the commissioner’s soundbite.

ESPN’s Joon Lee tweeted Manfred’s comments, which have garnered two million impressions and more than a thousand replies. Many of those comments were not in support of Manfred — to say the least.

Other questions that came Manfred’s way include what he thought of the A’s move to Las Vegas.

“I feel sorry for the fans in Oakland. I do not like this outcome. I understand why they feel the way they do,” Manfred said. “The owners as a whole understand that there has been a multiyear, approaching a decade effort, where for a vast majority of the time the sole focus was Oakland…What is it that Oakland was prepared to do? There is no Oakland offer.”

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao refuted Manfred’s comments saying that her city didn’t make an offer to the A’s for a news stadium. Thao, calling Manfred’s comments “totally false,” released the following statement Thursday.

“This is just totally false. There was a very concrete proposal under discussion and Oakland had gone above and beyond to clear hurdles, including securing funding for infrastructure, providing an environmental review and working with other agencies to finalize approvals. The reality is the A’s ownership had insisted on a multibillion-dollar, 55-acre project that included a ballpark, residential, commercial and retail space. In Las Vegas, for whatever reason, they seem satisfied with a 9-acre leased ballpark on leased land. If they had proposed a similar project in Oakland, we feel confident a new ballpark would already be under construction. Oakland showed its commitment to the A’s and that is why the A’s belong in Oakland.”

Tuesday’s attendance at the Coliseum was 27,759 — slightly above the MLB average of 27,203 fans per game. Still, attendance at the reverse boycott would still be short of the 30,000 capacity for the proposed A’s stadium in Las Vegas.

Manfred advises against Pride-themed jerseys

With other leagues like the NHL having its players wearing Pride-themed jerseys for special occasions, Manfred seems to not follow suit.

Manfred advised MLB teams against adding rainbow accents or Pride-themed designs on jerseys. He said it was to avoid putting players “in a position of doing something that may make them uncomfortable because of their personal views.”

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.