Oakland Athletics Throw Jabs at Giants, Raiders for Spirit Week

To mark their 50th anniversary in the Bay Area, the Oakland Athletics commenced their very own “spirit week” to get fans excited for the upcoming season. Monday’s festivities also included a jab at their cross-bay rivals, as well as a perceived jab to their Coliseum roommates.

Fans of the Oakland Athletics by and large are not fans of the Giants or their supporters. Since 2010 the Giants, who have much more money than the A’s, and by and large a more cohesive ownership group, have been very much on top of their Oakland counterparts, winning three World Series championships in a decade that is just past the halfway mark. This leads to more media coverage, and with A’s fans feeling marginalized pretty much anywhere they turn.

Throughout the week there will be a number of activities taking place, from a mural unveiling that is oh so Oakland last night, to school visits, free Peet’s coffee and a takeover of the local transit system from between Bay Area cities from the Coliseum station to the A’s/Giants game on Thursday night.

The big visual that will get a big run from the media is the giants elephant mural that the A’s commissioned, and officially unveiled last night.

This is just one of the many ways that the A’s have been showing their commitment to Oakland since new team president Dave Kaval came aboard following the 2016 season. They will also have new food options for seemingly the first time since the Coliseum opened, beer will be cheaper, and they have just started running a #RootedinOakland marketing campaign that most fans are thrilled by.

One event that will be taking place for the entirety of A’s spirit week (through Friday) will be a cap trade-in program, where those with Giants hats that they no longer wish to own can come by any of the week’s events and trade that hat in for a brand new A’s cap.

While it is a minor jab at the San Francisco Giants, it is one that is sitting very well with this A’s fan.   The other perceived jab was that an A’s flag was raised by Dave Kaval and Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf at city hall on Monday. This is taken as a jab because on Monday morning the NFL owners decided by a 31-1 vote to allow the Oakland Raiders to leave the city in favor of Las Vegas.

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The flag raising was scheduled for today according to the team’s website, so it’s likely more of a coincidence than a full fledged attack against their co-tenants. That doesn’t mean that the A’s are necessarily bummed about the news that the Raiders will be headed to the Nevada heat in a couple of years, however. With the Raiders, and eventually the Golden State Warriors both leaving the area in the coming years, that means that the A’s will have a bevy of options at their disposal for a new ballpark site.

That could mean opening up shop along Howard Terminal, or it could mean tearing down Oracle Arena and building a new place for the A’s to play in that spot right across the parking lot. What will likely happen will be new a location not currently where any of these teams reside being deemed the next home of the Oakland A’s. The current location is great for BART customers who don’t have to drive in, but the options of entertainment around the ballpark are slim at best. Opening up a new ballpark would likely mean an array of new adult beverage options in the surrounding area, as well as retail stores and other opportunities for the team to bring in some cash.

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Building around the new ballpark will be essential to building up the fan base. Having some of these shops and bars open around the ballpark will make A’s games more of a destination than a pit stop for fans that want to see some baseball.