Ownership Timeline

From 1995 to 2015, A’s owners tried to move the A’s out of Oakland. They intentionally depressed attendance at A’s games by constantly refusing to commit to the city of Oakland, providing poor customer service to A’s fans, and openly courting other cities while trying to move out of town.

In late 2016, Dave Kaval became A’s president. The A’s adopted the “Rooted in Oakland” slogan and, in 2017, Kaval proposed building a ballpark at Laney College. Finally, Oakland fans had hope. But Kaval messed it up. He didn't first get the approval of the Laney College board before announcing ballpark plans. When facing opposition at Laney, Kaval and A's owner John Fisher quickly gave up. They then proposed a waterfront ballpark at Howard Terminal, but when Mayor Sheng Thao got close to a deal, the A's leaked to the media that they had a deal in Vegas.

Read below to learn about the history of this 30-year saga, which began in 1995:

1995

July 22, 1995

Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann buy the A’s from the ailing Walter Haas in 1995, with the promise to keep the A’s in Oakland. Haas sold for $16 million below market price with the stipulation that the new owners keep the team in...

Feb. 26, 1996

At Schott’s first Spring Training, general manager Sandy Alderson and A’s players concede that Schott “got off to a bad start” with his negative comments the previous autumn. Also, Schott further turns off the media by...

May 18, 1997

McGwire criticizes A’s owner Steve Schott for saying that he isn’t sure the A’s will still be in Oakland after the 1998 season.

Jan 22, 1998

After overseeing a fire sale of popular players, creating bad PR for themselves with ill-advised quotes and putting a terrible team on the field which lost 97 games in 1997, Schott and Hofmann sue the city of Oakland and Alameda...

April 12, 1999

A S.F. Examiner story states that the A’s will move to the South Bay in a privately funded stadium if new owners don’t buy the team within 10 days. Schott mentions two South Bay sites that would be “excellent locations.”

June 2000

Chronicle columnist Glenn Dickey pens column blaming Schott for ruining A’s attendance in Oakland.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2000/06/22/SP24694.DTL

2001

March 21 & 22, 2001

Less than two weeks before the 2001 season begins, Steve Schott attends a Santa Clara city council meeting and says he wants to move the A’s to Santa Clara and needs time to convince Commissioner Selig to allow him to move...

March 12, 2002

Glenn Dickey writes a column about the city of Oakland holding a fan rally followed by a City Council meeting where HOK Architects will present A’s stadium plans, including one calling for a downtown Oakland ballpark.

March 16, 2003

Two weeks before the 2003 season begins, Schott announces the A’s “can’t afford” to re-sign their star player, Miguel Tejada, saying they “won’t insult him” by making him an offer. Schott then links Tejada’s departure to his...

March 7, 2004

Three weeks before the 2004 season begins, Schott tells reporter Bruce Jenkins he wants to move the A’s to San Jose, but he blames the Giants for blocking the move.

January 12, 2005

Lew Wolff told the Chronicle, “We’re totally focused on seeing the Oakland situation through. We’re strictly adhering to Major League Baseball’s district (rules), which we would expect people would do for us. We understand the...

January 29, 2006

A’s fans at the annual FanFest event give uniformly negative reviews in an article about Wolff’s decision to cover the Oakland Coliseum’s third deck with a tarp.

January 17, 2007

Wolff gives a presentation at the Fremont City Council meeting, asking them to “dream a little bit with me” as he lays out his vision for moving the A’s to a ballpark village in Fremont.

January 13, 2008

Wolff tells reporter John Shea that if the Fremont ballpark plan collapses he wouldn’t keep the A’s in Oakland and that “we would have to leave the Bay Area.”

Feb. 21, 2009

Citing community and business opposition, Wolff announces that the Fremont plan is dead.

January 18, 2010

Billy Beane complains to Peter Gammons that the Oakland Coliseum is keeping him from landing free agents. “You start to wonder if anyone wants to play here,” Beane said.

March 2, 2011

A month before Opening Night, a Bloomberg article headline reads: “Oakland A’s Could Make Move to San Jose 3 Years After Go-Ahead.” Lew Wolff’s quote about MLB’s committee reveal his anger and frustration:

March 1, 2012

February comes and goes, and MLB makes no decision on the A’s stadium search. Nightengale makes no more predictions.

October 4, 2013

On the same day the A’s face Detroit in Game One of the ALDS playoffs, A’s president Mike Crowley gives an interview about the team’s failure to sign a Coliseum lease extension, intimating to fans that the A’s might leave...

Feb. 8, 2014

After years of Lew Wolff, Billy Beane and Mike Crowley saying the A’s can’t keep or attract top free agents because of the Coliseum, the A’s re-sign Coco Crisp through 2016 in a nearly $23 million deal.

Feb. 2015

At a time when the A’s are legally bound to negotiate “in good faith” to keep the team in Oakland, A’s co-owner Guy Saperstein posts on Facebook that A’s owners’ “public and well-known position” is that they “prefer to move to San...