On September 26, 2024, with 46,889 fans roaring behind him, Mason Miller rocketed a statcast tracked 104 MPH fastball to Travis Jankowski. He shot it into the ground towards third baseman Max Schuemann, who sent it over to first baseman Tyler Soderstrom to record the final out in Oakland Coliseum. The win capped off an emotional series win over the Texas Rangers in the A’s last home series in Oakland before their move to Las Vegas. The fans sold out the series, the players showed up, yet come opening day 2025, Oakland will no longer have a baseball team.
Sports history is littered with franchises uprooting themselves from their home and moving to a new place. One of the most impactful times for this was the mid 1950’s, when MLB began their move to the west coast, with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants both relocating out west, to LA and San Francisco respectively. This paved the way for other moves and expansions like the New York Mets, but did not come without its fair share of dismay from the fans of the now moved MLB teams.
Today, we are in the midst of another era of movement with possibly an even bigger impact than that of the 50’s. Unlike the 1950’s, we now have all four major US sports, baseball, football, basketball and hockey, with established professional leagues. This level of establishment means every team has a fanbase set in stone that loves their team. Every team has a history with their city, and every fanbase can’t imagine their team anywhere else.
Unfortunately for the fans, we are in an era dominated by money. Money has become the central focus of sports. Every major league except the NFL has some form of advertisement on their jerseys, and every stadium is littered with hundreds if not thousands of advertisements. Sports betting has taken over, with companies like Fanduel and DraftKings reigning supreme over all with their countless advertisements. Ticket prices continue to rise side by side with player salaries, and behind the scenes, while all that is happening, team owners continue to grow richer and richer.
However, the question everyone is asking is, why leave?
In all sports, there are teams that are considered “big market” teams, meaning that they have lots of money to spend and bring in the best players, and then there are the “small market” teams, who sit on the other end of the spectrum, having a much smaller budget to spend. The definition of big and small market is loose and teams have proven that being labeled as “small market” does not mean they can’t spend money, with the San Diego Padres as the best example. They have been labeled as “small market”, yet since 2019, they have been one of mlb’s biggest spenders and just two years ago in 2023 they had the third highest payroll in mlb, ahead of some major big market teams like the Dodgers, Cubs and Phillies.
Owners sit at the heart of the moves, and many people are quick to critique them on their choices. Oakland A’s owner, John Fisher, has been the center of attention for months, as he is a main reason for the A’s departure from Oakland. Oakland reporters told Bleacher Report that his apology letter to the fans is a “great work of fiction,” and that if he had truly cared about Oakland and the fans he would have stayed.
That theory is shown by the most recent city to lose teams: Oakland, which lost the Raiders, Warriors and A’s. Other organizations whose owners have expressed interest in moving include the Tampa Bay Rays and oddly, the Chicago White Sox.
If you were to look at Oakland, Tampa Bay and Chicago, there is a clear odd one out. Chicago, the third largest city in the US, is home to teams from all major sports, hosting the Cubs, Bears, Blackhawks, Bulls, Sky, Fire and more. The White Sox are one of the most iconic of those teams, having over a 100 year history with the city dating back to the first world series. They have a large and loyal fan base that have rode through some of the biggest struggles in sports history. Chicago has never once been considered a “small market”, in fact it is the very opposite. The White Sox spent big money, yet recently, the results have been absent. It is well known now that the loss record is now theirs, and now, there are talks of them leaving chicago.
Owner Jerry Reinsdorf has expressed interest in a possible move if the city does not fund a new stadium in chicago. A likely destination if they were to move would be Nashville, as Reinsdorf has mentioned it not just as a location he would go to, but if he were to sell the team, a new ownership group could also have an interest in it. Nashville, which has never had an MLB team, has been part of expansion talks as well, but considering the long timeline for MLB’s next expansion, a move seems like the most likely way they get a team.
The White Sox have struggled as of late, but the fan base remains loyal, and the city would be devastated if the team was to move. It would be historic, as no team has moved after 100 years in a city, as most have not even been around that long.
With their future unclear, White Sox fans have been plunged into a roulette of outcomes, with many of them being ones they would quite like to not happen.
