Today’s episode of Locked On A’s rips the cover off one of baseball’s biggest misconceptions: that Rob Manfred didn’t want the A’s to stay in Oakland. Booney dives deep into the receipts, the quotes, and the context that prove otherwise. Manfred publicly supported keeping the A’s in the Bay Area, urging ownership to exhaust every possible option before moving. But the city’s leadership, crippled by political gridlock and financial confusion, turned the Howard Terminal dream into a bureaucratic disaster. From the $352 million infrastructure blame game to the endless semantic slap fights between city officials, this was less a stadium negotiation and more a tragic comedy written by people who couldn’t read the room—or the budget.

In the second half, Booney unloads on both sides of the aisle. John Fisher’s penny-pinching ownership and Oakland’s indecisive leadership share the blame for the slow-motion collapse that drove the A’s out of town. This wasn’t a love story—it was a hostage situation. From Mount Davis to the reverse boycott, from the Raiders’ return to the Warriors’ departure, Oakland sports history is littered with warnings nobody heeded. The A’s didn’t want to stay, and the city didn’t try hard enough to make them. This episode isn’t just a recap—it’s an autopsy of a relationship that died years before the moving trucks ever arrived.

Locked On A’s, Boonie, A’s podcast, Athletics relocation, Howard Terminal, Rob Manfred A’s, John Fisher A’s, Dave Kaval, Oakland A’s move, Sacramento A’s, Las Vegas A’s, A’s stadium saga, MLB relocation, A’s fans, Bay Area baseball, Howard Terminal collapse, A’s vs City of Oakland, MLB politics, A’s ownership, A’s drama, A’s history, A’s relocation truth, Vegas 2028 dynasty, A’s betrayal, A’s move to Vegas, Oakland Athletics, MLB relocation, Las Vegas baseball, Rob Manfred, John Fisher, Howard Terminal, Coliseum complex, Oakland City Council, Mayor Libby Schaff, stadium negotiations, fan loyalty, team ownership, MLB expansion, East Bay sports, franchise relocation, baseball economics, urban development, public funding, infrastructure costs, Oakland politics

Music Credits (via Microsoft Clipchamp Free Editing Software): "Rising Star" — used at 24:41 – 28:00

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