The Athletics announced that Marc Badain will be the club’s new president, per Mick Akers of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Badain is most notable for having previously been president of the NFL’s Raiders, who moved to Las Vegas in his time in that job. He will replace Dave Kaval, who announced his resignation from the position in December. Sandy Dean was named interim president when Kaval stepped down but will now serve as vice chairman.
“We are excited to welcome Marc to the Athletics,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “His vast experience, particularly his work on the opening of Allegiant Stadium and overseeing the Raiders’ move to Las Vegas, makes him a great addition to our team at this pivotal moment. His leadership, commitment to the community, and ability to oversee transformative projects will be key as we look to build a strong and successful future in Southern Nevada.”
Badain served as president of the Raiders from 2013 to 2021. At the start of that time frame, the Raiders played their home games in Oakland Coliseum, sharing the facility with the Athletics. Looking for a new stadium, the Raiders started to explore the possibility of moving to Las Vegas in 2015. Those plans gradually became reality and the move was approved in 2017, though the Raiders stayed in Oakland through the end of the 2019 NFL season, moving into their new stadium in Vegas in 2020.
Badain then resigned in 2021. Per a report from Daniel Kaplan and Tashan Reed of The Athletic in October of 2021, Raiders owner Mark Davis said that “accounting irregularities” prompted the resignation. He said the team “overpaid our taxes…we paid more than we owe,” a matter that “may have started in Oakland.” Badain has since been working with the Oak View Group, trying to build a hotel and casino complex with a venue capable of hosting an NBA team.
Controversial finish aside, there are some clear parallels between his Raiders tenure and the current state of the Athletics. The A’s are in a similar position to where the Raiders were a few years ago. The baseball club is planning to play out of a new stadium in Vegas starting with the 2028 season. They failed to work out a deal to stay in Oakland beyond the end of their 2024 lease of the Coliseum, so they are going to play out of Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento for the 2025-27 seasons. That is normally the home of the Sacramento River Cats, the Triple-A affiliate of the Giants. The A’s and River Cats plan to share the park for the next three years.
The detour to West Sacramento is a notable difference, but the journey of the two franchises is otherwise quite similar. Since Badain has already steered one franchise from the Oakland Coliseum to a new facility in Las Vegas, the A’s seem to be banking on his experience to guide them through the process in the coming years.
“I’m honored to join the Athletics and help guide the team into a new era of success,” Badain said in the news release. “Las Vegas is a city that celebrates innovation and excellence, and I’m excited to work alongside the team, the fans, and the community to create something extraordinary.”
Visionary on how to run an organization further into the ground…
As the only guy in the room with experience with dealing with Nevada infrastructure i guess Fisher thought he’s the best option. Unfortunately the better headline/story would have been “Athletics put up for sale”…
Marc Badain: “And I should know. I’m an expert in organizations that lack honesty and professionalism in attempting to (and successfully) abandoning the city of Oakland for Las Vegas.”
2023.
FJF!
Fresh JellyFish
Forever John’s Friend….maybe it’s not that one either /s
When was the last time John Fisher been out in public?
“Out in public”…That’s a fairly creepy question my friend. You don’t mind answering a few questions down at the station do you? You have some ID on you?
Are you now or have you ever been a member of the communist party?
I guess my email pitch to become the As next President that I couldn’t possibly do worse wasn’t what they wanted, so they got someone who could do worse.
Good to know that even though the A’s look like they’re going to have a better baseball team, the organization is still just as rotten on the inside as before, if not more so.
Whatever helps with the goal of moving the A’s further away from the roaches in Oakland.
Isn’t Fisher going with them to Vegas?
Essentially, the “accounting irregularities” become a strategic tool, not necessarily a failure. It becomes a pre-built narrative that can be used to navigate the very difficult process of moving a professional sports franchise.
Why are players like Brent Rooker and Lawrence Butler so loyal to this organization?
Stock·holm syn·drome [/ˈstäkˌhō(l)m,ˈstäkōm ˈsinˌdrōm/] noun
feelings of trust or affection felt in many cases of kidnapping or hostage-taking by a victim toward a captor.
A 10X jump in games played + 200 point jump in OPS while playing in the cavernous Coliseum.
A den of thieves.
2 professional teams playing in minor league ballparks. Who’d a thunk it?
My dream matchup for the ALCS.
Vegas residents don’t even want the A’s here.