Oakland Athletics fans stage parking lot protest on MLB Opening Day… as they rage over decision to move team to Las Vegas and refuse to enter stadium to watch brutal 8-0 loss

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Thousands of Oakland Athletics supporters gathered outside the team's famous Coliseum to protest their impending move to Las Vegas on MLB's Opening Day.

Before, during and after their brutal 8-0 loss to the Cleveland Guardians, supporter groups the Oakland 68s and the Last Dive Bar held a boycott in the stadium's parking lot for fans to make their displeasure known ahead of the A's relocation.

The boycott included giveaways, t-shirts, a number of green 'Sell' flags and collectible pins commemorating the event, along with food, music, games and frequent chants of 'Sell the team'.

There was also a 20-foot screen showing a live feed of the game, which ended in a resounding on-the-road victory for Cleveland.

In light of owner John Fisher's $1.5billion decision to relocate to Vegas, which was unanimously approved by MLB owners at the end of last year, A's fans began staging reverse boycotts at the Coliseum towards the end of the 2023 season.

Oakland Athletics supporters gathered outside the team's Coliseum to protest their impending move to Las Vegas on MLB's Opening Day

Fan groups the Oakland 68s and the Last Dive Bar held a boycott in the stadium's parking lot for the A's faithful to make their displeasure known

The boycott took place as Oakland slumped to a brutal 8-0 loss vs the Cleveland Guardians

A's owner John Fisher plans to reinvent the organization in 2028 with a $1.5bn move to Vegas

'Sell the team' chants at the top of the fifth inning has become a tradition amongst protestors, yet on Thursday they came from outside the stadium instead.

The game itself drew a crowd of just 13,522, which represents the lowest attendance for an Oakland Athletics game since 1979 - excluding Covid-affected years in 2020 and 2021.

The exact number of fans who gathered outside to protest is unclear, though the area where the tailgate took place appeared as crowded as it was for last summer's reverse boycott, according to The Athletic.

The Oakland faithful are distraught with the looming prospect of their beloved baseball team, which has belonged to California's West Coast port for the last 55 years, moving 560 miles away to Vegas.

It is there where Fisher plans to reinvent the organization in 2028 with a new 30,000-seater ballpark at the current site of the Tropicana Las Vegas Casino on the Strip, having allegedly been denied in his attempts to build a new stadium in Oakland.

The A's owner still requires significant private financing to build the arena despite MLB commissioner Rob Manfred waiving any relocation fees, with Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo's $380m public funding bill falling way below the expected 10-figure cost to prop it up in Sin City.

However, concerned supporters are still devastated after potentially attending their last ever Opening Day at the Coliseum on Thursday night.

'They're taking our team away that we've had for as long as I can remember,' one fan told California-based news station KCRA-TV.

The boycott on Thursday night included giveaways, t-shirts and a number of green 'Sell' flags

Some fans appeared to make it onto the top of the stadium to urge Fisher to sell the team

Thursday's game drew a crowd of just 13,522, the lowest for an Oakland game since 1979

The majority of supporters attended the parking lot boycott and held tailgates instead

'I can't even grow up my kids with it.'

'I pass the Coliseum every day and it's so sad to see it empty,' said another. 'It's just heartbreaking to see that all this is gonna be gone, ripped out like a sore tooth.

One fan, meanwhile, opened up on their decision to not enter the stadium for the opening game of the season. 

'Because I don't want to give Fisher or the organization my money.'

Another added: 'We don't want to give Fisher our money. He's taking our team, and he doesn't deserve another dollar.

'Go A's... go Oakland!'

At the start of Thursday's boycott, the Oakland United Coalition held a news conference alongside the Oakland 68s, in which they implored the Alameda County Board of Supervisors to pull the plug on selling half of the Coliseum complex to Coliseum Way Partners - an LLC controlled by Fisher and his family.

The group has been left frustrated by the lack of development on the Coliseum land, as well as the A's recent decision to block the Oakland Ballers - a minor-league phoenix team rising from its predecessors' ashes - from playing there. 

A's fans are devastated and angry at the thought of their beloved team moving 560 miles away

Fan groups were also incensed by the A's blocking its phoenix club, the Oakland Ballers, from playing at the Coliseum

'A’s owners have been preventing East Oakland from being able to flourish and thrive,' Vanessa Riles, Oakland campaign coordinator, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy, said.

'They make it look like "Oh, nobody wants to be at the Coliseum." But we know that’s not the truth. 

'We’re here because we want to be here. We want to develop this property. And the A’s have been standing in the way of that happening. The owners have been standing in the way of that happening. And we’re here to say no, that’s not OK.'

A Nevada teaching group looking to block the state's $380m public funding of the A's proposed Vegas stadium were also present at the boycott taking donations. 

An anonymous A's fan reportedly offered to match up to $100,000 in donations made, with the 'Schools over Stadiums' group taking around $35,000 midway through the game.