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Jan 28, 2024

Oakland A's fans raise $27,000

Oakland Coliseum denizens are planning a reverse boycott on June 13 to tell the

Oakland Coliseum denizens are planning a reverse boycott on June 13 to tell the world that Oakland A's fans won't go down silently amid plans to move the team to Las Vegas from its home of 55 years. The boycott seeks to fill up as many seats as possible at the old stadium for an otherwise nondescript Tuesday night game against the Tampa Bay Rays.

To get butts in seats, a group of fans called the Oakland 68s collaborated with local clothing company Oaklandish to produce and give out to attendees thousands of green shirts that read "SELL" in white across the chest. The Oakland 68s paid out of their own pockets to make the shirts and put a link on their website and social media for fans and any supporters to donate to their cause.

As of Monday, the Oakland 68s reached $27,000 worth of donations with each shirt going for $5 a pop. The shirts will be given out for free to anyone who shows up to a reverse boycott tailgate in the Coliseum parking lot. The hope is to make their message unavoidable by cameras broadcasting the game: A's fans want Fisher to sell the team to an owner who will keep their beloved team in Oakland.

BREAKING: as of this morning WE HAVE REACHED OUR 25K goal and are sitting at 27K!!! We will use funds for more shirts and increase the chance of everyone grabbing a shirt!! WOW!! WE ARE FOREVER grateful and we are an incredible community of A's fans!! S/o @AsHotDog @Oaklandish

— Oakland 68s (@Oakland68s) June 4, 2023

Donations came from across the globe — from Kansas City and New York to Australia and the United Kingdom — according to Oakland 68s organizer Anson Casanares.

"We were like, if we get 1,000 we’re killing it," Casanares said. "Now it's spread and people are fired up. It feels like it's their last chance to actually do something as opposed to say something on Twitter."

Casanares doesn't anticipate the reverse boycott will turn into a sell out. He knows plenty of fans who have, over the years, refused to give A's ownership their money under any circumstance. But he and all involved in the boycott expect their message to be broadcast loud and clear.

The Oakland 68s sit in the right field bleachers, some beat the drum sound that has become synonymous with the Oakland Coliseum. Lately, they’ve stopped playing the drums and started yelling "Sell the team" during the games. Casanares has been going to A's games regularly since 2006. Since the A's have gotten into public battles with the city over the Howard Terminal project, tanked the team into a pitiful loser and threatened to move the team out of state, he says that experience has lost all joy.

"It feels like a job lately," he said. "I got into this routine where I would go to games like people would go to work. With our group, the community we have is like family. We’ve been to parties, weddings together. Going to what it is now, it sucks. It's not the same and it feels like all we have is ourselves to keep fighting for this team."

The reverse boycott is for the fans who feel it a civic duty to show everyone they are alive and kicking despite an owner that's going through great lengths to kill baseball in Oakland. The $27,000 worth of donations and a sea of green shirts can show they definitely aren't alone.

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