As the Athletics' future in the Bay Area remains uncertain, there remains a group of prospective buyers who intend to keep the franchise in Oakland.
ESPN's Tim Keown spoke with Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, who revealed that since the A's deal in Las Vegas went public, her office has been contacted by "multiple buyers who are very viable."
"I'm not going to bring up their names," Thao told Keown. "But there are people willing to come together to figure out how we keep the A's here."
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The biggest obstacle for these efforts to purchase the team and keep it in Oakland continues to be current owner John Fisher's reluctance to sell the team.
"You can't buy something that's not for sale," Thao said.
In an exclusive interview with Fisher, Keown asked the A's owner if there were any offers to buy the team from local groups that were motivated to keep the franchise in Oakland.
"I'm not going to comment on whether I've received inquiries into the team or anything like that," Fisher told Keown. "Like I said, I'm a local, right? Bay Area native. And so I think if anyone was going to give it their all to try and make it work, it was going to be me."
Oakland Athletics
Fisher then opened up a bit about his ambitions of adding to the prestigious legacy accompanying the A's franchise.
"I got into baseball because I was a fan, and I loved the game," Fisher said. "And I always thought the A's had this incredible history to them," Fisher said… "As I told somebody the other day, I don't really feel like I'm an owner. Because I think, with baseball teams and other sports teams, you're really a kind of a caretaker for creating a legacy of additional history for your club. And that's what I hope to create for us in Las Vegas."
Fisher's sights appear to be firmly set on Sin City, but with nothing officially set in stone, the future of the A's franchise remains up in the air moving forward.