![When Alex Wood threw the first pitch Thursday night in the Oakland Athletics' season-opener, a lot of A's fans were still in the parking lot straight chillin'. [X/Screenshot/Public — @JasonAppelbaum1]](https://images.dailycaller.com/image/width=960,height=411,fit=cover,f=auto/https://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Screenshot-2024-03-29-111208-e1711725200182.png "When Alex Wood threw the first pitch Thursday night in the Oakland Athletics' season-opener, a lot of A's fans were still in the parking lot straight chillin'. [X/Screenshot/Public — @JasonAppelbaum1]")
The Oakland Athletics are an embarrassment to American sports.
The flailing franchise is breaking records for extreme lows in attendance since owner John Fisher announced the team will be moving to Las Vegas in 2028 and Sacramento in the interim.
Through 36 games the team is averaging a mind-blowingly low 6,235 fans per game, according to Baseball Reference.
That number is not only the lowest attendance total in the MLB — by far — it’s the second lowest amongst the five largest professional sporting franchises in North America, trailing only the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, whose stadium has a max capacity of 5,000 fans.
But, not only do the Athletics fail to out-draw the likes of the NFL and the NBA, the 123-year-old franchise can’t even beat out WNBA and Indoor Football League teams. (RELATED: The Most Selfish Owners In Sports Are Sinking To A New Low)
553 teams in North America averaged more fans per game than the Athletics are this season, according to an unofficial analysis from Sportico’s Lev Akabas.
There are 553 sports teams in U.S.-based leagues averaging more fans per home game than the Oakland Athletics right now
On that list are three Indoor Football League franchises, two college wrestling teams, a professional women’s volleyball team, and a whole lot more 👇 pic.twitter.com/dyYiGcBP74
— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) May 7, 2024
The list of teams outdrawing the A’s is a who’s who of “who the hell are they?”
Three indoor football league teams, 14 college women’s basketball teams and eight women’s gymnastics squads are averaging bigger crowds than Oakland. A professional volleyball team, the Omaha Supernovas of the Professional Volleyball Federation, is beating them out! Omaha brings in more than 6,500 fans per game. Think about that … more people went to watch professional volleyball in OMAHA, NEBRASKA than people who watch the storied Oakland A’s franchise. If that’s not sad, I don’t know what is.
Heck, even the A’s own minor league affiliate is a bigger draw. The AAA Las Vegas Aviators are one of 13 minor league baseball teams attracting more spectators than Oakland.
I guess it’s a good thing their future home in Sacramento only has a max capacity of 14,000 fans.
Hell, if you set up a backyard football game or maybe a wiffleball league and actively promoted it on social media, it wouldn’t be unthinkable that you, too, could draw a bigger crowd than Oakland.