Warriors Owner Wants to Buy A’s, Keep Team in Bay Area

Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob revealed that he’s had a longstanding offer to buy the Oakland A’s — and even had a $180 million deal in place in 2005.

“I’ve had a standing offer to buy the A’s from John Fisher for I don’t even know how long. Over a decade,” Lacob told the San Francisco Chronicle.

Instead of giving the team to Lacob — who bought the Warriors for $450 million in 2010 — then-owner Stephen Scott sold it to Lew Wolff and John Fisher. Fisher has since bought Wolff’s shares.

Lacob added that Fisher could have been his partner and owned part of the Warriors. “I would have done a ratio deal,” he said.

• Since 2008, the A’s haven’t been higher than 23rd on an Opening Day payroll.
• The Warriors had a $184 million payroll for the 2021-22 season and generated the highest basketball-related revenue in the NBA last year at $474 million. 
• Forbes last valued the Warriors at $4.6 billion, second in the NBA, and the A’s at $1.18 billion, No. 27 in MLB.

Stadium Sorrows

The A’s aren’t up for sale, but the team is struggling to get a new stadium built. Lacob claims he would’ve had it done already.

“I’d pay for it all privately like I did with the Warriors,” he said.

Instead, the A’s are considering moving to Las Vegas if their proposed $12 billion waterfront development in the Bay Area doesn’t work out.