SAN JOSE – The Oakland Roots’ boisterous supporters section in the northeast corner of PayPal Park grew momentarily quiet during the 12th minute, their chants and drums going silent.
That brief hush at the US Open Cup soccer game between visiting Roots and the host San Jose Earthquakes was quickly replaced by a refrain baseball fans in Oakland have become well-acquainted with.
“Sell the team! Sell the team! Sell the team!” echoed through the half-full stadium on Tuesday evening, the demand to Earthquakes and A’s owner John Fisher soon replaced by another three-word chant that included an expletive.
The Roots lost 1-0 on a late goal by the Quakes, but the loud Oakland fans made their point.
Ruben Ortiz wore a brightly-colored “SELL” shirt with a neon-green “SELL” flag wrapped around his neck like a cape as he joined in the chants to get Fisher to sell the A’s before they relocate to Sacramento next season.
An A’s fan since 1996, Ortiz counted watching Josh Donaldson’s walk-off home run against the Tigers in 2014 as his favorite memory at the Coliseum.
That is the kind of experience that Ortiz believes Fisher is denying both A’s and Earthquakes fans as owner.
Ortiz had never been to a pro soccer match before, but he was moved by the opportunity to protest Fisher while supporting his local team.
LET’S GO OAKLAND!!!
— Last Dive Bar (@LastDiveBar) May 8, 2024
“What would be a better first game than to go and show that it’s not just Oakland that deserves better, but that San Jose also deserves better ownership than John Fisher,” Ortiz asked rhetorically.
Some Oakland A’s fans have decided to boycott the team, not wanting to give the notoriously penny-pinching owner their money.
Jorge Leon is the founder of the Oakland 68s, a fan group that bused supporters down from The Town to San Jose. He’s not a fan of Fisher – to say the least – but he still bought a ticket to cheer on a team that the 68s have become aligned with.
“We see this as supporting our Oakland Roots,” Jorge Leon said in a text message to the Bay Area News Group on Monday.
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Milling around the same stadium in similar “SELL” attire was Thomas Sanchez, an A’s fan who made the long drive from Stockton to the South Bay for one reason.
“If there’s any way we can support the ‘Sell the team’ (movement) and get him out of here, we’re going to do it,” said Sanchez.
The A’s move to the state capitol looks like a done deal, but that still leaves the last-place Earthquakes, who ranked 23rd in payroll last season according to Spotrac, in the Bay Area under Fisher’s control.
While Roots and A’s fans, perhaps one and the same, started the “Sell” chants, more than a few Quakes fans could be heard chiming in, even after their team took the lead.
Oakland Roots fans chant for Oakland before a game against the Quakes at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (Shae Hammond/Bay Area News Group)