Red Sox Could Be In For Spicy Opening Week After Athletics’ Reported Move

The Boston Red Sox begin the 2024 Major League Baseball season on the West Coast, and they’ll likely come through a passion-filled Athletics fan base.

MLB owners Thursday reportedly approved of Oakland’s move to Las Vegas, which would mark the second relocation of a franchise since the Montreal Expos moved to Washington in 2005. The move is not expected to happen until 2028, but the A’s lease on Oakland Coliseum expires after 2024, which means the club won’t have a permanent home for three seasons.

Despite the lack of success in recent years, Atheltics’ fans are among the most passionate in MLB. This was showcased last summer when fans ran a reverse boycott by selling out games and firing chants at ownership.

However, it appears A’s fans might go traditional with a “CancelSZN” boycott at the beginning of the 2024 season,” per The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard.

“I tell people, like, if you think this was a crazy year, wait until next year. We’re gonna go even harder,” Jorge Leon, president of the Oakland 68s and one of the key organizers of the fan-led protests, told Lockard.

The Red Sox open the regular season against the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park, and Boston then travels to Oakland to open April. But fan boycotts will start during spring training and continue throughout the season.

“The groups are encouraging fans to come to the Coliseum and party with each other in the lot, leaving the stands empty,” Lockard wrote. “They are planning other boycott events for the regular season, encouraging fans not to go to games during spring training or the regular season and to unfollow the A’s social media accounts. They are also suggesting that fans donate some or all of what they would have spent on A’s tickets on Opening Day toward the efforts of the Schools over Stadiums group in Nevada looking to block the public funding promised to the A’s by the Nevada State Legislature.”

Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow is committed to turning around the Red Sox and getting Boston back into postseason baseball. However, if the new-look Red Sox team enters an Oakland Coliseum with little fans, Boston supporters will know why.