Episode #311
Did the A's Use the Scrap Yard as an Excuse to Leave Oakland?
Did Schnitzer Steel really help kill the A’s Howard Terminal ballpark deal—or has that become part of the story after the fact? In this episode of The Sixth Inning, Booney digs into one of the most controversial pieces of the Howard Terminal saga: the A’s battle involving neighboring Schnitzer Steel, the environmental and fire concerns surrounding the facility, the January 2023 court development, and what actually happened during the critical months before the A’s turned toward Las Vegas. We break down what the court fight was actually about, what the A’s won and lost, what the ruling did—and DID NOT—prevent, and whether there is evidence that Schnitzer made Howard Terminal impossible to build. Then we follow the timeline. January 2023: the Schnitzer legal battle reaches a major endpoint. Three months later: the A’s announce a land agreement in Las Vegas. That sounds pretty damn convincing. But timing isn’t causation. So what else was happening? We examine Oakland’s infrastructure financing problem, the roughly $182 million federal grant that didn’t materialize, tax increment financing, rising infrastructure costs, negotiations between Oakland and the A’s, and what the people involved were actually saying as the Howard Terminal deal approached its end. If Schnitzer Steel disappeared overnight, would Howard Terminal suddenly have been ready to build? That’s the question. No slogans. No rewriting history. No picking a side and working backward. Follow the documents. Follow the money. Follow the timeline. I’m Booney, and this is The Sixth Inning — A’s baseball, A’s business, and the stories behind the headlines. New episodes Monday through Friday at 6:00. #Athletics #HowardTerminal #SchnitzerSteel #AsBaseball #MLB #LasVegasAthletics #TheSixthInning
