Why the Oakland Ballers put a longtime A’s fan on its board of directors
It’s been only a few months since the Oakland A’s left town, and Jorge Leon is relieved.
“It’s a bittersweet thing, but I’m excited the A’s are gone,” Leon said.
One of the leading voices of the Oakland A’s fans who were lobbying for the team to build a new stadium during its final years in Oakland, Leon did everything he could to try to convince the A’s to stay.
Ultimately, the fans didn’t have any power.
That changed in December, when 2,000 fan-investors of the independent league Oakland Ballers elected Leon to the team’s board of directors in a historic move the Ballers believe is the first of its kind in American professional sports. Leon (and the fans he represents) now have a significant say in what their beloved local baseball team chooses to do.
“It’s been quite the journey,” said Leon, 39, an Oakland native and father of two who works as a waste water control inspector and high school soccer coach. “The reason I got to this point is because we’ve been trying to build the voice for the fans, trying to say that fans do matter. We have to unite in a way that’s similar to a union.”
When the team was founded in November 2023, co-founders Paul Freedman and Bryan Carmel always planned on listening to the fans for advice. Leon, who was passionately organizing fans to support Oakland teams until the A’s announced they were leaving for Las Vegas, “was one of the first people we courted,” Carmel said. “We wanted his blessing and his feedback right away. He had fantastic insights.”
With Leon’s help, the team settled on Raimondi Park as a home field and invested almost $2 million to renovate it. The 4,000-capacity stadium averaged about 2,000 spectators for Ballers games its first season, with attendance highest near the end of the year, when the new team made an inspiring run into the playoffs.
After the Ballers lost a best-of-three series against the Yuba-Sutter High Wheelers in September, Carmel said he was giving out hugs to crying fans on their way out of the stadium.
“They didn’t believe it was over,” Carmel said. “It was such a magical unexpected season that meant so much to people.”
In November, the Ballers made an announcement: They were going to raise $1.235 million by selling ownership shares to its own fans. They were also giving their fans voting rights on high-level decision-making.
“If you buy a share in the Green Bay Packers, it’s a really cool thing, you get a certificate, but you don’t necessarily have any power in the decision making of the team,” Carmel said. “We wanted a way to have actual meaningful fan representation in what we do.”
More than 2,000 fans registered, and the Ballers quickly met their fundraising goal.
“People want to say, ‘Hey, if I put money into this team, at least I have a sense of community with this ballclub,” Leon said. “It’s a risk. Can I say for sure you’re going to make money off it? I don’t know. But I do know the people running it — and people like me — will do their best to create a successful team and a great place to gather.”
In December, the fan owners had their first decision to make: Elect one person to represent them on the Ballers’ five-person board of directors.
Hoping to find a fan that would take the job seriously, the Ballers made the application process long and tedious. Of the 2,000 fan owners, 76 applied. The Ballers chose 11 finalists and asked them to submit a video explaining their values and intentions. Then, they narrowed the list down to two: local business owner Jade Le and Leon.
Leon took his place on the board of directors, which also includes co-founders Freedman and Carmel, Jesse Eisenhardt and Jamie Rosenberg.
“The purpose of the board is to serve the cultural community and handle fiscal duties for the team,” Carmel said. “It’s to help make sure from a high level that we’re making really good decisions, hiring the right people, and that our strategy and our budget and initiatives are calibrated to meet the goals of the team.”
Leon is already hard at work thinking of ways to better the fan experience in 2025.
“The Ballers gave me a blank canvas to let me do what I got to do to help bring more people in,” he said.
And Le has talked with the Ballers about staying involved.
“She has great energy and ideas,” Carmel said.
After feeling powerless for so many years, Oakland baseball fans finally have a say.
“I’m excited for West Oakland,” Leon said. “Hopefully the Ballers whoop (expletive) and we can rep the city well.”