It’s been 53 years since the Oakland Athletics moved to California from Kansas City, and in all those years, they have been playing in the same ballpark; the Oakland Coliseum.

After years of failed plans for a new stadium, the team is under pressure from Major League Baseball to either build a new ballpark, or move.

In November 2018, the team announced they had found a waterfront location at Howard Terminal for a new ballpark that would cost more than $1 billion.

The goal was for the new ballpark to open in 2023, but now, even if approved by Oakland’s City Council this summer, it wouldn’t be ready until 2027.

If these plans fall through, MLB is pushing the A’s to go elsewhere.

This week, a group headed by A’s president and co-owner Dave Kaval is visiting Nevada and meeting with local government officials to explore moving the baseball club to Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is one of four cities that have been mentioned as possible suitors for the A’s, with the other cities being Portland, Vancouver and Nashville.

The Bay Area city has already lost its NFL team (twice) because of the same stadium issue, and most recently the Raiders landed a new stadium and new home in Las Vegas.

MLB issued a statement last week saying the Oakland Coliseum was no longer a viable option regarding the A’s future.

“We have instructed the Athletics to begin to explore other markets while they continue to pursue a waterfront ballpark in Oakland,” the statement read in part. “The Athletics need a new ballpark to remain competitive, so it is now in our best interest to also consider other markets.”

The team’s lease at the Coliseum is up in 2024, but the aging venue where the A’s have played since 1968 is having lighting and plumbing issues.

I’ve been an Oakland A’s fan since I was a little kid and watched them win three World Series titles in a row, 1972, 1973, 1974. Yes, I jumped on the winning team’s bandwagon, but hey, I was a kid and I loved their green, gold and white uniforms.

I was a fan of the stars of those teams of the early 1970s; Bert Campaneris, Joe Rudi, Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, and Catfish Hunter. I’ve met a few of those players over the years, and have collected several of their autographs in my collection.

I had an Oakland A’s pennant on my bedroom wall, as well as a huge collection of baseball cards featuring every player on the team. My total allegiance was to the Oakland A’s, until I decided to also have a National League team for whom to cheer.

That’s when I decided that because of my love for the Montreal Canadiens in the NHL, I would select the Montreal Expos as my favorite NL team. It was two years later that the Expos put a minor league team in my hometown, and then of course I was hooked.

So, ironically, if the A’s do leave Oakland, I will have suffered through both of my favorite teams moving to new cities. The Expos left Montreal and became the Washington Nationals in 2005.

Call it the Brucculeri curse if you’d like. I call it the nature of sports. Franchises moving is nothing new. Washington, D.C., has lost MLB teams twice, Seattle lost a team. The Braves moved from Milwaukee to Atlanta, and even the nation’s largest city, New York, saw the Giants and Dodgers leave town for the west coast.

In my fantasy world, if I could wave a magic wand and decide the fate of the Oakland A’s, I would move the team to Montreal and rename them the Expos. Abracadabra!