Have you heard the news? The Oakland A's are coming to town!
Sorry, not the team — just its brain trust. If you live in Las Vegas, Portland and probably a few other soon-to-be-announced spots, then owner John Fisher wants your city's wealthiest and most influential movers and shakers to wine and dine him.
According to the Oregonian, he's generously invited along team President Dave Kaval, executive VP of baseball operations Billy Beane and executive Sandy Dean on this "fact-finding" tour, which is intended to posture that Fisher is going to ship the A's out of Oakland if the City Council doesn't yield to his demands for a new ballpark at Howard Terminal.