As the Oakland Athletics are slated to become the third professional sports team to leave the city in the past decade, the Oakland Ballers are trying to show they're here to stay.

Why it matters: The Ballers, the newest members of the Pioneer Baseball League, want to be an example of how sports teams should treat their fans by giving them a seat at the table, their owners said in a press release.

State of play: On Thursday, the Ballers announced a community investment round to allow fans to invest in the team and get a say on things like moving the team, changing the brand or logos, front office hires and more.

What they're saying: "A team's fans are an instrumental part of the team's value," Ballers co-founder Paul Freedman said in a statement. "That's why fans should be treated accordingly with a real say in team management, not just hollow words."

Context: The Pioneer Baseball League is a partner of the MLB that focuses on innovation and has experimental rules, like a home run "shoot-out" round instead of extra innings.

• The league is composed of players with less than three years of professional experience.
• The Ballers, playing in their inaugural season, are the league's first team on the West Coast and play their games at the recently renovated Raimondi Park in West Oakland.
• The team spent $1.6 million to upgrade the park and turn it into a professional stadium with seating capacity for 4,100 people. The city chipped in $850,000 to clean up the site before the renovation, Bloomberg reports.

The intrigue: "The Ballers want to grow that Oakland spirit from the ground up," city Councilmember Carroll Fife told Bloomberg last month.

• It doesn't compare to Oakland's fraught relationship with the A's, she said: "It's apples to oranges."

What's next

When Alice Wong launched the since-ended Disability Visibility podcast in 2017, she wanted to create space for a group of people often erased from popular media and culture.

Why it matters: 1 in 4 U.S. adults live with a disability, yet they are 52% more likely than the general population to say TV portrayals of their identity group are inaccurate, according to a 2022 Nielsen study.

Zoom in: Wong is a longtime activist and writer who was diagnosed with muscular atrophy as a child. Based in San Francisco, she had founded the Disability Visibility Project a few years before the podcast launch after feeling the need to fill in the gap in coverage around disability culture and politics.

• The online community platform aims to amplify the perspectives of people with disabilities.
• To share their stories and voices more widely, Wong created a show centering on "life from a disabled lens," per the podcast description.
• "It's about sharing our community's stories and our unapologetic lives with the world," she said in the first episode.

The intrigue: With Wong as the host, the show featured weekly conversations with disabled writers, refugees, entrepreneurs, designers, caregivers and more before ending in April 2021.

• Episodes touched on political issues ranging from the Affordable Care Act and COVID-19 infrastructure to immigrating as a disabled person.
• Commentaries were interspersed with personal narratives about navigating things like assistive tech, work accommodations, public transit, emergency preparedness, sex education and stereotypes around "faking" disabilities.

Go deeper

👀 Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday said "time is running short" for President Biden to make a decision on his re-election bid. (Axios)

Tax prep company Intuit is laying off 1,800 employees, about 10% of its workforce. That includes 384 employees based in Mountain View. (SFGATE)

🗳️ SF school board candidates outlined their top issues: teacher pay, the district's budget, board governance and more. (Mission Local)

The Rocket Man is coming out of retirement to headline Salesforce's Dreamforce tech conference this fall.

Why it matters: It'll be the first time Elton John takes the stage after retiring from touring last year.

Driving the news: The global icon will perform at Dreamfest, the conference's main concert event and a fundraiser for UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals.

The big picture: Dreamforce, which takes place at Moscone Center on Sept. 17-19, is no stranger to celebrities.

• The speaker lineup so far includes Kate Hudson, Dev Patel and will.i.am in addition to tech leaders like Anthropic co-founder Daniela Amodei and former Nvidia chief scientist David B. Kirk.

Yes, but: Tickets to attend Dreamforce start at $1,499.

What to watch: Dreamforce says it will unveil more musical guests in the coming weeks.

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We're so close to the weekend — and the weather won't be nearly as stifling as before.

• Here are some things to look forward to.

Tonight

💡 Take in a new laser light exhibition that will beam 20 lasers from the Fairmont Hotel in Nob Hill into the Rose Window of Grace Cathedral.

• Dusk to dawn every night through the rest of the weekend.

Tomorrow

🛩️ Watch the Frecce Tricolori — the Italian acrobatic fleet — fly over San Francisco as part of an event hosted by the consul general of Italy.

• 1:30pm at Crissy Field. Free.

🍿 Snag a spot for Sundown Cinema's outdoor screening of the 1986 fantasy film "Labyrinth." There will be local food trucks and themed pre-show entertainment.

• 6-10pm at Glen Park. Free.

Read on for more events