May 25, 2006

A is for soccer

Oakland A's owner Lew Wolff has announce plans to build ... a soccer stadium? The A's owners announced yesterday that they'd obtained an exclusive three-year option to place a new MLS team in the Bay Area, provided they can get a soccer-only stadium built for the team to play in. (The San Jose Earthquakes, you'll recall, skipped town last fall, at which point MLS officials said the city could have a new team as soon as it built a stadium.)

Wolff said the A's would pay for building a stadium, in exchange for getting free land, infrastructure improvements, and development rights - essentially the same deal he's seeking for the A's, and one that's becoming more common as teams realize that free land and tax breaks are more politically palatable than actual construction cash. (Not to mention as land costs soar, making development rights a more lucrative subsidy.) Wolff didn't rule out any locations in the Bay Area for the soccer site, but the leading candidates are likely Fremont, which he's targeted for an A's stadium, and San Jose, where Mayor Ron Gonzales has already offered free land and other goodies to the cause.