You’d think this would make bigger headlines, but Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff has apparently admitted he’s all but given up on moving to San Jose:
Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff said a possible move to San Jose is “not worth a nasty battle” over territorial rights with the San Francisco Giants, and is hopeful the city’s new mayor can help them get a new stadium built in Oakland.
Wolff sounded open to staying in Oakland in an exclusive interview with KPIX 5’s Phil Matier.
“Every article I read says I can’t wait to move to San Jose, and that’s not true,” Wolff said.
This has been more or less a fait accompli for a while, but still it’s interesting to see Wolff openly talking up Oakland and talking down San Jose. Of course, this could also be mostly a ploy to prove to Oakland officials that he loves them more than the Raiders do, but still.
He never counted Oakland out in the first place. But the fact remains that the A’s simply cannot build in Oakland unless MLB guarantees that they will remain on revenue sharing even after opening a new stadium there.
Not surprised to see this change in tone regarding Oakland. San Jose was dead in MLB’s eyes the moment that they sued the lodge. You don’t sue MLB and then get what you want. And that’s if it wasn’t dead sooner from Wolff’s lack of desire to compensate the Giants. The change in tone however comes from the change in leadership in Oakland. Quan and her regime were openly hostile to Wolff and talked down to him as much as he talked down to them. The new mayor however has been having a much more open and productive dialogue with Wolff since her taking the job and as such Wolff has been much more open about working with Oakland. That and MLB’s official stance seems to be that the Coliseum site is where they’re staying as they’re counting on the Raiders plans falling through and their eventual exit from Oakland being all but assured.
” You don’t sue MLB and then get what you want.”
Unless you’re Kansas City in the 60’s.
Or Seattle in the ’70’s.
Or St. Petersburg in the ’90’s.
KC didn’t sue and neither did St. Pete. KC and St. Pete threatened the anti-trust exemption at the congressional level. Seattle did sue, but it was for breach of contract with the American League not a suit to directly overturn the ATE. And in none of those cases did it involve taking home territory in one team’s immediate territorial zone and giving it to another.
There should only be 1 territory in the Bay Area in the first place. Cubs/White Sox share 1 territory. Yankees/Mets share 1 territory. Dodgers/Angels share 1 territory.
Giants/A’s do not. They are separate (and extremely unequal). And that is completely indefensible.
“Giants/A’s do not. They are separate (and extremely unequal). And that is completely indefensible.”
It was established because the A’s moving in were the only case of one team moving in an invading what had to that point been another team’s immediate territory after the American and National Leagues started working in unison.
The Angels didn’t start playing in the big leagues until 3 years after the Dodgers moved to LA. The Yankees had 4 seasons alone in New York before the Mets started playing. Neither market became separate split territories. Yes, the Giants were alone in the Bay Area longer, but that really doesn’t matter. The inconsistency still exists.
You’ll note I said “moving”. Both the Mets and Angels were established in their respective cities. Ostensibly with the blessing of the league and their cross town neighbors. The A’s moved to the Bay Area with barely enough votes and against the Giants wishes in the first place. Is it fair, no. But that’s the condition of moving to Oakland that the A’s and Charlie O agreed to back in the 60’s. The A’s are still suffering that poor decision to this day.
Dan;
That agreement did encumber the A’s franchise somewhat. However, IMO it is not their greatest encumbrance…
The biggest obstacle the A’s have would be the ruling by MLB that the Haas’ family’s conditional swap of the territory of San Jose to the Giants “if they moved there” as an unconditional and permanent gift rather than the trade it was always intended to be.
… make that “was” an unconditional….
San Jose has appealed to the Supreme Court in their anti-trust case as of yesterday. If SCOTUS grants cert MLB is major trouble.
Now Wolff and San Jose would have leverage after all these years for a SJ move.
In reality Wolff wants Oakland over San Jose for a couple of reasons:
-In San Jose he gets just a ballpark. In Oakland he wants the entire Coliseum site for development, his Coliseum vision is what he envisioned in Fremont in 2006. He wants to do more than just a ballpark, in 2009 the economy was in a rut. But now due to “Economic Darwinism” the Bay Area has recovered and Wolff sees an opportunity in Oakland that did not exist before with a development plus a ballpark.
-Battling the Giants has been fruitless because the commissioner (Selig and Manfred) are cowards to do the right thing. The fact the market is now shared was a flaw in the system, nothing more nothing less. If the New York/LA/Chicago markets can share why not the Bay Area?
Why hasn’t this gone to a vote? It is because MLB knows the answer, the A’s would win hands down allowing SJ the team without a public subsidy….Not what Selig and Manfred wants, they want a handout, not a 2nd privately financed ballpark in the same market.
MLB is dumb, they think the Raiders are going to leave. They are not, they have no where to go. LA is going to the Rams with the 2nd team to be the Chargers.
No way the Chargers get a stadium in SD privately financed with a Rams return, they are as good as gone.
The Raiders screwed up not using Levi’s as leverage, had they negotiated an agreement to split the costs with the 49ers, Oakland would have dropped their pants and it would have made the NFL happy.
Because they refused to, the NFL has no sympathy for the Raiders when a brand new stadium exists 35 miles away in their current market without them even trying.
Raiders will never be in LA again, they had and still have an option in their current market where as the Rams/Chargers do not. The Chargers get good revenue from an open LA market now that would dry up with a Rams return.
Lew Wolff needs one of three things to happen:
1. SCOUTS grants cert, this paves the way for San Jose, no way MLB allows SCOTUS to hear the case, they saw what happened with American Needle vs. NFL when the NFL won on all the lower levels as MLB has but lost huge when SCOTUS took the case. Too risky, Wolff gets San Jose on a sweet deal and has to take it. This is not likely IMHO just cause SCOTUS has too many other things to look at besides this, I say they deny cert.
2. Raiders move and Wolff gets the Coliseum site all to himself with the Warriors leaving as well. He gets to put Oakland on their knees and has all kinds of leverage. This is what Wolff/MLB are praying for, too bad they aren’t getting this either.
3. The Raiders succeed in Oakland, getting a new stadium on the existing site forcing the A’s out to ATT Park to share with the Giants indefinitely. Now Wolff all of a sudden can sit on the Giants heads.
In scenario 3 the A’s have to share with the Giants as a temporary ballpark would cause such a revenue drain it would force the other owners to subsidize the A’s even more. Not happening, in this case the A’s now have access to revenue streams they lack now with no capital investment.
Imagine the San Francisco Athletics winning the 2019 World Series with a parade down Market Street?This would make Charles Johnson and Larry Baer cry “Uncle” sipping on their 5,000 dollar wine. MLB for the same reason they are locking out San Jose can make the Giants share with the A’s. The irony…..
While the Giants would reap additional revenue from the A’s being a tenant they would be on equal footing stadium wise. This scenario is what would give the A’s San Jose if SCOTUS does not grant cert.
In reality, all A’s fans should be rooting for the Raiders to succeed in Oakland. The Giants are so selfish and greedy (3 titles in 5 years and a 2B valuation) they aren’t seeing this coming. It would serve them right to have the A’s sit on their heads and win a WS in their city.
Forgot Scenario 4…..This one is what I think is going to happen,
A’s and Raiders stuck together at current Coliseum until it falls apart, I can easily see them there in 2025 together with no end in sight