Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News writes that commissioner Bud Selig, who was recently extended through 2014, has placed the A's and their pursuit of a new stadium and a move to San Jose on the front burner.
The special committee Selig put together to examine the dilemma has delivered a "comprehensive" report but has yet to be presented to all 30 owners. Still, Selig says they're "proceeding at a rather quick pace" and seemed to agree to the suggested analogy that if the stadium issue were a baserunner, he'd be on third base.
Standing in the way of the transition is that the Giants claim San Jose — part of Santa Clara County — as part of their territory. The Giants have supported an organziation called Stand For San Jose that has protested the building of a stadium in downtown San Jose. The Giants' territorial claim can be overturned by a 75 percent vote from MLB owners.
The Giants could fight back by supporting an anti-ballpark campaign in San Jose, where a special ballot referendum (partially financed by MLB) would need to pass, or perhaps even by persuading one of their sponsors to sue MLB (the Giants cannot sue MLB themselves). There's also nothing preventing the Giants from filing a lawsuit against the city of San Jose itself.
As Purdy points out, if the Giants were to file any lawsuit, we'd see "the awkward situation of one MLB franchise spending money to defeat a project supported by another MLB franchise in an election partially paid for by MLB itself."
A's owner Lew Wolff said he's "delighted" to hear that Selig is prioritizing the situation and that MLB is moving toward a decision.
that’s nice but we all still hate you
Lets get this over with. The only thing stands in the way is how much will the Giants get for the rights. Former A’s owners the Haas family showed class by not standing in the way of the Giants to move to San Jose and gave them the rights to San Jose but the new Giant owners will not pay back the A’s in the same classy way.
the giants have to many greedy owners for them to do something decent
hey hey hey don’t hate the Giants hate money
not the giants, their greedy owners
DearMr. Selig:Try prioritizing when you are going to get the hell out of the League! Do it as soon as possible please.
Signed,
Multitudes of true MLB fans who have had enough of you already!!!
And the multitudes of fans who understand and respect the work he’s done will thank him.
What with all the fans who can’t wait to see him go, they’ll have to take a number and step to the rear. It’ll be a long wait. 🙂
bud actually doing something? is this real life?
Probably because if the A’s get denied the move, he can at least apathetically say “Well, I tried…”
The A’s have zero fan support in the Bay Area. The whole south bay are Giants fans. A’s have no choice but to relocate to Sacramento or Portland.
Where have I heard that before? Yes, the same was said about the Giants who struggled to find support until they got their new stadium. Have you been to San Jose? They support both teams and once the A’s go down there it will be a 2 to 1 advantage for the A’s.
The A’s have zero fan support in the Bay Area. The whole south bay are Giants fans. A’s have no choice but to relocate to Sacramento or Portland.
realistically how much could the giants expect to get as compensation if the a’s went to san jose? millions?
The giants are so greedy. They draw all the big crowds and have a payroll twice the a’s do and oakland plays in the worst stadium in baseball. The territorial rights were given to them 20 years ago when they were in the same position as oakland is now. I hate the giants and that backstabbing organization.
I think you’re missing something..the Giants Class-A San Jose Giants are there. They don’t want to move them, or lose their own territory down there. The A’s have their own territories, so why don’t they move somewhere else? Because they want the sponsors in SJ.
If the a’s wouldnt have given the giants san jose they would be the tampa bay giants playing in tropicana field. I do think the a’s should have to pay the giants some dough to move there i guess that would be fair
So Bud Selig is going to FINALLY put this on the front burner? Is that burner set to “simmer”? Or is it turned up to at least Medium-High?
This is rediculous. With Selig still in charge, the Giants and A’s could still be fighting over this even after 2014 when Selig’s contract is up. Without definitive/punitive action on the part of Selig and ALL the other owners, the Giants can continue to draw this out through other legalities long enough to force the A’s to just go away.
Way to let this one fester for so long Selig.
So Bud Selig is going to FINALLY put this on the front burner? Is that burner set to “simmer”? Or is it turned up to at least Medium-High?
This is rediculous. With Selig still in charge, the Giants and A’s could still be fighting over this even after 2014 when Selig’s contract is up. Without definitive/punitive action on the part of Selig and ALL the other owners, the Giants can continue to draw this out through other legalities long enough to force the A’s to just go away.
Way to let this one fester for so long Selig.
SF Chronicle wrote a couple days ago about how Mark Davis wants to get the Raiders a new stadium, sounding like he wants to move them to Santa Clara or LA, I’m just curious to see how this all works out
I still don’t get this. San Jose is further away from San Francisco than Oakland. It takes a 5 minute ferry ride to get from oakland to San francisco. It takes 45 minutes to drive from San Jose to San Francisco. The a’s are moving farther away thus opening up all of oakland for the giants. The giants are upset that the a’s are moving in on their MINOR LEAGUE teams territory. They are different teams in different league who don’t affect each other at all. The giants should have no say where another team moves to. This is rediciolus. The a’s could easily sue saying the giants are potentially harming the franchise in terms if future revenue
The San Jose area is home to the some of the wealthiest communities/corporations in the country. Plus, Oakland and San Francisco have a natural socio-economic rivalry thing going on that you can’t really quantify, but it exists. It would not be easy for the Giants to simply poach fans from Oakland.
I still don’t get this. San Jose is further away from San Francisco than Oakland. It takes a 5 minute ferry ride to get from oakland to San francisco. It takes 45 minutes to drive from San Jose to San Francisco. The a’s are moving farther away thus opening up all of oakland for the giants. The giants are upset that the a’s are moving in on their MINOR LEAGUE teams territory. They are different teams in different league who don’t affect each other at all. The giants should have no say where another team moves to. This is rediciolus. The a’s could easily sue saying the giants are potentially harming the franchise in terms if future revenue
But…I like the (AAA) San Jose Giants being there…..
I don’t really see the A’s being able to move to San Jose. They will have to move somewhere, in my opinion.
I don’t really see the A’s being able to move to San Jose. They will have to move somewhere, in my opinion.
i believe that the A’s should move down to San Jose. and the Giants can claim a minor league system in Oakland (which is much closer to SF) than what San Jose is…
It’s sad to see the A’s franchise in such disarray they have so much good history. As a former Expos fan I really hope the A’s get a new stadium because that concrete mess they have there is a joke. (2nd worse park ever behind the Olympic Stadium) At least San Jose is a short ride away from Oakland so its not like they’d relocate across the country, or worse, Washington.
Enough of Bud Selig. There’s a crisis in Queens that he’s never going to help. Cannot wait until Bud Steroid Era Selig is gone.
Mr. Wolff is “delighted” that Mr. Selig has removed the situation from the backburner.
Even if it were “under the table” the rebuilding A’s would never take him… alas, the Giants will never be able to be rid of him.
Why are you always the easiest poster to respond to in this article?
I digress; you are wrong, teams split “territories” all the time.
Here’s a better idea,
Let’s move the Blue Jays to the AL Central.
Seems much more important.
AT&T park is a 20 minute drive from Oakland. It’s an hour drive from San Jose. I don’t see how SJ is more in the Giants territory than Oakland is. Oh yeah, it’s because people in SJ have money. This isn’t an issue of territory, it’s an issue of class and income.
Just move them to Hawaii or Monterrey Mexico or Orlando.
Pete is angry!
Wow. Bud Selig doing something that ACTUALLY makes a lot of sense. About time.
Based on this standoff I’m surprised the A’s owner voted Selig back in.
As a fan of neither team, I’ve got no vested interest in the outcome but come on Giants…..if it wasn’t for the As, your newer stadium and that recent WS win you still wouldn’t have much of a fan base. You got your new stadium, let the As have theirs. That coliseum is a dump and the A’s deserve to have a baseball stadium dedicated to just baseball, not sharing with a football team.
And those throwing out the suggestion of ‘move somewhere else’? I wonder if you could choke that down if your owner was petitioning to move your team out of the area…..
Since San Jose is just as far from Oakland as San Fran, I don’t think it makes sense to keep the Oakland name if they make this move. Are they going to change their name to the San Jose Athletics? Maybe they can be the California Athletics, although that would also be confusing, since the Angels used to have that title.
This is a disaster. A’s former Owner Walter Hass helped save the SF Giants for the SF Bay Area.
Current SF Giants Ownership HAS STABBED THE A’s, A’s fans and SF Bay Area Sports fans in their backs
Hass actively worked with the Dodgers and other Owners to block the Giants move to Tampa. They voted with and encouraged other MLB Owners to block the Giants move to Tampa.
Haas helped line up new, well funded local ownership to by the Giants back from the Tampa investors who had the moving vans packed for Tampa.
And former A’s Owner Haas “gifted” the A’s 50% of their Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley territory to the Giants with the proviso that the Giants build their new stadium in Santa Clara County and/or San Jose.
The Giants botched a few proposals to relocate to Santa Clara County and could not get the fans to pay for their new stadium.
The Giants then built their new stadium with private funds in downtown SF.
MLB Teams with 2 teams in their Cities that share territory 50%/50%
include the Cubs and White Sox, the Yankees and Mets and the Dodgers and Angels.
Bud Selig said that Walter Haas acted in the best interests of baseball by working hard to keep the SF Giants in the SF Bay Area including the gift of their Santa Clara County San Jose Territory to the SF Giants.
But, Selig said it was Walter Haas and the A’s understanding that the gift to the Giants WAS NOT MEANT TO BE PERMANENT.
Selig and the A’s expected that at some point the A’s would be restored to their 50% territory in Santa Clara County Silicon Valley.
The entire reason that Haas and the A’s ceded Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley part of their territory to the SF Giants was for the Giants to build their new stadium in Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley. When the Giants built their new stadium in downtown SF with private funds, then the Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley territory should have reverted back to the shared 50% Giants and 50% A’s previous status.
The SF Giants have been trying to force the A’s out of the SF Bay Area
ever since to get a monopoly market in the SF Bay Area.
MLB Owners should resolve this nonsense by:
1)Blocking the A’s move to Las Vegas in an Ownership vote
2) By restoring the A’s 50% Ownership to Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley territory
in an Ownership vote.
3) By “greenlighting” a new A’s stadium in Santa Clara County/Silicon Valley.
4) By Voting to order Fisher to sell the A’s to New, well funded local Ownership that is required to keep the A’s in the SF Bay Area.