San Jose officials say their offer of a 45,000-seat ballpark for the Oakland A’s is still on the table — but they’ve had no talks with team management.
San Jose officials say their offer of a 45,000-seat ballpark for the Oakland A’s is still on the table — but they’ve had no talks with team management.
As you’ll recall, San Jose politicians and Oakland A’s officials had discussions about a new ballpark near downtown before MLB stepped in and pointed out San Jose was still within the territory of the San Francisco Giants, forcing the A’s to look outside of Silicon Valley — and landing with a ballpark plan for Fremont, just on the edge of the Giants’ territory.
But that Fremont ballpark bid looks less and less likely everyday; between issues with the site itself and the collapse of a plan to use surrounding development to pay for the costs of a ballpark, the A’s have been forced to seek alternatives and received the blessing of Commissioner Bud Selig late last year to talk with municipalities not named Fremont.
So San Jose’s ready for action; the city already controls 12 of the 14 acres forseen as a ballpark site. There’s just one problem: the A’s say they’re still focused on Fremont. So, despite a flurry of headlines in recent weeks regarding the A’s and San Jose, there’s little more going on than the status quo.