We weren't necessarily worried, but Bud Selig has brought us ease of mind by announcing that contraction is not on the table for the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Rays.
We weren't necessarily worried, but Bud Selig has brought us ease of mind by announcing that contraction is not on the table for the Oakland A's and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Money quote from the LA Times' Bill Shanklin interview (worth a read):
Q: The A's and Tampa Bay Rays are the two teams still looking for a new ballpark. When the collective bargaining agreement expires next year, so does the moratorium on contraction. If the ballpark situations are not resolved, would you consider folding the A's and Rays?
A: No, I wouldn't. I think we have moved past that.
We're going into 16 years of labor peace. I regard that as maybe the prime reason for the growth of the sport.
I love the new ballparks. I love revenue sharing. I love interleague play and the wild card. But I don't think we understood how those labor confrontations were damaging us, whether it was 1972, 1973, 1976, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1990 or 1994.
There is no question that both of those teams need new ballparks. We'll just have to work our way through it. Tampa has done a marvelous job running their team. [General Manager] Billy Beane has done a terrific job in Oakland. With the economics of baseball today, you've got to have a new stadium.
Yeah, we're sure the folks in Oakland and Tampa Bay are sleeping easier tonight.
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