If the Oakland A's are to move to San Jose, the time to ask voters to approve a ballpark plan is coming up — but there's no indication that Bud Selig is ready to tackle the issue.
If the Oakland A's are to move to San Jose, the time to ask voters to approve a ballpark plan is coming up — but there's no indication that Bud Selig is ready to tackle the issue.
Time, indeed, is of the essence: the San Jose City Council has until Aug. 3 to put a question on this fall's ballot asking voters to approve using city-owned land for a $465-million ballpark; the city would contribute the land, and Lew Wolff would finance the ballpark. Simple-enough proposition if you're a San Jose resident, but given the weirdness of the California political scene this year, passage is not a given.
Still, it may never get to that point if Bud Selig doesn't act on the recommendations of a committee he appointed to evaluate the Athletics' ballpark situation. The committee was formed 16 months ago and has reportedly completed its report; the issue is that nothing is being done with it. For the A's to move to San Jose, the team would need permission from the San Francisco Giants. Giants ownership has repeatedly said they are not interested in any deal giving the A's access to San Jose. And if the Giants can't be bought or persuaded by Selig, then there's no ballpark deal.
Which may be why Selig is not doing anything publicly to deal with this issue. If the deadline is missed, Selig has an out. The A's may be forced to stay in Oakland, Wolff may choose to build elsewhere (though there seems to be few cities hot for MLB anymore), or Wolff may sell. In any case, Wolff seems pretty pissed no decision has been made.
RELATED STORIES: Whew! Selig says contraction not on the table; Parsing the impact of a new A's ballpark; NUMMI plant pops up again as A's ballpark site; Fremont comes back to A's, MLB with another ballpark site; Wolff: A's could share ballpark with MLS's Quakes; Does a San Jose A&'s ballpark make economic sense?; Giants digging in their heels in opposition to A's San Jose ballpark; San Jose to put off ballpark referendum until 2010; San Jose ballpark committee meets for first time; San Jose to discuss blueprints for A's ballpark negotiations; Various San Jose groups begin task of landing A's; Selig forms committee to study Oakland ballpark situation; Wolff to Oakland: Drop dead!; Oakland forming new committee to pursue new A's ballpark; San Jose mayor: We have better than 50-50 shot at landing the A's; San Jose city committee wants to see poll of residents before moving forward on A's; Could Oakland Coliseum work as baseball-only venue?; Wolff: Goal is team in "Northern California"; A's officially drop Fremont ballpark plans; Wolff says there's no backup plan; A's suspend Fremont plans; will reevaluate future home for club; A's: No new ballpark until 2014; Wolff: A's still committed to Fremont ballpark; A's cancel community meetings as opposition to new ballpark plan accelerates; New A's ballpark opposed by hundreds of protesters; Oakland admits original plans for Cisco Field are all but dead
Share your news with the baseball community. Send it to us at editors@augustpublications.com.
Subscribers to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter see features before they're posted to the site. You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.
Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!