A's may have 2 suitors to keep the team in Oakland (San Jose: move, stadium)

[18Montclair]

As to why either investment group thinks it can succeed in Oakland when the current owners have all but given up on the city:

First, Oakland is a proven market, and the A's have drawn as many as 2.9 million fans when they were winning.

Second, the Oakland City Council's vote last week to explore redeveloping the Coliseum site with a new ballpark has given investors hope of partnering with the city in a deal that could make financial sense.


A's may have 2 suitors to keep team in Oakland

WOW, talk about a turn of events.

[Natural510]

Yeah, that is interesting...
Of course, Wolff would have to be willing to sell, and Selig has proven in the past he's pretty anti-Oakland (though that may change if he gives a no-go to SJ). Hopefully we get an answer one way or the other on San Jose soon. I'd hate for yet another crop of young players to come and go before playing in a new A's ballpark.

[ZhugeLiang]

All the leverage is with Oakland now. With this territorial rights business, he's pretty much stuck here. He may be starting to think that now is the time for him to cut his losses and move on.

[krudmonk]

A Silicon Valley savior from LA and people think that's the opposite of Lew Wolff? Nobody sets their sights on the Dodgers, who draw 3.7 million a year and have a strong share of the nation's 2nd biggest market with a very lucrative TV deal in place....and settles for the A's who draw 1.4 million and are dwarfed in the 6th largest market and the inability to better their situation outside the Coliseum site which MLB already wrote off years ago. Also, on top of paying for the franchise, they will have to hope the Raiders and Warriors play along so all three can pay the billions to develop this stadium mall.

[athleticsfan72737489]

I'm extremely skeptical. This is another FUD piece that the Giants are behind - just like the Madden piece last Monday. The Giants want to install another element of doubt about San Jose. They hope to "muddy the waters" enough to sway public opinion and the opinions of other ownership groups.

Even if we get a new ownership group, they'll have the same problems that this one does. I have ZERO faith in our public leaders to get anything done on this front. And even if this rumored group says they want to stay in Oakland, they might just bolt like the new Seattle Sonics owners did.

[dragontales]

Lew needs to sell this darn team!!

[Glenview94602]

Agree with athleticsfan72737489.
Its lacking on details, short on promises, and sounds like a Giants trick.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Anything to wrest control away from the current d-bag.

[bigdumbgod]

Originally Posted by BayAreaHillbilly

Anything to wrest control away from the current d-bag.

Anything, like, losing the franchise to another city?

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by dragontales

Lew needs to sell this darn team!!

Yup.

What's holding back the team is the owners--not the fans, not the players, not even the coliseum.

We need an ownership group that wants to be here and it appears that 2 such groups have been identified with the money to make it happen.

I am very happy with this development and I am starting to the think the tide has turned in our favor.