Three years have passed since MLB commissioner Bud Selig appointed his committee to figure out a resolution for the Oakland Athletics stadium issues, and almost nothing has come of it. And with the recent talks of the team being kept out of San Jose because of the San Francisco Giants territorial rights, the A's released a statement on Wednesday to clear up some of the confusion about their current stadium situation.
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"Recent articles claiming that Major League Baseball has decided that the A's cannot share the two-team Bay Area market were denied by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig last weekend.
Currently the Giants and A's share the two-team Bay Area market in terms of television, radio, sponsors and fans. Last year, the Giants opened a specialty store in the middle of the A's market (Walnut Creek). At the time, Lew Wolff commented that he was 'fine with the Giants store and wished there was an A's store in San Francisco.'
Of the four two-team markets in MLB, only the Giants and A's do not share the exact same geographic boundaries. MLB-recorded minutes clearly indicate that the Giants were granted Santa Clara, subject to relocating to the city of Santa Clara. The granting of Santa Clara to the Giants was by agreement with the A's late owner Walter Haas, who approved the request without compensation. The Giants we unable to obtain a vote to move and the return of Santa Clara to its original status was not formally accomplished.
We are not seeking a move that seeks to alter or in any manner disturb MLB territorial rights. We simply seek an approval to create a new venue that our organization and MLB fully recognizes is needed to eliminate our dependence on revenue sharing, to offer our fans and players a modern ballpark, to move over 35 miles further away from the Giants' great venue and to establish an exciting competition between the Giants and A's.
We are hopeful that the Commissioner, the committee appointed by the Commissioner, and a vote of the MLB ownership, will enable us to join the fine array of modern and fun baseball parks that are now commonplace in Major League Baseball."
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It certainly doesn't seem like the A's are asking for much, they just want a fair share to be a competitive, lucrative franchise. It makes the Giants sound like the bad guys here, along with Selig and his cronies maliciously trying to screw the A's over and leave them to rot in the Oakland Coliseum.
The example used of the Giants store in Oakland is a perfect example of the disparity between the two, and the fact that the two teams don't share any geographic boundaries makes it even more logical to give the A's a break. Hopefully Selig and the Giants can figure out a way to help the A's become a bankable, worthwhile franchise once more.
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