Over the past five years there's been a lot of grumbling over at the Oakland Coliseum and rumblings from the owners of the Oakland A's that they were going to high-tail it to San Jose the first chance they got. Well, that threat appears to have disappeared after Major League Baseball has pretty much shut down their bid, after much "studying" of the issue, deferring to the Giants who claim the South Bay as their turf. And as of this week, as Matier and Ross report, A's owner Lew Wolff is in negotiations with the city to extend the team's lease at the Coliseum another 10 years.
The agreement calls for "nominal" rent payments and a pledge of $10 to $12 million by the team to cover some stadium improvements, including a new electronic scoreboard.
Meanwhile, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan has gone as far as to find potential investors in a new, more downtown-adjacent stadium complex on Port of Oakland property north of Jack London Square, but for various reasons Wolff and team co-owner John Fisher have been unexcited about this idea. One big issue remains the fact that such a stadium would not be as BART-accessible as the Coliseum, and parking would likely be a problem.
Quan has a separate idea for a big redevelopment project around the Coliseum that would include separate stadiums for football and baseball, with the Raiders possibly getting a new stadium. More may come of that later this year.
