Mar 13, 2009 8:01 pm US/Pacific
A's Owner Confirms He Wants Out Of Oakland
OAKLAND (CBS 5 / KCBS / AP / BCN) ―
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The Oakland Coliseum is the current home of the A's.
AP
Oakland A's managing partner Lew Wolff made it clear on Friday that he no longer wants his baseball franchise in Oakland, rebuffing the city's efforts to propose a ballpark that would keep the team there.
In a statement released to the media, Wolff said the A's had "fully exhausted" stadium discussions with the city of Oakland and had no interest in going over "old ground."
Wolff, who has headed the baseball team's ownership group since April 2005, said bluntly, "We have fully exhausted our time and resources over the years with the city of Oakland, dating back to previous A's ownership."
"We recognize conditions have not changed," Wolff added.
His statement came one day after Oakland city officials asked for Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig's help in developing a plan to build a new stadium for the Athletics.
Mayor Ron Dellums and City Council President Jane Brunner asked Selig in a letter Thursday to name a point person from his office to work with a newly-formed city ballpark committee.
In an apparent reference to the letter by Dellums and Brunner, Wolff stated that "letters to Major League Baseball offer nothing new or of any real substance."
He continued, "Outside stimulation to have us continue to play in an aging and shared facility may generate press and 'sound-bite' opportunities but do not provide any tangible alterations in the circumstances we face."
The A's - tired of sharing space with the NFL's Oakland Raiders - have been trying unsuccessfully for years to find a suitable stadium site in Oakland.
Wolff noted that attendance and season ticket holders continue to decline at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which he cited as problematic for the baseball team.
"Sadly, the business and corporate base of the city of Oakland was very limited when we purchased the team and has eroded since," Wolff said."Our attendance and low number of season ticket holders, both one of the
lowest in Major League Baseball, also continues to decline even when our
on-field performance produced playoff participation."
Wolff said it was his "goal and desire" is to find a way to keep the team in the Bay Area. However, he made it clear that he wants to move forward in finding that home outside of Oakland's city limits.
"Our goal and desire for the organization is to determine a way to keep
the team in Northern California. That goal has not changed," he concluded, but "we have no interest in covering old ground again, as we need to move forward in finding a future home for our team."
San Jose is viewed by many as a potential home for the A's, but the San Francisco Giants' agreement with MLB presently gives them territorial rights to Santa Clara County.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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