Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred says it’s time for the City of Oakland to get serious about keeping the Oakland Athletics in town and get plan for a new stadium finalized.
According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Manfred said it was an “all in one” proposition for Oakland, telling the city that it needs to drop its lawsuit over the Coliseum land sale or risk the A’s relocating to another city.
“He kind of laid down the law,” councilman Larry Reid, who also sits on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority, told the Chronicle.
“He talked about how it was five years ago that he became commissioner, how he had resisted the A’s moving to San Jose back then,” Reid said. “Then he talked about his frustration with the lawsuit and how the city needs to make it go away.”
San Francisco owns half of the other current Coliseum complex and wants the county to sell its share to Oakland. However, Oakland doesn’t have the $85 million that the A’s are offering.
The A’s intend to develop the 155-acre site to help pay for a privately financed ballpark at Howard Terminal near Jack London Square.
Reid said Manfred told Oakland officials that relocation is a very real possibility for the team.
“The commissioner pointed out that Bay Area fans will soon be going to Las Vegas to see the Raiders and that unless things changed,” Reid said. “Bay Area fans may be going to Las Vegas or elsewhere to see the A’s as well.”
