Not to be forgotten, at least one Oakland official is expressing his frustration at Bud Selig and his Merry Trio’s sixteen months of work (and counting), courtesy of Chris Metinko of the Trib:
“I think these people are playing us,” Oakland Councilmember Ignacio De La Fuente said Wednesday. “The best thing (Major League Baseball) can do is pit one city against the other. I feel this is all being orchestrated.”
De La Fuente’s comments come just days after San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed expressed similar dismay over MLB’s long, drawn-out study.
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De La Fuente, who also serves on the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority Board that controls the stadium in Oakland, said he has not heard anything from MLB in several weeks and echoed Reed’s comments about the cities being held hostage.
“At the end of the day, we should not be held hostage by baseball,” De La Fuente said.
In honor of the collective anger emanating from at least two corners of the Bay Area, I present the following video gem (watch out for some profanity):
In light of the rather elaborate plan hatched and executed by Miami’s new trio, it’s worth asking: How much of this process is real?
newballpark.org 
Selig has Yankees, Mets, White Sox, Cubs, Orioles, Nationals, Dodgers and Angels to appease in any settlement.
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Oakland has no election to run, public funds or no.
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Me thinks Iggy is right. This could (easily) be about getting some portion of the new stadium publicly financed.
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I wrote this piece on athleticsnation titled “How it Could Work in Oaktown.” I mentioned guaranteeing about $100M for construction. I am not advocating that.
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If Bud can string this out, get Oakland to pony up and not have to change anything about MLB’s Constitution in the process… Why wouldn’t he?
and in the meantime, 2013 gets closer and closer. i wonder what the back-up plan is if this whole process drags on long enough to where the a’s have to negociate a season ormaybe even two beyond the current one year leases. doubtful, but hey… you figure someone’s had to contemplate it. wouldn’t that be an awkward and tense negotiation between the team and city… can a stadium really be cranked out in 24 months or so…
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Very frustrating process. Just hope I live to see the new stadium somewhere around here.
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Funny clip, ML. Mel’s quite good at ranting on and off camera.
Respectfully Jeffrey,
“Selig has Yankees, Mets, White Sox, Cubs, Orioles, Nationals, Dodgers, and Angels to appease in any settlement.” Getting the A’s off of revenue sharing welfare is appeasement enough. Besides, White Sox owner Jerry Rheinsdorf is also a good friend of Wolff, and all the aformentioned teams are part of two-team, shared territory markets; they’ll see the Bay Area situation for what it really is (I’m confident they can all read a map). “Me thinks Iggy is right”: first time you’ve ever made me spit beverage out of my mouth Jeffrey. Oakland spending $100 million for a ballark? That’s bound to go over well for the 80 now-former OPD officers that just got laid off (patrol the ballgame or the riot?). Anyhow, if your post was meant to be humerous Jeffrey, then my bad for taking it seriously (good one!)
Fremont’s not angry.
Oh, there are plenty of angry people in Fremont. They just come out when Fremont becomes part of the conversation again.
TD,
I wasn’t saying I thought it would work out where Oakland ponied up anything. Just saying, I would be more surprised if Bud Selig wasn’t trying to tweak the process in a way that reduced the investment of the MLB club (be it in the Bay Area or anywhere else).
I get that Reinsdorf is Uncle Lew’s friend. Uncle Jerry has been fairly mum on the topic though, no?
I hear what you’re saying Jeffrey. I know MLB was pretty upset with the Giants organization for years after the opening of Pac Bell because they privately financed their ballpark; possibly setting a precedent for future venues (Cisco Field yes; Target Field hell no), leaving the G’s financially vulnerable to revenue drops that could prevent them from paying mortgage payments/remaining competitive, etc. However, big difference from Magowan in 2000 vs. Wolff in 2010; Magowan didn’t control one acre of real estate in San Francisco. Wolff, on the other hand, controls not only the airport/FMC site but the Edenvale iStar property as well (140 or so acres); that doesn’t even count his interests in downtown San Jose. Throw in the Cisco naming rights deal, corporate support from Silicon Valley and a privately financed venue in downtown San Jose should work out just fine. Wolff wants to do it…LET HIM!
-Once again this is proof Selig is trying to get the A’s to San Jose. Any rumor of the committee working with Oakland to prop up a proposal as you can see is totally false.
-What else could be holding this up one might ask? It is obvious Selig knows the Giants are going to cry over this as they have refused to come to the table to negotiate rights since 2004-2005 when the A’s first requested to them to do so. Instead the A’s tried to move to Fremont and once that fell through Selig now sees he has to get the A’s to San Jose as a city this large (1.2 million people) is the A’s only hope of staying in the Bay Area.
-The Giants are morons for not stepping up and getting a deal done as Selig will then force the issue upon them and even a former lawyer like Bill Neukom knows he can’t sue MLB or the A’s because of the anti-trust exemption baseball was granted in the 1920s by the Supreme Court.
-In any case, relax guys. The longer this goes the better it bodes for San Jose and even if they push the vote back to March I am sure Lew Wolff will pay the 1 million or so to stage it. Once the vote does it happen it will get passed easily as there are zero new taxes and all the city is doing is donating land.
-Once Selig has every scenario plotted in this report and every possible objection with an answer he will come out and make this happen. Why else would he stated this affects “two franchises”?? If Oakland/Fremont had something then negotiations would be long underway with Lew Wolff and those cities as why would it affect the Giants??
I still buy into the conspiracy theory that Wolff and Selig are orchestrating this as some kind of show. However we won’t know for sure until August 3rd. If the panel squeeks in with their decision just before the deadline for the November ballot allowing SJ to get it on the ballot we’ll know. It was all a ruse.
Dan, I mostly agree that it is a show. The problem is that they can’t just give the territorial rights to the A’s, they have to demonstrate that it is in the best interest of the A’s and baseball in general. You can’t just say ‘This is why it works in San Jose.” You also have to say “This is why it won’t work in Oakland.” All the boxes need to be checked, ducks in a row, etc. Even though San Jose doesn’t need to vote to do it, I think it is in their best interests to vote anyway so SJ and MLB can say they have the support of the community.
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Selig told the Giants to be mum on the whole thing; I believe he may have told them that it’s going to happen regardless of what they want and the more cooperation (or less resistance) they offer, the better return he’ll work for them.
LS – if your last paragraph were the case, don’t you think the Giants wouldn’t be creating puppet groups to fight their battle in SJ? I totally agree with your take in the first paragraph.
We don’t know for certain that the newer puppet groups have the Giants hand in them. Some of the older ones, sure. The newest group could just be your typical ‘fight change’ people.
True, I was thinking of the previous ones though. Could just be a matter of timing I guess. Strange process, that’s for sure.
“The newest group could just be your typical ‘fight change’ people.”
Or your typical “oppose a stupid idea” people.
A Major League ballpark in downtown San Jose is a “stupid idea”? Damn, who were the idiots who thunk of building AT&T Park at South Beach/SF or Camden Yards at Baltimore’s inner harbor?