At ESPN.com, Jeff Passan is reporting that Oakland is considering a move out of the city if they cannot come to terms on a new ballpark.
Teams threatening to leave for stadium offers elsewhere is nothing new--it's a time-honored leverage tactic used to get municipalities to pony up large sums to build stadiums that almost never pay off for the taxpayers in the long run. And as a small market overshadowed by a large market whose basketball and football teams have left the city recently, Oakland is probably more susceptible to this than most, so take it with a grain of salt. But it struck me as telling that the A's confirmed not only are they looking elsewhere, but are doing so at MLB's direction:
Teams threatening to leave for stadium offers elsewhere is nothing new--it's a time-honored leverage tactic used to get municipalities to pony up large sums to build stadiums that almost never pay off for the taxpayers in the long run. And as a small market overshadowed by a large market whose basketball and football teams have left the city recently, Oakland is probably more susceptible to this than most, so take it with a grain of salt. But it struck me as telling that the A's confirmed not only are they looking elsewhere, but are doing so at MLB's direction:
I'm skeptical that this is anything more than a leverage move, but if there's real meat to this, the leading contenders would have to be Montreal and Vegas, no?"The future success of the A's depends on a new ballpark," A's owner John Fisher said in a statement. "Oakland is a great baseball town, and we will continue to pursue our waterfront ballpark project. We will also follow MLB's direction to explore other markets."