By oaklandathletic (12.149.144.130) on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 09:47 am:

Check swing: The odds of San Jose getting an A's ballpark plan on the November ballot appear to be slipping fast - in large part because of inaction by Major League Baseball.

"We keep waiting for the 'swing away' sign from baseball, but so far - nothing," Mayor Chuck Reed said.

Baseball officials have been sympathetic to the Giants' argument that the South Bay is their territory, which means no other team can move in. They would have to do a 180 to bless any proposed stadium for the A's - and publicly say, "Thanks, but no thanks" to the city of Oakland as well.

The City Council's meeting next week will be its last before a month-plus summer break. It's already too late to get any stadium plan on the agenda for that session.

The next meeting is Aug. 3 - just days before the deadline for putting a measure on the November ballot.

Reed said the council could put something before voters without baseball's blessing, and he's confident it would still pass.

But Santa Clara County Assessor Larry Stone, one of the ballpark's biggest boosters, said that going ahead without a commitment of a team would "not be very productive. It just gives the opposition too much ammunition."

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2010/06/16/BAE11DVJ7B.DTL&tsp=1#ixzz0r2G4pHkf

By raiderjohn (207.47.31.74) on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 - 12:22 pm:

To bad city budgets aren't made in October, Reeds' getting hammered pretty hard media wise by the city employees forced to take pay cuts, just to prevent layoffs.

By eyleenn (71.131.25.207) on Thursday, June 17, 2010 - 07:37 pm:

On the other hand, the "Let's Go Oakland" folks who spoke at the Oakland community meeting in May believe the MLB committee won't make a decision until AFTER the San Jose voters approve the ballpark because if the ballpark vote fails, they won't have to deal with the territorial rights issue.

All depends on your point of view.

By jmmarx (24.113.222.182) on Saturday, June 19, 2010 - 10:47 pm:

San Jose needs to get their priorities straight.

By rockoaka (75.61.72.212) on Sunday, June 20, 2010 - 11:10 am:

What are the odds that Wolff will come out and say, 'San Jose has other priorities greater than baseball."

By eyleenn (71.131.25.207) on Sunday, June 20, 2010 - 11:44 am:

Hah!

By mroakland (76.102.83.101) on Sunday, June 20, 2010 - 12:28 pm:

So with the possibility of the Forty Niners moving to the South Bay and joining the Sharks and Earthquakes in the fight for the pro sports dollar, doesn't having the A's in San Jose constitute too many franchises in a rather inaccessible southern part of the Bay Area fighting for a slice of the corporate pie?

Also, with a 118 million dollar budget deficit, San Jose has no business actively pursuing a team from a neighboring city. San Jose has other priorities such public safety and infrastructure maintenance.

I know that Oakland also has a budget deficit but the A's are already in Oakland and the city isn't out there trying to steal the Sharks or Earthquakes from San Jose.

It's a shame that Bay Area cities with established franchises have to be constantly on the look out for San Jose pilfering their teams in order to enhance its inferiority and minor league complex.