BOB: San Jose sues MLB
San Jose sues MLB over Athletics move
The city of San Jose has grown impatient with MLB’s snail-like pace in allowing the Oakland Athletics to relocate to San Jose, and they’ve filed a lawsuit challenging baseball antitrust exemption. More specifically, baseball’s territorial rights are being brought into question as the Athletics have been prevented from moving to San Jose because the city is in the San Francisco Giants’ territory.
With the lawsuit, a line in the sand has been drawn, and it’s a last-ditch effort by San Jose. It’s a desperate move, so the city must have felt that nothing would be resolved anytime soon. And it’s also literally biting the hand that feeds you because you’re basically attacking the entity—that is, MLB—that ultimately determines the fate of the whole stadium situation.
With that, the lawsuit could get messy. I don’t think it has much of a chance of success, but it will bring MLB’s antitrust exemption to the forefront, which is publicity the league doesn’t want. It also might force MLB to reveal details in legal proceedings that they’d rather keep secret. For now, the Athletics are sitting this out, and it’ll be interesting to see what direction this most likely long, drawn-out legal battle goes.
Rays owner resigns himself to current stadium lease
Tampa Bay Rays owner Stu Sternberg recently was interviewed and when questioned, he was
The Mesa City Council approved the hiring of a construction firm to provide input on aspects of the spring training facility project and on the procurement of five hydrotherapy tanks for the complex. W.E. O’Neil Construction was hired to take on the job, and the goal is to move the Oakland Athletics into the new complex for the 2015 spring training season. We’re getting close to the end of the first half of the season, and as it stands, the National League is dominating the top of the attendance list. The Los Angeles Dodgers still sit on top with an average attendance of 43,022. Behind them in second are the San Francisco Giants with 41,660 tickets sold per game. St. Louis is number three, and the top American League team is the New York Yankees with 39,580 tickets sold per game. The Philadelphia Phillies round out the top five. On the road, the top two team are flipped, with the Giants being the top road draw and the Dodgers coming in at number two. The top six road teams are NL squads, and then the Boston Red Sox come in at number seven as the top AL team. The Miami Marlins are at the bottom with 17,337 tickets sold per game, and right behind them are the cross-state Rays with 17,738. The Houston Astros, Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners round out the bottom five. Twenty-one teams are on pace to draw more than two million fans, and six teams are on pace to draw three million.Mesa brings in help to get spring training stadium on track
Attendance Update
“In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the attendance you haven’t, the Indians have managed to win a few here and there”
ahhh yes, my hometown. They go rabid over a football team that consistently loses 11 games a year but can’t support a team that is at least interesting.
Hey Montreal, want a baseball team?
Baseball has not been snail-like in making their decision. I get various speeds for snails by Googling, but bottom line is that in four years a snail could easily make it from Oakland to San Jose. Baseball is far slower than a snail.
Gyre:
You have no clue. San Jose never told the A’s to get lost. The San Jose Giants pre-date Lew Wolff’s ownership – fact. Sacramento is too small for MLB standards – you can look that up.
What Sacramento needs is a new economy and air conditioning.
Brian:
Your brief discussion about the SJ Lawsuit is comical, lacks any analysis, is conclusionary, and shows that you don’t know anything about the situation other than what other writers have said. Please don’t comment on things you know nothing about and your readers will remain at their present state of ignorance….no need to ramp it up for them.
San Jose told the A’s to get lost years ago, the A’s moved on to a Fremont site. That’s why their current lawsuit is comical Dave. The Giants immediately purchased their A team in San Jose once San Jose went crawling back to the A’s. The league owners are going to support the Giants in order to protect their rights. The battle cannot be long, since the A’s lease is expiring soon.
A’s best move has always been to Sacramento, they will be much better attended there and it’s easy to swap with their AAA team. They need a covered stadium and can rent ‘Candlestick North’ while it’s being built. Sacramento needs a team as I recall.
The city of San Jose has money to spend on a lawsuit?
Sure, Sabertooth! Soak the taxpayers as usual and they will find the money for the lawsuit.
Yehoshua, the Giants also need to be fleeced, since they fleeced their local taxpayers the least, of all of the clubs which built new stadiums during the last 20 years. That’s also why their gem of a ballpark, which opened in 2000 amidst sellouts and organizational success, wasn’t picked to host an All-Star Game until 2007, after many other MLB municipalities had been fleeced by their resident (itinerant) billionaire owners.
Good bizness plans are bad for baseball, apparently, until someone sues. Then they’re worse.