The reports are all over that Major League Baseball’s long-delayed report on the Oakland A’s in Oakland, and if they should be given permission to leave Oakland for San Jose, will be released “soon,” and the verdict is that the A’s will be given permission to move to San Jose.
If Oakland Mayor Jean Quan doesn’t want to give Oaklanders yet another reason to think about recalling her, she needs to throw a massive punch right to the collective noses of Major League Baseball, San Jose, and The Oakland A’s, and do that right now. Today.
Yes, on Christmas Day.
Oakland can’t afford to lose the Oakland A’s, and the report will undoubtedly and stupidly point to San Jose’s “proximity” to Silicon Valley as one reason. In an Internet-based society people will travel thousands of miles to support a brand. San Jose is part of the San Francisco Bay Area, like Oakland; get people from all over to come to the Oakland Coliseum.
Oakland needs the A’s now, more than ever. Losing them to San Jose amounts to economic tampering. That’s grounds for a massive lawsuit worth at least $30 million to Oakland. Why? Lost potential revenue and the ripple effect on the image of Oakland.
It’s weird that MLB waited until now, over a year, to release a report that then-Oakland City Attorney John Russo was waiting for. And it may be that MLB timed this because Russo, who would most certainly have not tolerated this crap, is gone. I’ll bet MLB is banking on Oakland not having the gravitas to even think of taking them to court. And considering that Oakland spent $3 million to block out Occupy Oakland, maybe some one at MLB thinks the well has run dry.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan must sue MLB, San Jose, and The Oakland A’s now, or step down as Mayor of Oakland.
It’s that simple.
Stay tuned.