Oakland Mayor Jean Quan had bold, direct words for the Oakland A’s, Major League Baseball, and the Golden State Warriors.
In this vlogger’s video talk with her at the Oakland Running Festival Press Conference, Quan said “You saw that the (Port of Oakland) Port Commission, now that they have eliminated all the maritime uses from Howard Terminal, has begun to take up the proposal from the Ballpark Waterfront Group, which is made up of some of the top CEOs in the city, and they are asking for a one-year exclusive negotiating agreement, to develop a plan to build a ballpark at Howard Terminal, which, for most fans, is their priority. So that completes my promise to Major League Baseball, when I first became mayor, that we could provide two good sites that have site control, and when they finish negotiating their deal, I think Major League Baseball will have to make a decision.”
It’s clear that Oakland A’s Owner Lew Wolff himself doesn’t like Oakland or the Oakland Coliseum. His most recent blast was that he would seek a temporary site outside Oakland if a two-year lease extension could not be negotiated. And The San Francisco Giants have said they would share their stadium with the Oakland A’s.
Meanwhile, San Jose continues to pursue the Oakland A’s in Captain Ahab-like fashion, pushing an anti-trust battle with Major League Baseball that’s doomed for failure.
Wednesday night, San Jose filed a silly array of court documents that asks the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to reinstate the city’s arguments against Major League Baseball. San Jose claims MLB’s Anti-Trust Exemption, which blocked it from going after the Oakland A’s because MLB is allowed to designate a region for the location of a team, and in this case that’s Alameda County, is the product of another time.
The trouble for San Jose is the MLB’s Anti-Trust Exemption is still in place, and thus there’s no reason to expect a reversal of the initial decision U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte made when he dismissed the case last year.
On The Golden State Warriors; Quan Expects To Be Re-elected
Asked about the status of the retention of Oakland sports teams, and about Coliseum City, Mayor Quan said in the video “I know they’re having their difficulties in San Francisco. But a lot of Oakland fans feel we supported them during the worst years, and they should stay here. We will work with the Warriors (“And they still owe money to us, right?” I asked) Yes. And they’ve now extended…Quite frankly, I expect to win re-election so that they will be here for my term, through 2018.”
Mayor Quan faces a tough reelection battle facing 15 other candidates.
Stay tuned.
Zennie Abraham | Zennie Abraham or “Zennie62” is the founder of Zennie62Media which consists of zennie62blog.com and a multimedia blog news aggregator and video network, and 78-blog network, with social media and content development services and consulting. Zennie is a pioneer video blogger, YouTube Partner, social media practitioner, game developer, and pundit. Note: news aggregator content does not reflect the personal views of Mr. Abraham.