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A's to San Jose Brings $130 Million a Year to South Bay

A's owner Lew Wolf is a man in search of a home. Oakland draws the second fewest fans in the majors behind only the Florida Marlins and Wolf is convinced that baseball is no longer economically viable in Oakland. He tried to build a stadium in Fremont, but that fell through earlier this year. He has set his sights on San Jose and now has new ammunition in his favor.

The San Jose City Council Thursday received a report that indicated that a baseball stadium in downtown San Jose, housing the relocated A's would generate $130 million a year in benefits to San Jose. That kind of math makes the case for a public subsidy of stadium construction much easier to pass.

The bigger problem perhaps is that San Jose is designated as San Francisco Giants home territory and Wolf will need a waiver to move the A's there. He has asked Major League Baseball to look into the matter and a committee is investigating. Wolf wants Northern California to be treated as one area with two teams just as the other three areas with two team are. There are no territorial boundaries within the metro areas for the Yankees and Mets or the White Sox and Cubs, even though they have geographically distinct locations and fan bases. No further movement on a San Jose stadium will take place until Major League Baseball makes a determination about the waiver. It makes too much sense for the A's not to be able to move to San Jose - it's too big a market for the Giants to be able to control and the A's desperately need a new home. It's a perfect storm to keep the club in northern California and the Giants should not be allowed to stand in the way.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on September 04, 2009 (boomark / email).