It’s been a while since there’s been any news about the Oakland A’s quest to build a new ballpark development at Howard Terminal. And that lack of progress seems to be pushing the team and Major League Baseball to the brink.
In an interview with Christopher Russo on SiriusXM Radio from Houston, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said he was not optimistic that the A’s will be able to stay in Oakland, despite the best efforts of people like Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf.
“I think the mayor in Oakland has made a huge effort to try to get it done in Oakland. It just doesn’t look like it’s going to happen,” Manfred said. “I think the A’s have proceeded prudently in terms of exploring the Las Vegas alternative, given the lack of pace in Oakland. I think they have to look for an alternative.”
Manfred said it’s “hard to say” how soon the A’s might leave and, when pressed by Russo about whether he expects the A’s to go to Las Vegas, backed off the comment a little.
“I didn’t say that,” Manfred responded. “What I said is, and I stand by, given the lack of pace in Oakland, the lack of certainty, they have to be looking at Las Vegas. They need an alternative because they can’t continue to play in the facility they’re in.”
But Manfred also reiterated that he would waive the relocation fee for the A’s to go to Vegas: “I said that, given the situation in Oakland, given the fact that, if you go to Vegas, you have to build a retractable roof stadium, which adds about $500 million to the cost, that a relocation fee is probably not appropriate.”
After the comments became known to the public, reporters in Houston for the World Series requested to speak to Manfred Saturday evening before Game 2, but the commissioner declined. Specifically asked to address his comments on Oakland, Manfred replied, “I’m done talking about Oakland.”
Manfred declined to talk to the media. Asked to follow up on Oakland comments he made to @MadDogUnleashed he said “I’m done talking about Oakland.”
— Britt Ghiroli (@Britt_Ghiroli) October 29, 2022
On Saturday, Schaaf responded in a statement to the commissioner’s comments, saying she “spoke with (Manfred) today and assured him that I remain absolutely confident our deal in Oakland will get done next year even with new leadership in place.”
“The A’s are continuing to invest tremendous resources into an Oakland deal,” she said in the statement. “We are working together every day to realize our shared vision for a vibrant waterfront neighborhood with public parks, good jobs, affordable housing and an iconic home for our Oakland A’s.”
Manfred’s lack of optimism mirrors that of team officials who have consistently threatened to skip town if the city doesn’t sign off on a new waterfront ballpark and luxury housing development at the West Oakland harbor.
A’s President Dave Kaval has widely publicized the club’s pursuit of a “parallel path” to securing a stadium in Las Vegas should the proposed Howard Terminal development fall through. Until now, however, those plans appear to be in preliminary stages. The team did not provide comment on this story.
Schaaf has spent much of the past year cheering on the prospect of both a new 35,000-seat stadium at the harbor and a surrounding village of 3,000 homes, office space, retail, hotel rooms and public parks. She will term out as mayor after the November election, and the leading candidates to replace her have mixed views about whether the team has negotiated in good faith.
Although the development itself would be privately funded by the A’s, the city may be expected to create a new tax district to generate $850 million in revenue for the construction of affordable housing, new roads and transportation improvements along the shoreline.
In June, the A’s cleared a major hurdle to staying in Oakland after a Bay Area commission determined there’s enough harbor land at Howard Terminal to support the development.
At the time, Kaval had warned that the team would kill negotiations to remain in Oakland if a deal was not inked by the November election, saying he wanted to pre-empt having to work with city leaders who didn’t match Schaaf’s enthusiasm. In addition to a new mayor, Oakland voters in November will elect at least two new additions to the seven-member council.
Kaval’s threats of such an immediate deadline have cooled off in recent months, and a more concrete timeline appears to point toward 2024, when the A’s lease at the Coliseum is set to expire. But the league commissioner’s comments on Saturday could add renewed urgency to negotiations.
What will be the fate of professional baseball in Oakland? Schaaf appears determined not to let the city lose its last major pro sports franchise, especially not to Las Vegas, where a slick new football stadium lured the Raiders away from Oakland in 2020. It’s why longtime A’s executive Billy Beane was hopeful at the end of the regular season that the ballclub would get the ballpark.
City council members, along with a large number of residents, have criticized the Howard Terminal project’s various demands, pushing instead for the A’s to either remain in East Oakland or revise its proposal.
Tensions rose higher over the summer after a coalition of shipping and trucking companies at the city’s port joined in filling lawsuits against the city over its approval in February of the project’s environmental impact report.
But on the other hand, a similarly large contingent of residents — including labor unions that represent Coliseum workers, as well as longtime A’s fans — have urged the city to secure whatever deal it can to keep the team in town.
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