Oakland Athletics owner Lew Wolff wants to build a new stadium for his MLB team at the site of the current Coliseum, but isn’t particularly interested in sharing that new stadium with the Raiders, as John Hickey of the Bay Area News Group details.
“We have thoroughly investigated things,” Wolff said. “And there is no good way to put two brand-new venues at the Coliseum site. If the Raiders are going to be there, then I don’t know what will happen. We’ll have to sit down with (baseball commissioner) Rob (Manfred) and see what to do..I think it’s really important from our perspective, the A’s and baseball, the city focus on the need to get something done with regards to baseball. Not to the detriment of football, but the need to get something done with baseball.”
Well, as it turns out, the city of Oakland just might have a financing plan to satisfy the Raiders’ needs while chasing the A’s away, as Matthew Artz of the Bay Area News Group writes. San Diego-based businessman Floyd Kephart submitted a report to top city officials earlier today which could be key to making the Coliseum site viable for future use. The NFL is demanding that Oakland produce a workable stadium plan for the Raiders by the end of this year or risk losing the team.
As Oakland officials fight to retain their team, the city of San Diego is also working to keep the Chargers away from Los Angeles. As Jason Cole of Bleacher Report (Twitter links) details, Chargers fans have asked SD attorney Jan Goldsmith for anti-trust suit against team for failure to show “good faith.” Chargers counsel Mark Fabiani, however, doesn’t sound fazed by the threat (link). Fabiani told Cole that the Bolts’ lease “explicitly precludes lawsuits by the city against the team or the NFL in the event of relocation” making the threat of the suit “a crazy idea.”
Luke Adams contributed to this post.