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OAKLAND
A's denied on longer lease

Meredith May
Saturday, September 16, 2006

The Oakland Athletics baseball team has walked away from negotiations with its landlord in a dispute over extending the team's lease from 2010 to 2013.

The team wanted to add three years to its current rental contract so it would have more time to search for a new stadium, said Jim Young, the team's director of public relations.

The McAfee Coliseum, formerly known as the Oakland Coliseum, has been home to the Oakland A's since 1968. Today it is "obsolete, both structurally and financially," Young said.

The landlord, the Joint Powers Authority, on Friday turned down the team's proposal to add three one-year lease options to the current agreement.

The A's pay $550,000 a year to play at McAfee, and rent will rise each year to $700,000 by 2010. The offer would have been to pay more than $700,000 per year for each of the additional three years.

Young said the team is in negotiations with the city of Fremont to build a new ballpark.

Keep it up, Oakland - You're doing everything necessary to drive the A's to Portland.

Question is, will WE be ready when THEY are?