http://www.examiner.com/x-2887...eking-voter-approval

A's ask for more time with San Jose in seeking voter approval
June 22, 8:54 AM

With all the recent buzz about Santa Clara and the San Francisco 49ers nailing down plans for a new state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly new stadium, it would be easy for the Oakland A’s and San Jose officials to want to ride the wave as well.

But cooler heads prevailed as Oakland A’s co-owner Lew Wolff asked San Jose officials to hold off plans to solicit voter approval for a new downtown stadium until Major League Baseball’s committee exploring the A’s options finishes its work, according to a report in the San Jose Mercury News.

San Jose Mayor Check Reed said voters won’t be asked for support in November. The earliest date would be on the same ballot as the 49ers stadium deal in March 2010. Voter approval will be required for the San Jose City Council to approve a deal with the A’s on a plot of downtown land that would become part of the city’s downtown renovations.

“A ballot issue in November is premature,” Wolff told the Mercury News last week. “We’re not prepared.”

Major League Baseball’s committee is exploring all options for the A’s, including remaining in Oakland. Wolff knows that any move to San Jose will require approval from that committee to provide pressure on the San Francisco Giants to release its territorial rights to San Jose and all of Santa Clara County, granted to the team by MLB when it built its ballpark in San Francisco.

Wolff believes all options in Oakland have been exhausted, but Oakland city officials have reached out to the MLB committee for help in working out a solution that would keep the team in Oakland. The A’s attempt to move to nearby Fremont, south of Oakland but just north of Santa Clara County, and thereby free of any rights issues with the Giants, fell apart last fall under the weight of local opposition and a downturn in the economy.

Wolff, who already owns the professional soccer team in San Jose and has done extensive developments in the city, has made it clear in recent months that he believes San Jose is the best possible solution -- even the only feasible solution -- for the A's to stay in the region. As Bay Area Pro Soccer Examiner Giovanni Albanese Jr.pointed out in a recent article, the Quakes routinely draw better than the A's. If that doesn't tell you how bad things are for the A's in Oakland, nothing will. But die-hard Oakland fans -- who despite being dwarfed by the Coliseum each night continue to provide a good atmosphere for the A's -- continue to hold out hope for an Oakland solution, as pointed out by Oakland Sports Examiner Ray Yocke.

This latest news puts MLB's committee front-and-center in this ongoing drama in the A's relentless pursuit of a new stadium.