A San Bernardino corporation "has made" a $130M offer
to buy the A's "with the intention of moving them to
Southern California no later than 2001," according to a
report in the San Bernardino County Sun. Inland Empire
Baseball (IEB) Manager Gary Foltz said the corporation would
raise $130M through the sale of shares in the LLC. Foltz,
on the A's: "They can stay there [Oakland] another few years
and continue to lose money. They have no options, no
stadium in sight, nowhere to go. Now they have an option."
A's co-Owners Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann paid a reported
$85M in '95 for the A's. However, the County Sun wrote that
IEB faces "numerous hurdles" in its bid because the group
doesn't have money "up front" to pay for the team and the
A's are still under contract to play at the Oakland Coliseum
through 2004. The A's have until October 13 to decide
whether to exercise an option to terminate the lease. Foltz
wants to build a 45,000-seat baseball-only stadium in San
Bernardino County. Schott, Hofmann and GM Sandy Alderson
were unavailable for comment (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 9/13).
