AEG Expected To Get Contract To Operate O.Co Coliseum, Oracle Arena

SMG, which has operated O.Co Coliseum and Oracle Arena for 13 years, "stands to lose its contract" to AEG, as a Coliseum Joint Powers Authority selection subcommittee plans to "recommend AEG for the five-year contract at Friday's regular JPA meeting before the full board," according to Angela Woodall of the OAKLAND TRIBUNE. The choice "shocked" SMG GM Ron Little. However, he said, "We expected a full-blown attack from AEG, and we got it." AEG Exec VP & CAO Kevin McDowell said, "The city can make a lot of money if we were here -- bottom line." Woodall notes AEG "already promotes shows at the Coliseum." AEG Facilities Manager Chris Wright said that Oakland is "'prime real estate' in a good market that presents an opportunity -- one that has not been fully exploited." Two years ago Oracle Arena was ranked No. 21 by concert trade publication Pollstar, but now it is "no longer on Pollstar's" top 50 list. Wright said that he "knew sales were down at the Oracle Arena." Wright: "But I never expected (the arena) to drop off the top 50." The JPA board could also "opt for the other competitor in the race, Global Spectrum" (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 4/17).

DONE WAITING? In S.F., Susan Slusser notes after more than three years of "waiting to get a decision on their quest for a new stadium, the A's are making noises about trying to get the issue onto the agenda for the owners' meetings next month" in N.Y. in order to "hasten the proceedings." MLB sources said that the team "plans to file paperwork to get onto the agenda before the end of the month, within the prescribed time frame for such proposals." But the A's "desire to move to San Jose is not expected to be addressed during" the May 16-17 owners' meetings. MLB Commissioner Bud Selig "determines the agenda, and at the last owners' meeting, in February, he said that the A's stadium issue is 'on the front burner.'" Selig "typically wants a consensus before any owners' vote, and it is possible that he does not have such a consensus -- or that he prefers to have the A's and Giants continue negotiations about the rights to San Jose, currently held by the Giants." The A's would need a 75% vote of the owners to "overturn the Giants' territorial rights, or Selig could use the 'best interests of baseball' powers to do so." Should the A's "fail to get permission to move to San Jose, it is possible the city of San Jose would pursue a lawsuit challenging MLB's antitrust exemption" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 4/17). Sources yesterday said that the A's were "willing to risk rejection by the owners in order to get a resolution on their ballpark issue." But FOXSPORTS.com's Ken Rosenthal notes such a strategy would "carry considerable risk, which is why the A's might not want to pursue it" (FOXSPORTS.com, 4/17).