A's co-Owner Lew Wolff yesterday said that the "only step the A's have taken to look for a new home is investigating whether they could play temporarily" at the Earthquakes' new stadium, according to Will Kane of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Wolff also co-owns the Earthquakes, whose new 18,000-seat stadium is slated to open for the '15 MLS season. Oakland City Councilmember Larry Reid earlier this week said that he "feared the team would move to Montreal or San Antonio if the city did not ratify the new lease" for O.co Coliseum. But Wolff said that he did not think either city would "meet the team's needs." Wolff also "expressed doubt" that the Raiders would be ready to "tear down the Coliseum next year and build a new, football-only stadium" by '18. A memo sent to Oakland Mayor Jean Quan by planners for a "city-backed sports-retail complex called Coliseum City said they hope to have a stadium deal by the end of the summer that would require demolishing the Coliseum next year." Wolff: "I think for someone to say that next year that they are tearing down the Coliseum. ... That isn't something that is done in a year." Meanwhile, Quan said that the City Council should "quickly approve" the lease deal that could keep the A's in the Coliseum for up to 10 years. Quan "hadn't taken a public stance" until her comments yesterday. Quan: "We need the City Council to approve it as quickly as possible so we can start talking seriously about a new stadium in the city." Meanwhile, Wolff said that he had "no plans to leave the Bay Area if the A's can't reach a Coliseum deal" (S.F. CHRONICLE, 7/10). Regarding rumors that the A's could relocate to Vancouver, Montreal or San Antonio if a lease is not agreed upon, Wolff said, "I've never explored any of those places. If we're denied (a lease), I'll have to take a look at what we can do next. But we want to stay in the Bay Area" (CSNBAYAREA.com, 7/9).
THEATER OF THE ABSURD: CSNBAYAREA.com's Ray Ratto said of the ongoing stadium issues in Oakland, "None of it makes sense." The city of Oakland is "trying to figure out a way to have a stadium exist and not exist on the same plot of land at the same time." Ratto: "You can't do that. The biggest problem here when you cut right down to it is that the city has been trying to juggle these two teams without ever confronting the real problem, which is they don't have the money for two stadiums. They don't have the money for one. So they've got to figure out a way to keep both sides happy and hope that a hand of God will come down and fix it all" ("Yahoo Sports Talk Live," CSN Bay Area, 7/9).
