The July 1 deadline for the A's to exercise a year-to-
year lease option at the Oakland Coliseum "may be delayed
while team owners try to work out a host of issues with
Oakland and Alameda County officials," according to Hickey &
Counts of the OAKLAND TRIBUNE. A's Owners Steve Schott and
Ken Hofmann "want to negotiate a way to avoid offering the
team up for sale at a discounted price -- as required in
their lease -- and still take the short-term lease option."
Giving notice on July 1 will allow the team to play year-to-
year through 2000, but it also "involves a gamble," for if
they give notice, the Coliseum Authority "will have four
months to find a buyer" that would keep the team in Oakland
for a sale price of 90% of the team's market value. Schott
said that he and Hofmann have talked about putting the team
up for sale "a lot lately, but no decision has been made
yet." City and county officials have met with the A's once
to "resolve" the $48M claim the team has filed against both
entities. Oakland Vice Mayor Ignacio De La Fuente said that
pushing back the deadline "could buy time to reach a
resolution" to the dispute (OAKLAND TRIBUNE, 6/17).
