The city of San Jose yesterday "urged a federal appeals court to put its antitrust case" against MLB "on a fast track, pushing for the swiftest possible resolution of the legal battle over the long-stalled plan to move" the A's to the city, according to Howard Mintz of the SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. The city's lawyers requested a March 24 deadline "for all legal arguments, which could allow" the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals "to set arguments and rule on the case by summer." San Jose is "appealing a federal judge's order dismissing the city's central legal argument -- that MLB violated federal antitrust laws by delaying" the A's bid to move to the city. The 9th Circuit earlier this week "called for briefs to be filed by June, a timetable that could push a ruling into the latter part of the year" (MERCURYNEWS.com, 1/29).
TIME TO GO? The S.F. Chronicle's Susan Slusser said of A’s ownership, "They don’t want to sell the team so they don’t have to, and I think they see San Jose as the market, which is understandable. It’s the heart of Silicon Valley. There is a very nice location that they have identified downtown near the hockey arena, good transportation, so I think they look at that and say the pieces are in place here for a very nice site and a nice new stadium.” Slusser said of the idea of the A’s staying in Oakland, "We know of the problems at the Coliseum, especially after last year. Oakland has come up with a couple different ideas but it’s unclear if there’s the money, if there’s the political will. Oakland has, obviously, other things to worry about besides a baseball stadium and I’m not sure that the current A’s ownership group really believes that anything can get done in Oakland in that time frame and they still own the team and they like San Jose." She noted of the A's ownership group, "They're, obviously, on the MLB portion of the legal part, which is really interesting. They're defendants in this technically so they can’t say anything but they made their preference for San Jose clear in previous years" (“Hot Stove,” MLB Network, 1/27).
