FanPost

Sacramento Making a Play for the A's


For all those that thought working to block San Jose's ballpark efforts were a sure fire way to keep the A's in Oakland, in lieu of Oakland actually coming up with a viable ballpark plan (unlike say Coliseum City)... think again. Sacramento has just lined up as the first extra-Bay Area city that wants to be the next home of the A's. And unlike San Jose or Oakland, they've plan to come to the table with more than grand visions and some land, Sac just made it known they have $250 million in public funding they'd be willing to part with to make it happen.

More after the jump

All of this of course stems from the fact that the Sacramento Kings just burned all their bridges in Sacramento, turning up their nose at the same pubic funding because the Maloof brothers are probably the most irresponsible millionaires who currently own a sports team. The Kings will undoubtedly be heading for the proverbial door next March which means Sac still has the cash, a mayor with real but realistic vision, and still has the desire to be a major league town. A dangerous combo if you're an A's fan that wants the A's to stay by the bay (San Jose or Oakland).

That's not to say that Sac would be a slam dunk if San Jose were derailed by MLB or the Giants front group "Stand for San Jose." Wolff hasn't shown any interest to date. And on top of that Sac has it's own market concerns and a few structural issues at the site itself. However what they do have is a compelling downtown site (it's the same railyards site they were going to build the Kings arena on), and more importantly over half the ballpark's price would be payable to Lew Wolff on demand. And they're starting this process without the A's even being available for relocation yet with Wolff still invested in San Jose. If SJ fails you can bet Sac won't be the only city lining up with money in hand.