by Jerry Feitelberg

OAKLAND–What are the realistic chances of the Oakland A’s leaving town if the Oakland City Council votes against the ten year lease to keep the A’s at the Oakland Coliseum? Two cities have been proposed that the A’s would consider moving to if the council votes down the ten year lease and the A’s could leave as soon as this season to next season to two cities, Montreal or San Antonio.

City Councilman Larry Reid said that if the team does not get the lease and there is still a good chance the council can vote down the lease they would leave Oakland, “They have options, (Montreal) have already demonstrated their support of a professional team.” In Montreal in late March they have held a three exhibition games at Olympic Stadium and each game was sold out just before kicking off the regular season featuring the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays.

According to reports from A’s team spokesman Ken Pries he would not confirm or deny the A’s consideration of moving to either Texas or Canada but would only say the A’s are “sitting back and waiting to see what happens (with the Coliseum lease) and hoping for the best.”

Montreal had a Major League team the Montreal Expos from 1969-2004, low attendance, no new downtown stadium and old Olympic stadium were reasons why the team left and moved to Washington becoming the Nationals. A recent resurgence through the exhibition games have demonstrated peaked interest for Montreal having another shot at getting back into the show.

In 1994 the Expos were the winningest team in Major League Baseball and they were on their way to making post season and maybe having their best shot ever at winning a World Series, those dreams were dashed by the baseball strike that same season. If the team had gone all the way in 94 they would have had a new stadium built and would never have left Montreal as they did ten years later in 2004.

The only other place available in San Antonio for the A’s to play at is the Alamodome but in right field it’s only 280 feet down the line which is way too short of regulation which is at least 325 feet. So as far as stadium ready there seems like there is not a stadium ready in either Montreal or San Antonio that would be new and waiting for the A’s but A’s co-owner Lew Wolf may do what Councilman Reid says and bolt Oakland if the council rejects the lease agreement.

As far as the Oakland City Council is concerned in terms of the scheduled vote on July 29th it’s not too optimistic in terms of the chances of passing the Coliseum ten year lease. Amongst those of the council who object to the current lease they want to renegotiate the terms such as a share in advertising revenue from the new $10 million scoreboard the A’s have said they would put in above the outfield bleachers, and also council members are asking that the A’s give a four year notice before they can leave the Coliseum if the Raiders commit to building a football stadium at the Coliseum site.

The city has a wonderful opportunity here to keep the A’s in Oakland but after 14 months of negotiating the council wants to change the lease agreement that Wolff said he will no longer negotiate on and that the A’s are of the understanding that they have a lease agreement in place. The management of the city of Oakland is suspect right now I don’t have confidence that the council will do the right thing by keeping the A’s in Oakland and even Oakland Board of Supervisors president Nate Miley said he if the council does not pass the ten lease for the A’s to stay at the Coliseum the A’s will make good on their threat to leave “I’d put money on that” said Miley.

Jerry Feitelberg covers A’s baseball for http://www.sportsradioservice.com