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23 October 2007

Fremont or Bust

Well, at least Lew Wolff isn't entertaining the concept of a local bidding war. In what has the most definitive statement to date, Wolff reaffirmed the idea that Fremont is Plan A, there is no Plan B, and Oakland is out of the picture. Wolff's quote from Carolyn Jones' Chronicle article:
"We don't want to move. We don't want to start pitting cities against each other, but it's out of the question we'll stay in Oakland," he said after a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.
Those who have been following this for a while know that this is no fundamental change in Wolff's stance since the Cisco Field plan was unveiled. Fremont was really the only plan in place. This time, Wolff added what amounts to a complete dismissal of Oakland as a possibility.

As the A's close their 40th year at the Coliseum, it seems a certainty that the team will not see their 50th year there. I suppose there's some strategic value in Wolff sending the message so bluntly, but I have to question it. What's to be gained by going this route? It won't make Fremont officials move faster. It won't move the needle on regional support. And it definitely won't win over any die-hard Oakland-firsters.

As I write this, an old USFL game between the Pittsburgh Maulers and the New Jersey Generals is playing on ESPN Classic. Like the USFL and the Oakland Invaders, the "Oakland Athletics" will soon become a thing of the past.