Columnist Dean Juipe: Oakland betrayed by A’s owner

Dean Juipe

Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2000 | 9:48 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

OAKLAND, Calif. -- There's really no blaming the ballpark.

The Coliseum -- or the Network Associates Coliseum, to give credit in these naming-rights days -- is, in spite of what you might hear, a wonderful place to watch a baseball game.

That remark runs counter to what the management of the Oakland Athletics has been saying for the past couple of years. The A's are the Coliseum's summertime tenant and have made their alleged dissatisfaction with the stadium their primary, outward incentive for shopping for a new home.

But as a two-day trip to this facility underscores, the Coliseum is not the problem. Elderly by today's standards -- it was built in 1969 -- and obsolete by today's standards in that it accommodates not only baseball but professional football, the Coliseum is, nonetheless, a lovely structure with no obvious weaknesses.

It's sparkling clean and its sight lines are more than adequate.

It even has luxury suites, the majority of which were installed when the stadium was renovated a few years ago.

It's a nice place to visit and see a baseball game, or a football game when the Oakland Raiders are scheduled.

Yet the Athletics are one of five Major League Baseball teams -- Minnesota, Tampa Bay, Montreal and Florida are the others -- shopping for a new home, and they're thought to be among the most likely to actually up and move.

Team co-owner Steve Schott says he prefers staying in Oakland but he's lobbying for a baseball-only stadium (to be built at the taxpayers' expense) and he'll relocate to find one. Santa Clara, a community at the south end of the San Francisco Bay and near San Jose, has already returned his interest.

"We covet spots in Santa Clara county," Schott has been quoted saying, "and we're talking to people who want us down there."

The Athletics' lease with the Coliseum expires after next season.

As an unbiased non-Californian, it's offensive to see the community of Oakland once again going through the trauma of losing a professional sports team for reasons largely outside of its control. When the Raiders temporarily abandoned the city for Los Angeles they did so in spite of capacity crowds in Oakland; now the A's are looking elsewhere although they're drawing fairly well and Schott admits they at least break even with a $33 million payroll.

Nonetheless he has presented the commissioner's office with a preliminary plan to move the team to Santa Clara, to a stadium to be built near the Great America amusement park.

The San Francisco Giants figure to put up token opposition, claiming the A's would be infringing on their territorial rights by moving to Santa Clara. But it's believed MLB would approve the move.

This is lousy for Oakland, lousy for baseball and lousy for professional sports in general.

What it is, is greed. Instead of being grateful for decent support in a relatively small market, Schott wants to be wined and dined and showered with dollars as if they were laurel wreaths.

It appears as if he'll get his wish.

If he does, he deserves to have his conscience keep him up at night.