Oakland Athletics Co-Owner Lew Wolff was on hand at the Rotary Club of San Jose for a Q & A session on Wednesday, which the Contra Costa Times' Joe Stiglich was in attendance. Wolff touched on a number of A's questions related to their move to San Jose, including renaming the team, buying the San Francisco Giants' territorial rights, as well as the team's stance with MLB on the building of a stadium in San Jose.
Stiglich reports that If the team moves to San Jose, they will be renamed the "San Jose A's," obviously. Wolff noted that whether it be from Philadelphia or Kansas City, the team will always keep the "Athletics" moniker. There was a even a stuffed version of Stomper the mascot on hand, fittingly wearing a "San Jose Athletics" uniform.
As for the Giants territorial rights, Wolff said "that has not been discussed with us." Stiglich wasn't buying it:
Considering nearly three years has passed since Major League Baseball began researching the A's stadium options, I'd be shocked if MLB hasn't tried to broker a financial settlement between the teams regarding territorial rights, if indeed what Wolff says is true.
Oh those darned, mystical territorial rights. Who really knows your truths?
Wolff also discussed the importance of revenue sharing, claiming they used "every penny" of the $32 million received from MLB. Wolff noted the general rule of thumb (according to him) is to use half of a team's revenue on the players payroll. That was around $67 million in 2011, so needless to say the A's really need that money.
Wolff was not pleased with his status with MLB on talks to put a stadium in San jose either:
"in the next couple months would be great...I'm not going to continue this much longer...what we want is an answer. We want a ‘Yes, you can relocate and share the territory,' or ‘You can't.' But not having any answer is difficult not just for me, but for the 130 people that work for us, for planning, for our baseball team every year."
Lastly, Stiglich noted the friendliness of the crowd in San Jose, but with Wolff's relationship soured with many a Oakland A's fan, he had this little quip to add about Wolff's Q & A:
You can't help but wonder how he would have been greeted in Oakland for a similar function.
That's some nice food for thought for A's fans.
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