Reality Checks Pile Up for Wolff's Stadium Pipe Dream

Hey, remember that recent report that featured an angry Lew Wolff complaining about how slow the three-person committee is moving? Wait, sorry, that was a TWO-YEAR-OLD Bloomberg News article. In that piece from March 1, 2011, Wolff ranted:

"It's so ridiculous to me ... They've had time enough to explore anything. We're getting close to the point Bud is going to make a decision."

Just about two years later, still no decision.  

Maybe we confused that with the article on how the next MLB owners meeting might have the A's stadium issue on the agenda? Oops. That article wasn't this year, that was last year, in early 2012. (And, nearly a year later, there's no decision.)

Maybe it was that recent Mark Purdy column in which he didn't quote Wolff directly but said that "there is word that Wolff and his ownership partners are getting antsier" about the long wait for a ruling on territorial rights. Wait, sorry again, that wasn't recent. That column was written THREE YEARS AGO, on Jan. 28, 2010. 

Surely you remember that Tweet by Bob Nightengale, USA Today's national baseball writer:  

"All signs and top #MLB sources say that the #Athletics will be granted permission by Feb to move to San Jose."

My bad, that wasn't so recent either. Nightengale wrote that 13 months ago, on Christmas Eve, 2011. His prediction, of course, never came true. 

Why? Because when it comes to the A's moving out of town, these rumors NEVER come true. For nearly four years now, in fact, there have been endless rumors and news reports of an "imminent decision" about the A's from MLB. Nearly four years later, obviously, there's still no decision. Which appears to be THE decision.  

That's the cold reality. The vast majority of A's fans want the the team to stay in Oakland. Yet, we A's fans get lectured a lot about the need to be "realistic." Well, here's the reality: We're just weeks away from one of the most ignominious milestones in Bay Area sports history -- the 4th anniversary of MLB's three-person committee on what to do with Lew Wolff's & John Fisher's A's. 

What's the delay? 

Wolff and Fisher want something (the South Bay territorial rights) that does not belong to them and never will be for sale. After four long years, that's been made abundantly clear. So, we must ask: When are Wolff and Fisher going to start being realistic? When that day comes they will realize, finally, that their plans to move the A's are little more than a pipe dream and they are holding the franchise hostage while they live in denial about it. 

In the meantime, Wolff and Fisher cling tightly to the franchise, making a big annual profit by dealing endlessly with rumors but not reality.