The A’s released a statement earlier on Wednesday that reaffirmed their belief that they should be entitled to move to San Jose and build a new ballpark. The timing of the release had to do with Bill Madden’s article in the New York Daily News suggesting that the A’s weren’t likely to be awarded rights to San Jose.
Giants Release Statement On Territorial Rights In Response To A’s
The Giants weren’t amused with the statement, and they fired back with a statement of their own:
Mr. Wolff and Mr. Fisher agreed to these territorial designations and were fully aware of our territorial rights when they purchased the A’s for just $172 million in 2005.The population of Santa Clara County alone represents 43% of our territory. Upon purchasing the team 20 years ago, our plan to revive the franchise relied heavily on targeting and solidifying our fan base in the largest and fastest growing county within our territory.
The fur’s a flyin’! Long story short: The A’s maintain that the South Bay was given to the Giants as a gesture of goodwill, and that they should have the favor returned. The Giants countered that the current ownership groups involved in the deal had nothing to do with what happened in the ‘80s, and that both of the current ownership groups bought their franchises for prices that were in no small part based on the territorial-rights agreement that was already in place.
I’m sure the two franchises will get a couple of drinks and hash this out one of these weekends.
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