Bud Selig addresses A’s stadium situation

At today’s Baseball Writers Association of America annual All-Star meeting/luncheon today, commissioner Bud Selig had a Q&A with the writers for the 12th straight (and presumably last) year. Hundreds were in attendance in a ballroom at the downtown Marriott, including Susan Slusser and me. It just so happened Lew Wolff accompanied Selig. Naturally, we brought up the A’s stadium issue and reminded Selig he formed his three-man committee 64 months ago to figure this all out. Naturally, Selig called it a “complex situation.”

The back and forth with Selig (who had a little fun with it) is below.

First, the news:

Wolff said after the Q&A he’s confident the Coliseum lease extension will be passed at Wednesday’s meeting. Asked if it’s the last hurdle for the lease if it’s passed, Wolff said, “If it isn’t, it’s my last.”

Wolff said Oakland councilman Larry Reid spoke out of turn about the threat in negotiations that the A’s would consider leaving for Montreal or San Antonio, that it wasn’t accurate. “It wasn’t his fault,” said Wolff, citing a miscommunication.

“You might as well build it here. I’m sick of hearing about it, and you can quote me. I’m sick of hearing about fiction.”

It couldn’t work because . . .

“It’ll take years and millions and millions of dollars even to examine it.”

Could the Raiders and A’s have separate stadiums at the Coliseum site? He said technically yes. But, “I haven’t seen any plans.”

He added on the Raiders, “We provided (with lease contingencies) for the Raiders. I don’t think the Raiders are really behind any of this. Their owner’s a nice guy, and I think they’re trying to do what we’re trying to do.”

And now, the A’s portion of the Q&A:

SHEA: “Bud, you said you vowed to resolve the A’s stadium situation before you stepped aside in January. It’s been 64 months since you put that committee together. Where are you on that? And why did you suddenly change your opinion on why it would work at the Coliseum site? And are you in favor of them actually rebuilding there?”

SELIG: “That’s an interesting series of questions. We bet in the car coming over how long it would take to get to this. John, yes, it’s been whatever it’s been. But as I’ve said to you myriad of occasions, it’s a very complex situation. Right now, we want to get the lease situation satisfied in Oakland. That is the thing we’re trying to do right now. We worked hard at it and made significant progress, but as Yogi once said, ‘It ain’t over til it’s over.’ Hopefully, we will have that done. There are a lot of complicating things that have happened in that situation, and someway somehow, it’ll be worked out. What the timetable is . . . it’s working it out in right way and right situation. I don’t have anything else to say on the situation. There are a lot of different parties involved who have very strong feelings on the subject, and it’s a subject that’s not easy to solve. I’ve been fortunate in my career to solve most everything else I tried to do, and I’m proud of that. But there are some things in life that just take more time, and this is one of them.”

SLUSSER: “You mentioned the lease. The fact that Oakland politics delayed the lease and there’s some contentiousness over the lease, how much of a concern is that to you?”

SELIG: “It’s a concern except for we’re two-thirds of the way home, which is pretty good. We have one more hurdle to go, and I feel it’ll be solved. It’s disappointing sometimes. We had a deal done. John asked the question about the 54 months and all the other stuff. But here we had a deal done.”

SHEA: “Sixty-four.”

SELIG: “I said 54.”

SHEA: “Sixty-four.”

SELIG: “Sixty-four. Before I’m done today, you’ll have it at 84. . . . We’re talking about the complexity of the situation and difficulty, we had deal done, and we’ve got to go through the tortures of hell to get to where we are.”

SHEA: “An Oakland city councilman actually said he heard in negotiations that the A’s and MLB would be serious about moving to San Antonio and Montreal if it didn’t get done in Oakland. Is there any truth to that or is that just a threat? And also why is Howard Terminal not feasible? There’s been no explanation for that.

SELIG: “I read a lot of the comments, and I have no idea where they’re coming from. Nobody certainly has talked to me, so it was beyond absurd.”