Sacramento Courting Oakland A's

If the Oakland A's can't move to San Jose, Sacramento wants the team.

Sacramento is a major league city, its mayor declares. And it wants the Oakland A's.

The A's have long been on their way out of Oakland, with owner Lew Wolff proposing a stadium in Fremont prior to the real estate collapse. Wolff now wants a stadium deal in San Jose, but has been waiting three years for Major League Baseball to decide if San Jose is "officially" the territory of the San Francisco Giants, according to the San Jose Mercury News.

The long delay has led officials in Sacramento to openly court the A's to be tenants of a stadium city officials want to build on a 244-acre railway yard. That was land set aside for a new arena for the Sacramento Kings -- who also want to move, the newspaper reported.

Wolff told the Mercury News that he has "no interest" in Sacramento and his "only interest is to remain in the Bay Area," the newspaper reported.

The paen to the A's is only the latest in a series of professional sports teams rumors surrounding California's smaller-market teams. The Kings have been rumored to want to play in San Jose, but officials at HP Pavilion say no teams have approached them. Other cities mentioned as possible homes for the A's include Anaheim and Las Vegas.

"Sacramento is a major league city," said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson in a news release. "We're the capital of the one of the largest economies in the world. We're a top 20 media market. The 2.3 million people in our region have an incredible track record of supporting our sports teams.''

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