San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed will not be sitting down with Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to discuss the Oakland A's pursuit of a San Jose ballpark.
The San Jose Mercury News reports Selig has rebuffed Reed's April 2 request for a personal meeting. The commissioner says the mayor should instead talk to Robert Starkey, a sports consultant who worked with MLB on stadium issues for the Minnesota Twins.
Selig added in his response that Reed's reference to "additional litigation'' over the proposed A's move was not productive.
Reed said of Selig's response, "Of course I'm frustrated. I've learned to be patient. I'm going to ask for a meeting with the committee, if the committee has a role to play."
Selig assigned a special committee four years ago to study the proposed A's move to San Jose. The San Francisco Giants have objected on grounds they relied on territorial rights to the San Jose area when they built AT&T Park.
Reed told BCN he thinks the Giants want the A's to move out of the Bay Area all together so that the Giants can have the region to themselves.
"This is as if McDonald's tried to drive Burger King out of the market," he said. "Nobody can do that. It's unfair. But that's what the Giants are doing."
Reed mentioned that the Giants don't care where the A's end up -- "Las Vegas, Mexico City. It would not matter where they move, to them."
Wolff has been trying to leave Oakland for years. He attempted to move the team to Fremont and is now convinced that San Jose is the only viable place in the Bay Area to relocate, Reed said.
Sports
The only way for MLB to override the Giants' objections to the proposed A's move would be if three-quarters of baseball team owners favor it at a formal meeting, "but the commissioner sets the agenda for the owners, and he has declined."
Representatives of the Giants and Bud Selig were not immediately available for comment this morning.