Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao met Rob Manfred on Sunday, offered a solution to keep A's in town
Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao had a private meeting with MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred to discuss the efforts made by Oakland to prevent the A's from relocating on Sunday, Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle revealed on Wednesday.
Later on July 12, Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic added more information to the reveal, including a set of documents in PDF format including the proposal submitted by Oakland to the MLB to prevent the relocation of the A's to Las Vegas, offering an alternative for the franchise to stay put.
After supposedly reviewing Thao's report, Manfred told John Shea that the negotiations between the A's, the MLB, and the city of Oakland broke due to "the political process in Oakland."
Manfred expressed his frustration towards those "political obstacles" as the main thing preventing the A's from staying in the East Bay, although that's hardly believable after an examination of the reports shared with the commish by the mayor.
Based on Thao's account of her report, "Oakland invested significant effort and made substantial progress in providing the A's with options to remain in the city."
The Mayor of Oakland also revealed to The Athletic that "the A's requested $495 million for an infrastructure financing district, and Oakland offered $500 million." She added that "the A's asked for $360 million for off-site infrastructure, and Oakland negotiators countered with $425 million.·
No matter how you look at it, and how great or horrible you're at math, Oakland always surpassed the figures demanded by the A's.
Before the A's can truly relocate to Las Vegas, they need to pass two tests. First, their proposal must be approved by a committee of three team owners, and second, the franchise will need to get a consensus yes from at least 23 of the 30 teams involved with the MLB.
Manfred stated that relocating an established team is considered "a last resort" and "an unfortunate decision." Whether you believe that or not, is an entirely different story.
Mayor Thao delivered 30 copies of her detailed report to Manfred when they met on Sunday, one for him and one for the other 29 owners of an MLB franchise so they can have all of the information they need before making a decision on the A's potential relocation.
Now, it's up to Rob Manfred to distribute those copies to his friends... or to bury them five feet under so they can never know the truth of the A's relocation saga and the efforts made by Oakland and the willingness of the city to keep the Athletics in the East Bay.