Major League Baseball

A's seek resolution to relocation

Published Apr. 16, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

Ken Rosenthal

The Oakland Athletics are trying to force the issue.

Team officials plan to add their proposed move to San Jose to the agenda at next month’s owners’ meeting in New York, according to major-league sources.

The A’s are willing to risk that they would not receive the necessary approval from three-fourths of the owners to relocate, sources say.

Such approval would appear unlikely; the Athletics would need to present a viable ballpark plan, and the other owners would need to address the San Francisco Giants’ concerns about their territorial rights to San Jose.

The A’s, however, want a resolution – something that has proven elusive since commissioner Bud Selig appointed a special committee to study the team’s situation more than three years ago.

If the owners block the Athletics’ move to San Jose – and uphold the Giants’ territorial rights to the area – the A’s then would plot their next step, sources say.

What that next step would be is unclear.

The possibilities would include San Jose filing an antitrust lawsuit against baseball, the A’s owners attempting to sell the franchise and baseball working out a deal to allow the A’s to relocate and compensate the Giants for the loss of their territory.

The A’s view their current situation as untenable, and they have made it clear that they do not wish to remain in Oakland.

The San Francisco Chronicle first reported that the A’s planned to place their ballpark issue on the agenda at the next owners’ meetings.