Selig Blames Ballpark Troubles for Key Tampa Bay Departures, Rays Owners Ponders Move to Montreal

Commissioner Bud Selig traced the Tampa Bay Rays’ inability to retain key personnel — at least in part — to the inability to secure a new ballpark.  Read more here.  Meanwhile, Rays owners Stuart Sternberg has reportedly had discussions with wealthy Wall Street associates about moving the Rays to Montreal.  Read more here.

Manfred Elected MLB Commissioner

Rob Manfred was elected baseball’s 10th commissioner Thursday, winning a three-man competition to succeed Bud Selig and given a mandate by the tradition-bound sport to recapture young fans and speed play in an era that has seen competition increase and attention spans shrink.  Read more here.

Council Approves A’s Lease…With Modification, No Answers for A’s Long Term

The Oakland (CA) City Council set the stage for another rancorous battle with the A’s after the members voted late Wednesday to modify the terms of a lease agreement that would keep the team at O.Co Coliseum for another 10 years.  Read more here.  Meanwhile, sixty-four months after he formed a committee to examine the A’s ballpark situation and six months before he is set to retire, Commissioner Bud Selig still has no answers for the Oakland A’s long-term situation.  Read more here.

10-Year Stadium Lease Approved for A’s After MLB Gives Team Permission to Move

Oakland (CA) officials abruptly dropped their opposition, if only temporarily, Thursday to help approve a 10-year stadium lease for the Athletics, hours after the A’s owner informed city and county leaders that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig gave the team permission to immediately seek a new home outside Oakland.  Read more here.  Read more from Maury Brown here.

A’s Lease Renewal Done (Maybe?), Wolff Again Rejects Proposed Ballpark Site

The Oakland A’s and the agency that oversees the O.co Coliseum have apparently reached an agreement on a 10-year lease extension, according to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig.  Mayor Jean Quan said they are still in negotiations.  Meanwhile, A’s owner Lew Wolff again dismisses the idea of a new ballpark at Howard Terminal.  Read more here.

A’s Move to San Jose Denied Months Ago

Major League Baseball’s lawyers say in a court filing that the Oakland Athletics’ request to move to San Jose was turned down in June by commissioner Bud Selig.  Read more here.

Selig Will Retire When Term Expires

It was announced today that Major League Baseball (MLB) Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig will formally step down from the office when his current term expires on January 24, 2015.  Read more here.

Talking Lawsuit in San Jose

As the four-year impasse drags on over the proposed move by the Oakland A’s to a new ballpark in downtown San Jose, frustrated business leaders eager to tap an anticipated fan spending windfall have begun exploring the idea of suing Major League Baseball and the San Francisco Giants for holding it up.  Read more here.  Thanks to Joe Mock for the link.

Glimmer of Hope for A’s Move to San Jose?

Bill Shaikin from the Los Angeles Times is reporting that credible sources have secretly told him that the commissioner’s office has provided the Oakland Athletics with tentative guidelines for a potential move to San Jose.  Meeting the guidelines wouldn’t mean a move would happen, but it could lead to a vote by MLB owners.  Read more here.

Selig: Rebuild Wrigley, All-Star Game Will Come

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has apparently offered up the All-Star Game at Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, as an incentive to the city to encourage a public-private partnership to update Wrigley à la Fenway Park.  Improvements to Wrigley are pegged at $300 million, with an additional $200 million for the new “triangle building.”  Estimated economic impact of the ASG to

MLB Continues to Drag Feet on A’s Decision

After the MLB owners’ meeting on Thursday, Commissioner Bud Selig said there is no timetable for making a decision on the proposed move by the Oakland A’s to San Jose, but he did suggest that A’s owner Lew Wolff could consider other relocation possibilities, depending on where the markets are located.  Wolff remains focused on San Jose.  Read more here.

Suitors Seek to Buy A’s

Two investment groups have expressed interest in buying the Oakland A’s, including one group that dropped out of the bidding war for the Los Angeles Dodgers.  But owner Lew Wolff has said that the team is not for sale.  Wolff and his partner bought the A’s for $172 million in 2005, so they could make a healthy profit.  That said, we suspect there is a lot more at play here than simple

Moorad Withdraws Application to Buy San Diego Padres

San Diego Padres vice president, CEO and 49-percent stakeholder Jeff Moorad has decided to withdraw his application to aquire full ownership of the team from 51-percent owner John Moores, so the two can focus on securing the team’s television rights before Opening Day.  Moorad and his group reportedly have two more years to complete the purchase of the franchise.  Read more here.

A’s Assert Rights to Territory

PRESS RELEASE – Recent articles claiming that Major League Baseball has decided that the A’s cannot share the two-team Bay Area market were denied by baseball Commissioner Bud Selig last weekend.

A’s to be Denied Move to San Jose?

A report by Bill Madden from the New York Daily News Saturday said that MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is likely to reject a proposed move by the Oakland A’s to San Jose to protect the territorial rights held by the San Francisco Giants.  A’s owner Lew Wolff dismissed the report.  Read more here.

L.A. Dodgers: Bids Next Week, New Owners By End of April

Initial bids for the bankrupt Los Angeles Dodgers are expected next week, and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig is confident that the team will be sold by April 30.  Read more here.

Selig Gets Extension, A’s Ballpark Situation on ‘Front Burner’

During the MLB owners’ meetings this week in Arizona, Commissioner Bud Selig was given a contract extension until 2014.  In addition, while the bid by the Oakland A’s to move to San Jose was not on the official agenda during the meetings, Selig said that the issue is on the “front burner” and that MLB is moving at a “rather quick pace” to resolve the situation.  Read more here.

Oakland Mayor Looks to Reel A’s Back In, Signs Point to San Jose

Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and other city officials have sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig indicating that the city has two viable sites for a new ballpark for the Oakland A’s.  Read more here.  This appears to be too little too late, as signs seem to point to San Jose.  Read more here.  Thanks to John Cerone for the link.

A’s Rounding Third in San Jose?

In a story today, Mark Purdy from the San Jose Mercury News provides a number of factual bullets that appear to point to a timely finalization of the plan to bring the Oakland A’s to San Jose.  Read more here.  Read more about the city’s land deal with the team here and here.  View Cisco Field rendering here.  Thanks to John Cerone for the news.

Selig Miffed at Mets Over 9/11 Caps?

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was reportedly not happy with the New York Mets, after the team publicly blamed the league for putting the kibosh on a plan by the Mets to wear special caps last Sunday night honoring the 9/11 first responders.  If this is all true, good for the Mets.  The league and Selig should be embarrassed, despite a lame excuse about a (BS, common sense-less, homeowners

SmartMoney.com Provides Financial Lessons from Dodgers’ Dealings

SmartMoney.com’s Jack Hough takes an interesting look at Frank and Jamie McCourt‘s operation of the Los Angeles Dodgers and the seven (7) personal finance lessons that can be learned from their financial dealings.  BTW, we love the t-shirt idea!  Read more here.  Thanks to John Cerone for the link.

Selig Shows No Courtesy to Silicon Valley Business Elite, A’s Waiting Game Continues

Back on September 8, 2010, 75 top CEOs from Silicon Valley companies like Cisco, Adobe, Yahoo, and E-Bay wrote MLB Commissioner Bud Selig a letter expressing support for the A’s move from Oakland to San Jose.  To date, these technology power hitters representing over $1 trillion in corporate and personal wealth have not received a courtesy phone call, letter, post card, e-mail,

Unofficial Fan Boycott of Dodgers?

Paid attendance at Dodger Stadium has reportedly dropped an average of 8,188 per game over last year’s figures, and this doesn’t include the thousands of no-shows on any given night.  Certainly, this is in no small part due to the ugly goings on with the storied Los Angles Dodgers franchise.  Read more here.  Related news: Read about the city’s community-ownership proposal here.  Read about MLB’s

Selig Appoints Schieffer to Oversee Dodgers

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig has appointed J. Thomas Schieffer, former president of the Texas Rangers, to oversee the day-to-day operations, business affairs, and financials of the Los Angeles Dodgers.  Read more and view video clip here.

Saints Say Farewell to ‘Our Best Bud’ (Selig) with Giveaway

PRESS RELEASE – On Tuesday, August 24, the retiring Commissioner of Major League Baseball will be honored by a professional team with the unveiling of a statue commemorating his contributions to that organization.  In a long and storied career, the Commissioner contributed to many memorable events for this particular team, both on and off the field. We’re not talking about the Milwaukee Brewers.  We’re talking about the St. Paul Saints.

Selig: Target Field ‘Magnificent’

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig was in Minneapolis on Thursday for a meeting of major league team owners.  Not surprisingly, he had great things to say about the new Target Field, which is a far cry from the threats of contraction from a few years back.  Of course, Selig “always believed the team would survive in the Twin Cities.”  Read more here.

Full Steam Ahead in San Jose, Selig Tweaked

The City of San Jose and Oakland A’s owner Lew Wolff have decided to move forward with a plan to put the proposed new Oakland A’s ballpark on the November ballot, even without the blessing of Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball.  Selig is not happy about the move and called it “premature.”  The special committee put in place to study the territorial rights issue with the San Francisco Giants has had 16 months to hash this out, so we like the bold (but risky) move.  Read more here.