Appeals court rejects San Jose’s antitrust case over A’s

A Bay Area battle over the Oakland Athletics took a new turn Thursday as a federal appeals court sided against the city of San Jose.

Officials from San Jose had filed lawsuit alleging that Major League Baseball’s refusal to allow the A’s to move into a ballpark in the city was a violation of federal antitrust laws.

But the city was rebuffed Thursday by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled unanimously that the MLB’s century-old exemption from antitrust laws essentially nullifies San Jose’s legal case.

“San Jose can point to no case that has ever held that state antitrust claims continue to be viable after federal antitrust claims have been dismissed under the baseball exemption,” wrote the court in its 17-page ruling.

The San Francisco Giants have also helped block the A’s move by asserting rights to the South Bay. MLB officials have refused to upend the rights claims through a vote of league owners.

The A’s have played in Oakland since 1968 and the team’s current stadium, the O.co Coliseum, was opened in 1966.

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