Giants to Play in Oakland? Mayor Says No Way

Bob Lurie, the owner of the San Francisco Giants, said Wednesday that he wants to move his team to Oakland for the next few years and is willing to buy out his lease at Candlestick Park.

Oakland Mayor Lionel Wilson, however, said he doesn’t want the Giants in town and blasted Lurie’s proposal to share the Oakland Coliseum with the A’s until a domed stadium is built in San Francisco.

“I think it’s not going to happen,” said Wilson, who also criticized Lurie and San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein for “awfully poor judgment” in holding a news conference Wednesday before talking to him or the Coliseum’s board.

“I don’t think this idea makes any sense for Oakland,” Wilson said. “The positives would be very minimal for us. On the negative side, there are substantial reasons why the Coliseum would not be interested in this proposal.”

Wilson is not a member of the Coliseum’s board but has influence over its decisions.

“I intend to talk to the board members and express my serious, strong opposition to this idea,” Wilson said. Coliseum General Manager Ray Ward said in a statement that the board had not discussed the proposal with Lurie and had no comment on it.

Wilson said that having the Giants play in the Coliseum would hurt the city’s chances of getting back the Los Angeles Raiders or getting another National Football League team, would hurt the A’s attendance, would make it difficult to keep the grounds in good condition and would create problems for other events during the baseball season.

Feinstein, however, gave her backing to Lurie’s plan to pay San Francisco “several million dollars” to buy out his lease at Candlestick, which expires in 1994.

Feinstein, who has been urging construction of a downtown domed stadium for three years, said she had little choice once the Giants made up their minds to leave, and the move just across San Francisco Bay was the best alternative at the moment.

“The question is whether we are going to keep the team here at all or create the kind of situation of hostility in which teams make a move,” Feinstein said.

The mayor gave her support for a domed stadium and hotel complex proposed by developer Peter Stocker near the city’s financial district, and she refused to consider any plans to move the team to San Jose. Talks earlier this year about a proposed new stadium in San Jose, about 50 miles south of San Francisco, broke off when Feinstein threatened legal action.

Feinstein said Lurie must pay the city enough money to cover lost revenues from rent and other operations at Candlestick and to secure an option on a new stadium site.

“The agreement should also require Mr. Lurie to provide San Francisco with a deposit or a guarantee repayable upon the team’s return to the new stadium in San Francisco,” she said.

“The San Francisco Giants will not, under my ownership, play at Candlestick Park beyond this season,” Lurie said. He called the plan “the last chance we all have to do something for Giants’ fans.”