Giants’ Are Up in the Air Over the ’86 Season

The San Francisco Giants’ “Year of Decision” ended two weeks ago with no decision, and team officials still are responding “no comment” to the question of whether the Giants will play another baseball season at Candlestick Park.

A schedule of 30 exhibition games was released Thursday, but no schedule has been announced and no tickets have been printed for the regular season which begins in early April.

Denver and Vancouver, British Columbia, are among cities with suitable ballparks seeking big league franchises.

Bob Lurie, the Giants’ owner, returned from a vacation cruise early this week. National League President Chub Feeney met with Lurie at Candlestick on Wednesday. The Giants would have to break their Candlestick lease, which runs through 1994, or buy their way out of it if they move.

Lurie put the Giants up for sale after the 1984 season, then took them off the market last winter, when he said, “By the end of 1985, I will make a decision as to where the club will play in the future. I’m tired of presenting baseball to Bay Area fans in an inferior facility.”

Last September, Lurie reiterated that 1985 was a “year of decision.” He said, “In the coming weeks we will make a decision about the long-term home of the Giants. Until then, I will have nothing further to say.”

Lurie has met with city officials several times in recent months to discuss the possibility of building a new downtown stadium. But no stadium proposals have gotten past the talking stage.