Stadium Plan : Giants Not Leaving S.F., Paper Says

Giants owner Bob Lurie has ended seven years of doubt over the team’s future in San Francisco by pledging to stay in the city and play in a proposed baseball-only downtown stadium, it was reported today.

The San Francisco Chronicle, citing unnamed sources, reported that the Giants would call a press conference for 2 p.m. Wednesday to announce the decision. Executives of Philadelphia-based Spectacor Management Group, the company committed to building the stadium, are also to attend the press conference.

Team officials would not speculate about a possible announcement late Monday evening.

Comment Refused

Giants Vice President Corey Busch refused comment.

“I can’t control what (the media) say, but I won’t get involved in any speculation,” he said.

Lurie, however, met today with leaders of Santa Clara County communities, apparently telling them of his decision.

Mayor Larry Stone of Sunnyvale, 45 miles south of San Francisco, said team officials met with his stadium task force for about an hour. The group had been trying to entice the Giants to move to Santa Clara Country with the promise of a new stadium.

Stone would not give outright confirmation to reports of the Giants’ decision. He did say, however, that he believes the club dealt fairly with his organization.

“I’m not disappointed,” Stone said. “I felt all along that Bob Lurie has dealt honestly and openly with us. I don’t think he was using the South Bay to get what he wanted from the city.”

Acrimonious Negotiations

If Lurie has reached a decision, it would bring to an end a long and sometimes acrimonious series of negotiations with San Francisco. The Giants owner has complained loudly for years about the blustery conditions at the Giants’ current home, Candlestick Park.

Started in 1982 by then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein, the talks concerning a new stadium have ridden a roller coaster of ups and downs for seven years. Lurie threatened on numerous occasions to move the team to such far-flung places as Vancouver, Canada; Denver, and Tampa, Fla.

The stadium proposal, which includes the construction of an arena six blocks away, faces voters this November. Barbara Bagot, an official with the San Francisco Ballpark Alliance, a grass-roots organization backing the stadium, said her group was ready to roll out support for the measure.

“It’s great news,” Bagot said. “We’re ready to roll. We’ve got our ‘Say Hey’ pep rally planned for Aug. 3 in Justin Herman Plaza. We’re going to register voters who want to keep the team.”