MLB.com

By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig speaks to reporters prior to Thursday's Yankees-A's game. (Ben Margot/AP)

"Clearly for this club to be competitive in the future it needs a new venue, there's no doubt about it," Selig said during a press conference prior to the A's game against the New York Yankees. "I've said this before, so I don't think anyone is going to fall away in a dead faint. But there comes a time when somebody has to make a decision. They have a stadium disadvantage that they just can't cure."

Selig also commented on the league's decision to nix plans to affix "Spider-Man 2" logos to bases during games for three days next month. The promotional bases -- which were to be part of a "Spider-Man 2 Weekend" promotion on June 11-13 -- sparked some negative reactions.

"We need to keep the focus on the field right now," Selig said. "We're going ahead with the promotion. We'll take the (logo) off the bases. If it bothered some people, frankly it isn't worth a great debate about it."

No way, San Jose?
Selig declined to offer a timeframe for the A's to get a new stadium, saying only that the ballclub will not be allowed to encroach on the San Francisco Giants' territory across the bay, potentially hindering a grassroots effort among business and government leaders to move the A's to San Jose.

"I'm very sensitive about market areas. I don't want to mislead anybody about that," Selig said. "The (Giants') territories are theirs. One thing about our rules, you can't start to bend them. The A's have convinced me that they need to do something. We'll have to decide in the future what the something is."

A's owner Steve Schott took Selig on a tour of the ballpark he hasn't visited since attending the earthquake torn 1989 World Series, ultimately won by Oakland over the Giants in four games. At the time, Selig was the owner of the Milwaukee Brewers and three years away from replacing Fay Vincent as interim Commissioner.

"Teams need to play in venues that generate the necessary revenue to compete for a championship year in and year out," Schott said in a statement. "We need a new facility to insure that the A's will be financially competitive for the long term. We can't achieve that goal in our present facility."

Selig agreed with that assessment. Though the A's drew 2,216,596 last season, they were ranked 23rd in local revenue among baseball's 30 teams, the club said. The A's have made the playoffs for the last four years only to be knocked out in the first round each time. Along the way, they have lost such key players as Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada and Keith Foulke to free agency.

"Even before Steve took me on a tour (Thursday) it was obvious just from reading the Oakland financial statement that they're not generating enough revenue for this franchise to be able to compete," he said. "That can be popular or unpopular, but that's a fact. Only those who look at statements understand why. They have no other way to grow their revenue. They have maximized their local television and radio revenue, their sponsorships. (The stadium) has become an inhibiting factor."

The A's, who moved to Oakland from Kansas City in 1968, have a lease to play in the 38-year-old Coliseum through the 2007 season and then have year-by-year club options for the following three seasons. The club is engaged in ongoing conversations with city officials about the ballpark situation, but there have been no substantive talks for at least a year.

Selig said he would continue to closely monitor the situation.

"I was faced with this possibility in Milwaukee," Selig said. "I could never see myself moving the team because I didn't want to use that as a weapon, but they can't stay here so we're going to have to find an alternative. The Oakland people understand they need a new facility. I don't think there's anything new about that."

Expos decision closer
Meanwhile, Major League Baseball's relocation committee is getting close to an end game in its determination about where the Montreal Expos will be playing in 2005. A delegation of the committee met on Thursday in Washington, D.C., where they told Mayor Anthony Williams and three City Council members that Baltimore Orioles owner Peter Angelos would not be an impediment to moving the team into that area -- the fourth largest media market in the country and biggest without an MLB team.

"Peter Angelos has been unfairly chastised. He articulated a view that anybody who owned the Baltimore Orioles would articulate," Selig said. "But he won't (block a move to D.C.), nor has he ever threatened to. The rest is up to the relocation committee and ultimately to me."

Angelos has long said publicly that he doesn't want the Expos moved into the District, which is only 35 miles from Camden Yards. Washington and Northern Virginia seem to be the strongest candidates to get the MLB owned and operated National League team. The other candidates are Norfolk, Va., Portland, Ore., Las Vegas and Monterrey, Mexico.

Barry M. Bloom is a national reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

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