Baseball and the American City- A's and San Jose

Talk surrounding the Oakland A's effort to relocate to San Jose have intensified over the past week with the A's releasing a statement about their intentions by moving to San Jose. The SF Giants have fought against the move saying that the relocation would encroach on their territorial rights in the SJ area. To rebuff the Giants wishes the A's released a statement making their case for the move. Their case states that moving to San Jose will not encroach on the Giants' minor league team located in the city, rather it will "move over 35 miles further away from the Giant's great venue and it will establish an exciting competition between the Giants and the A's." However, the Giants see this as move more from the standpoint of corporate dollars instead of just territorial rights. Moving an MLB franchise into the same city that a minor league team already inhabits will kill that teams revenue. There is the argument that a Giants fan will stay a Giants fan and still support the minor league team but I think that offering a more polished product will draw a lot of fans away. The move would also allow the A's to be less dependent on revenue sharing where they are currently located in Oakland.

This brings up the argument made in the Cambridge's Companion to Baseball, more specifically "Baseball and the American City". It brings up the argument of sharing a market between teams. When the Dodgers moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles they did it with the thought that they wouldn't have to compete with another team for a market (Cambridge pg. 97). Although the Giants would not be competing directly with the A's for an MLB market, they will still have to be competing for their minor league squad's attention.

Is it the right move for the A's? It depends on what perspective you are taking.They need to get out of Oakland and a move to San Jose would revitalize the organization and attract a larger fan base by moving further away from San Francisco. They need an updated modern ballpark and San Jose can assist in making that happen so they can get away from the out-of-date Oakland Coliseum. If you're the Giants you want to vote against the move just because of corporate dollars supporting your minor league team. They don't want that to happen so they will continue to fight against it. In my opinion I think the best move for the MLB and for the A's is to move to SJ to get a new start. It's all about the fan support and in SJ they would receive a larger portion of the attention.