The Oakland A’s and Lew Wolff have been trying to build a new ballpark for over a decade. Wolff, who stepped down today as co-owner of the franchise, was not only unsuccessful in his efforts to do so during his tenure, but also became a hated figure amongst some A’s fans, due to his attempts to move the team to both Fremont and San Jose to get a stadium built.
Now that he’s stepped down, Wolff believes the A’s will finally be getting their new stadium in Oakland, however, and told KGO’s Ron Owens on Thursday that he expects an announcement to be made regarding a site for the new ballpark in the next few months.
“John Fisher is bringing on Dave Kaval (President of the San Jose Earthquakes) and my son Keith,” Wolff said. “They worked very hard to get the stadium implemented in San Jose, and that triumvirate with a lot of additional consulting help are committed to and working very hard to get something done in Oakland. I think they’ll make a selection of a site in the next few months here.”
Kaval has experience getting beautiful stadiums built, opening the Earthquake’s new home Avaya Stadium in March of last year. His appointment as president should be an encouraging sign for A’s fans hoping get a new venue in Oakland, something Wolff reiterated is priority number one.
“I think the next step is the new venue,” Wolff continued. “I think that’ll be different. I think that’ll move forward a little faster than I was able to do it. John and I are committed to doing it in Oakland. We know it can be done probably at the Coliseum, but there are a couple of other options that before you spend a great deal of money, as you know in California most of it’s private. The facility is going to last 40 or 50 years. John wants to make sure, and I don’t blame him, that we have the best possible location in Oakland we can find.”
Wolff also revealed that he stepped down because he was getting a “little old for some of this stuff”, and that he was not pushed out by the other owners.
Listen to the full interview below.
