Borenstein: The Oakland A’s haven’t announced they’re leaving, county officials bizarrely claim

The alternate reality allows the team to postpone paying $45 million for a half-interest in the Coliseum

In the latest strange twist in the Oakland A’s departure from the Bay Area, Alameda County officials claim that the team has not yet announced its intentions to leave town.

The decision allows the A’s to defer payment on a $45 million debt owed to taxpayers for the team’s purchase of the county’s half-interest in the Coliseum.

The city and county share ownership of the Coliseum. County supervisors agreed in 2019 to sell the county’s stake to the team for a bargain price of $85 million.

The sale was a terrible deal that the county should never have made. It jeopardized the city’s planning efforts by granting the A’s billionaire owner, John Fisher, veto power over future development of the prime 120-acre property after the team relocated.

County officials are now adding insult to injury by coddling the team once more. The question is whether the A’s are required by the sale terms to make the three final payments immediately.

Surprisingly, county supervisors never required the team to remain in Oakland as a condition of acquiring the rights to the Coliseum property. However, the agreement requires the A’s to accelerate payments to the county if they announce their intention to leave town.

The terms of the agreement stipulate that the payments “shall become immediately due and payable to the County within one hundred eighty (180) days of the Athletics’ announcement of their relocation out of Oakland.”

The 180-day deadline has passed. The team still owes three payments totaling $45 million under the terms of the agreement. However, the county has made no attempt to collect the funds.

County Counsel Donna Ziegler, according to two county supervisors, claims the team has not yet announced its intention to leave Oakland. Personal news blackouts appear to have buried Ziegler and the supervisors’ heads in the sand for the last seven months.

As any true A’s fan knows, the team announced in April that it had signed a binding agreement to purchase land in Las Vegas for a future ballpark. “We realize this is a difficult day for our Oakland fans and community,” the team said in a statement.

In an interview with The Athletic, team President Dave Kaval stated that the team had given up on Oakland and was “focusing all of our energies on Las Vegas.” We were on a parallel path for a while, where we had two markets that we were juggling — that period is over. We’re concentrating on Las Vegas.”

Get it? They’re getting out of Oakland. It’s difficult to imagine how much clearer the A’s could have been. According to any reasonable interpretation of the contract, that should have started the 180-day clock for the A’s to make the remaining installment payments.

However, the 180th day, Oct. 16, passed without payment. That was over six weeks ago. Of course, Major League Baseball team owners have unanimously approved the A’s relocation plan since then.

Meanwhile, county Supervisors David Haubert and Nate Miley have stated that the county has not requested the accelerated payments. In a text message sent Sunday, Miley stated, “County counsel informed me that the (contract) provision has (not) been triggered yet.”

When asked what he thought would constitute a “announcement” as defined in the contract, he said he would consult with Ziegler. He did not provide any additional information.

Ziegler and County Administrator Susan Muranishi did not respond to requests for comment.

The A’s are unlikely to cough up the cash if the county isn’t even asking for it. But does the team now agree with this alternate reality regarding its relocation plans?

Kaval agreed to discuss the matter on Friday morning last week, but when the time came, he texted, “Sorry, something came up.” And we’re not going to comment on your story.”

If the team stayed in Oakland, the final three payments of $15 million would be due in January 2024, February 2025, and January 2026, respectively. With the team’s announcement that it is leaving town, those three payments should now be made — though the transfer of property rights from the county to the A’s is unlikely to be completed until 2026 due to outstanding bond debt.

The county’s sale of its half-interest was a bad idea from the start. Even Miley, whose district includes the Coliseum site and was a major proponent of the deal at the time, admitted that the county’s half-interest was probably worth $100 million to $150 million, far more than the $85 million purchase price.

However, the county never put its true worth on the market. It could have resulted in a massive giveaway of taxpayer assets.

The county was weakening Oakland officials’ ability to shape development of the site by selling its half-interest. The land is ripe for development, sandwiched between a BART station and Interstate 880, and could bring much-needed transit-oriented housing to a depressed area of the city.

The deal was originally billed as a way to keep the A’s in town. Profits from the Coliseum site, according to Kaval, could help fund a new ballpark at the massive commercial and residential project Fisher was planning six miles away next to Jack London Square.

“We want to privately finance a new ballpark here in Oakland, and this action will go a long way toward making that happen,” Kaval said, pleading with the board of directors to approve the deal.

At the time, Muranishi stated that the agreement would demonstrate “the county’s strong desire to ensure the Athletics remain in Oakland.”

We all know how that turned out. Everyone, that is, except Alameda County officials.