Venue News & Notes: A’s on Their Way to San Jose?

With plans for a ballpark in Fremont, CA, about 25 miles south of the Oakland Coliseum, now in the dumpster, the Oakland A’s are focusing their efforts on building a new stadium in San Jose, where the San Francisco Giants hold territorial rights. Last March, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig appointed a committee to study A’s options for a new ballpark in the Bay Area. The three-person panel has yet to issue a report. “They’re getting reasonably close to competing their work, but they have some left,” Selig told reporters upon visiting the A’s camp in Phoenix this week. “They’re working their way through a lot of things, and they’ve made no recommendations to me”…

…Commissioner Bud Selig says he understands the frustration in Kansas City, MO, at his delay in fulfilling a promise to award an All-Star Game to Kauffman Stadium in return for public funding on its $250 million renovation. And, naturally, that subject surfaced Saturday when he attended the Cactus League game between the Royals and Milwaukee Brewers at Maryvale Baseball Park in Phoenix. “I said I liked your chances and [to] just stay tuned,” Selig said. “How’s that?” Three years after issuing his promise, he realizes that his plea isn’t likely to satisfy fans in a city that hasn’t had the All-Star Game since 1973. Every American League city has served as host in the interim except Tampa Bay, FL, which didn’t begin play until 1998…

…With the political campaign yet to reach halftime, the San Francisco 49ers have already poured nearly $1.4 million in cash and manpower into the effort to persuade voters to build a $937 million stadium in Santa Clara, CA, according to financial-disclosure documents filed Monday. From Jan. 1 to mid March, the 49ers pumped $775,000 in cash into the campaign, cutting the biggest check, for $250,000, on March 4, the documents show. The effort to push Measure J on the June 8 ballot also spent nearly $1 million over the same period on everything from lawyers and political consultants to polling operations.