Territorial rights are a problem.
Did you hear the one about the San Francisco Giants baseball team owners who won’t let the Oakland A’s baseball owners built a stadium 40 miles or so south of the Giants ballpark but those owners will take the NFL’s Oakland Raiders home games in 2019? The San Francisco Giants owners are willing to house Mark Davis NFL team for the right price because Davis, whose Oakland business is less than 16 miles away from the Giants stadium, has nowhere to play home games in 2019. The Giants ownership sees a way to make money and help Davis out for a year by leasing him the ballpark for a number of games. Davis could have one final go round in the San Francisco Bay Area. It might make sense except the Santa Clara-based San Francisco 49ers control the San Francisco market. The 49ers home office is a bit more than 43 miles away from the Giants home office. The 49ers ownership fled San Francisco for the Santa Clara stadium in 2014.
The present day Oakland A’s ownership claims it is getting closer to building a baseball park somewhere in Oakland. Previous A’s ownership led by Lew Wolff wanted to move to San Jose. But Giants ownership has the territorial rights to that city which is roughly 50 miles south of the Giants San Francisco stadium. A court backed up the Giants claim. San Jose made sense, it is close to the Silicon Valley and corporate money. San Jose, San Francisco and Oakland are all part of the same TV and corporate market which is shared by the Giants and A’s. The Giants and A’s ownerships have had an uneasy relationship since Charles Finley moved his A’s from Kansas City to Oakland after the 1967 season. The San Francisco Giants ownership seeks a financial benefit in helping the Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis.
