The narrative of the A’s quest for a new ballpark took yet another twist Wednesday.
Citing “knowledgable sources,” the East Bay Express reported that Warriors owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber are interested in buying the A’s and building a waterfront ballpark in Oakland at the Howard Terminal site.
That location is reportedly being touted by an investor group that includes Clorox CEO Don Knauss, Dreyer’s Ice Cream CEO T. Gary Rogers, Signature Development Group CEO Michael Ghielmetti and former Oakland Planning Commissioner Doug Boxer. According to the East Bay Express, that team has identified three separate groups willing to join in on buying the A’s and funding the ballpark should current A’s ownership not warm to the Howard Terminal idea.
One of those groups reportedly includes Lacob and Guber, although Guber -- who already owns a stake in the Los Angeles Dodgers -- has said any talk of him having interest in the A's is "100 percent not true."
Important to remember in all of this: A’s co-owner Lew Wolff maintains that the team is not for sale. Wolff also dismissed Howard Terminal as a workable stadium site, saying in an interview with the Bay Area News Group that building a new venue on the current Coliseum site is a better option.
[RATTO: A's Wolff throws a wrench into Howard Terminal plan]
That’s the first time in several years that Wolff has even acknowledged the possibility for a new stadium in Oakland. He and his partners have long been trying to re-locate the team to San Jose, a situation now held up in court battles.
According to the East Bay Express report, Guber and Lacob were part of separate efforts in the past to buy the A’s when they were owned by Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann.
