A's owner: Team staying in Oakland
Oakland's O.co Coliseum seats 35,000 for baseball and 53,000 for football. (Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
The Oakland Athletics will stay put at the O.co Coliseum for the foreseeable future, the team's owner said in response to multiple newspaper reports that the A's could end up sharing AT&T Park with the San Francisco Giants.
Athletics owner Lew Wolff said the team will extend its lease at the Coliseum and "look(s) forward to another great season," according to a report by the Associated Press.
"We are working on a deal that we believe will be beneficial for both our tenant and the people of this community," the statement released by the team said. "We are confident that everyone involved sees the value in continuing for as long as possible the 45-year relationship between the A's and the City of Oakland. While we cannot comment on the specific issues now under discussion or on whether there is any basis to recent rumors that Major League Baseball has played a role in the discussions, we are optimistic that a final deal is close at hand."
Major League Baseball had discussed the two teams sharing the stadium because lease negotiations, which have reportedly gone on more than six months between the A's and the city of Oakland, have gone nowhere.
REITER: The Reiter 50: Cano, Ellsbury lead rankings of top free agents