The San Jose Sharks expansion back in 1991 may offer a blueprint to keep the A’s in Oakland while ensuring Las Vegas also receives its own MLB franchise. Now, there is a lot of stuff baseball should do differently, but the spirit and basics of the situation are worth investigating.
A while back, we looked back at NHL relocations which indirectly led to the curious case of the Minnesota North Stars and San Jose Sharks. It was a chapter I didn’t know much about. That’s because the details were unsurprisingly omitted from my beloved 20th Century Hockey Chronicle book that I read religiously growing up.
Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room. Yes, the North Stars did leave Minnesota for Dallas a few years after this all went down. That’s because Norm Green weaseled his way into being the franchise’s majority owner. He should have never been in that position in the first place but that’s a whole other story.
Back to the Sharks. In the late 1980s, owners George and Gordon Gund wanted to move the Minnesota North Stars to the Bay Area. That didn’t make much sense seeing as they were responsible for moving the region’s last NHL team, the California Seals, a decade or so earlier.
This put the league in a difficult position. Firstly, it was already looking at expansion and the Bay Area was one of the best available markets. Taking it out of the equation through relocation was less than ideal. Secondly, not having a hockey team in Minnesota was dumb. This is the sport’s heartland.
The Gunds eventually petitioned the NHL to move the North Stars to San Jose where a new arena was being built. That was vetoed, although all involved parties worked toward finding an amicable solution.
The brothers would sell the Minnesota North Stars to Howard Baldwin, the former owner of the Hartford Whalers, and a partner for US$38.1 million. The Gunds were then awarded an expansion franchise in San Jose for US$45 million.
Now there are a couple of things to note. For starters, things on the Minnesota side did not go as planned. If you want to know more about that, check out our video on NHL relocations. There were also a bunch of shenanigans surrounding the expansion draft and the Sharks taking a bunch of North Stars players and some front-office staff.
The NHL has kept the details of the final agreement between everyone hidden so no one really knows what the hell was going on here. And in this scenario with the Oakland A’s, none of it should be duplicated.
Related: How Oakland became home to sport’s most miserable owners
How the San Jose Sharks expansion can be a blueprint to keep the A’s in Oakland
Many of the components that led to the complicated North Stars/Sharks agreement can be found just up the road on I-880. You have a town that wants to keep its baseball team, an owner desperate to leave and a new market waiting for a franchise. Let’s make a deal here people.
Everything begins with John Fisher being told he can go to Las Vegas if he wants but it will only be through an expansion team and after the A’s have been sold. This is a perfectly fair and reasonable request. If anything, he comes out ahead here given how terrible the trust fund baby has made his current franchise.
Anyway, MLB-approved buyers committed to a new stadium project and keeping the team in Oakland are invited to bid for the franchise. This should be clearly stated in any purchase agreement, and it is something Minnesota didn’t have. The new owners had no plans for an arena in hand nor were they bound to stay in the state. Obviously, that was a mistake.
More Bay Area: The truth about the Oakland A’s and Bay Area market size
From here, it is up to Fisher to figure things out. He can sell the team and take up the Vegas expansion option. He is free to not do anything. The ball is in his court at this point. Just make sure that the option to acquire the new franchise has a date it must be exercised before being open to all bidding.
In this scenario, everyone has the potential to get what they want. Oakland keeps the A’s and works toward a new stadium. MLB gets a lucrative expansion fee in addition to retaining its antitrust exemption for the time being. And John Fisher can sulk to Vegas with an expansion side and the ability to build more scam charter schools.
Can anyone think of a legitimate reason this wouldn’t work? No owner is forced out or required to do something they don’t want to do. Everyone wins assuming Fisher is actually capable of selling the A’s and has enough money for the Las Vegas expansion franchise and a stadium.
The biggest concern is most likely the league having an odd number of teams. That is easy to solve. Either add a second expansion franchise for 32 teams or figure it out. The NFL, NHL and NBA have all had an odd number of teams at various points in history. A baseball club taking three days off is no worse than a football team having a bye during week 1. That was a real thing, by the way.
Ultimately, solutions exist for all parties involved in the Oakland A’s relocation saga to Las Vegas. There is a scenario in which everyone can be happy. And it isn’t some kumbaya, pie-in-the-sky hypothetical. This is something that happened, and it took place only 37 miles down the road.
Yes, the San Jose Sharks expansion could be a blueprint to keep the A’s in Oakland. Of course, it involves awful people coming to their senses and not acting like a bunch of greedy asshats for once. The only kumbaya, pie-in-the-sky hypothetical here is Rob Manfred and John Fisher doing the right thing for once. But as Yogi Berra was fond of saying, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
Keep Reading: A billionaire wants to save this minor league baseball stadium. The city won’t let him
