※ [本文轉錄自 MLB 看板] 作者: win95se (鳳梨王) 看板: MLB 標題: [AP]Baseball Owners OK A's Sale to Developer 時間: Thu Mar 31 17:51:32 2005 Baseball Owners OK A's Sale to Developer By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: March 30, 2005 PHOENIX (AP) -- Baseball's owners unanimously approved the sale of the Oakland Athletics to Los Angeles real estate developer Lewis Wolff on Wednesday, all but finalizing a deal in the works for about a year. The owners spoke for 5 minutes via conference call to approve the sale, the next-to-last step necessary for Wolff and his group of investors to assume control of the team. Now, the parties just have to hold the closing, sign the documents and complete the transaction. The A's, who planned a news conference back in Oakland in the next couple of days to formally introduce Wolff as the new owner, hoped to have everything complete by Monday's season opener in Baltimore. Wolff, the team's vice president for venue development, and his group are paying about $180 million to purchase the team from Steve Schott and Ken Hofmann, co-owners since jointly buying the A's in 1995. Schott served as the managing partner and will remain involved with the club in some capacity, maintaining a minority ownership. John Fisher, the billionaire son of Gap chairman and CEO Don Fisher, will be a majority investor -- a sign the small-market A's might not be one of baseball's low-budget teams for much longer. Wolff will be managing general partner. John Fisher was part of the early ownership team that bought the San Francisco Giants in 1992, but recently sold his share to purchase the A's. Wolff met with baseball's ownership committee in January and has repeatedly said his priority is to build a baseball-only stadium in Oakland, possibly in the Coliseum parking lot. The A's and NFL Oakland Raiders currently share the aging venue. That could mean relying on some private money, since Oakland voters have shown in the past they don't want to pay for a new stadium with their tax dollars. ``Our goal is to do it in Oakland,'' Wolff said recently. ``We're concerned that if we can't produce a venue, we don't want to continue playing in this shared facility longer than we have to.'' Wolff was hired by the A's in 2003 to help find a new stadium. He is a former part owner of the NBA's Golden State Warriors and the NHL's St. Louis Blues, and a longtime friend of commissioner Bud Selig. Earlier this month, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum Authority board voted unanimously to approve the transfer of the A's lease to the team's prospective new buyer. -- If you're not have fun in baseball, you miss the point of everything. --

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