MLB commissioner Rob Manfred doesn’t sound like he’s putting much thought into the possibility of Joe Lacob buying the A’s.
As John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle detailed in his new book “Long Schott” and later on 95.7 The Game, the Warriors governor Lacob was once a phone call away from buying the A’s from Steve Schott in 2005. Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig instead went with an ownership group led by fraternity brother Lew Wolff and money man John Fisher.
Seventeen years later, Lacob says he still has an outstanding offer to buy the A’s from Fisher. Shea broached the Lacob-A’s topic with Manfred in Los Angeles earlier this week during an MLB All-Star event.
“With respect to Mr. Lacob, I’ve got 30 owners that I worry about,” Manfred said, via Shea. “I don’t worry about other folks.”
Perhaps this type of response is to be expected from Manfred, as he’s essentially a politician and speculating doesn’t serve baseball’s interests. Manfred has made sure to support Fisher at every opportunity throughout the A's new stadium search and likely doesn't want to put any public pressure on the reclusive owner.
A’s fans can only play the ‘What if?’ game when it comes to Lacob, who also claims he would have paid for off-site infrastructure privately – even if it meant $300 or $400 million – to expedite a new stadium. The franchise’s search for a new stadium is about two decades deep and even predates Fisher’s ownership, but is making unprecedented bureaucratic progress towards a new home at Howard Terminal in West Oakland.
While the A’s rank 29th out of 30 teams (according to Spotrac) with a $48.5 million payroll, Steph Curry is due to make about $48.1 million himself in 2022-23. Fisher is often ripped for being cheap, while Lacob footed the bill for a Warriors salary that eclipsed $340 million last season due to a luxury tax system which he “deemed unfair.”
It’s unlikely Fisher sells the A’s anytime soon with the potential windfall a waterfront ballpark district in Oakland could bring, but it sounds like Lacob is still eager to join MLB if possible. Not that Manfred seems to mind.
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