Supreme Court Rejects San Jose Appeal In Oakland Athletics Move

The league has been able to use the exemption to prevent its teams from moving, and it was a relocation dispute that had landed on the court’s doorstep. With a potential move to San Jose unlikely, the A’s signed a 10-year extension on its Oakland Coliseum lease agreement in July 2014, with the ability to opt out of the deal after four years, the San Francisco Gate reported.

San Jose had been trying to lure the Athletics since 2009. “I think when somebody sues you, they lose their allure”. The definition means no team can move to San Jose without the consent of three-quarters of the 30 clubs. “Now we wait for Oakland to strike out again and we’ll still be here”.

The U.S. Supreme Court left intact the antitrust exemption it conferred on professional baseball nearly a century ago, rejecting an appeal stemming from an effort to move the Oakland Athletics to San Jose, California.

The exemption has given the league freedom in a few circumstances from laws restricting businesses from engaging in anticompetitive restraints of trade.

The 9th Circuit’s ruling now stands. At the time, the federal appeals court sided with Major League Baseball, determining the league’s antitrust exemption invalidated San Jose’s claims that the league’s decision to block the A’s from relocating violated federal antitrust laws.

As a result, San Jose’s already faint chances of getting Major League Baseball to budge on the issue have diminished further. Mayor Sam Liccardo admitted the appeal was always a long shot, as the court only hears a couple dozen of the 2,000-plus petitions it receives each year. “We’ve said that before”. Their current ballpark, O.co Coliseum is one of the oldest facilities.

Giants CEO Larry Baer didn’t want to address the ruling specifically other than to say: “We support the A’s getting a new ballpark. The Court’s decision, while significant, has no impact on our intense and unwavering focus on solving our ballpark issue and providing A’s fans the first class experience they deserve”.

The main obstacle to the proposed move of the Athletics is that another major league team, the San Francisco Giants, holds territorial rights to San Jose, according to the lawsuit.