Or what if Wolff is barred from San Jose and decides to move the A's out of the Bay Area, or sell to someone who would?
"We haven't thought of selling," he said. "We want to stay in Northern California. Until we know we can't do that, we're not going to think of anywhere else."
By the time Wolff gets his answer about San Jose, the Coyotes will have gotten their answer from the bankruptcy court.
"If Balsillie wins, the value of all sports franchises goes up, because they'll all now have wheels on them," an NHL governor told the Toronto Globe and Mail. "If you can move your team, the value goes up."
It is difficult to imagine Wolff taking on Selig, since the two were fraternity brothers at Wisconsin.
But it is also difficult to imagine the A's lasting much longer this way, with a fan base beaten down by years of management selling off the best players and trashing the Coliseum. The A's sold 10,127 tickets Tuesday, a good crowd for triple A.
There is no good place to move a major league team, not Portland, not Las Vegas, not San Antonio. Washington has been a disaster.
If an owner could move wherever he wants, however, the obvious answer would be a third team in one of the two largest markets in the country, in northern New Jersey or in the Inland Empire.
The hurdles would be formidable, and there would be many. But imagine this: the Riverside A's, with Wayne Gretzky throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
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bill.shaikin@latimes.com
